The Walking Dead: Season 1, Episode 3: Tell It to the Frogs

Tell It to the Frogs

Original Airdate: November 14, 2010

Writer: Frank Darabont, Charles H. Eglee and Jack LoGiudice
Director: Gwyneth Horder-Payton

During almost every season of 24 the writers, struggling to keep up with writing a story on the fly, would usually give the CTU agent who has had little to do to that point a crazy family member or friend who would inevitably show up in CTU and cause a bunch of chaos in an already chaotic day.  These subplots were often the worst part of the show.  It added nothing to the main story and wasted valuable screen time that could’ve been used to have Jack Bauer throat punch dudes.  Three episodes into The Walking Dead and it seems that it is suffering from a similar problem.  They’ve introduced two characters who are behaving in a way no one would in this situation.  First it was Merle the hot headed racist, now we have misogynist Ed, Carol’s husband.  What is it about this group and their ability to attract one note heavies?  One of the important pieces of The Walking Dead is taking a group of strangers who never would interact otherwise and make them build a new society, but that can come naturally from their differences, not someone acting hostile because the show needs drama.  Don’t get me or my choice to open with a long rant wrong, the show is very good, but they can do better.

The episode opens proper with the reunion of Rick and his family.  Of course, this means Shane’s time playing house with Lori and Carl is over.  Through their fast paced affair, there’s no doubt Shane fell in love with Lori.  He also grew close to Carl, acting like a father to him.  He knows he has to step aside because she is Rick’s wife, but that isn’t easy.  It comes to a head when Shane takes Carl out to catch frogs and has an angry confrontation with Lori.  He is unable to cope with it and with no healthy outlet, he pulverizes Ed’s face when Ed slaps his wife.

Shane and Lori’s relationship has put their likeability in question.  Did they get involved too soon after Rick “died”?  The Walking Dead world is so heightened that it’s hard to judge them based on that.  Considering all the death and destruction they’ve witnessed, who wouldn’t find comfort with a friend and sex would be one of the few pleasures they have left.  Those who don’t buy that think they were involved before the fall, considering the marital problems Rick and Lori were having.  There is also discussion that Lori used her sexuality to garner special treatment from Shane.  The latter of those two seems ridiculous unless Shane acts like Ed when he’s of camera.  What is harder to sympathize with is Shane’s decision to lie to Lori about Rick’s fate.  She naturally feels guilty, but know she got involved because of a lie makes it even worse.  Not to let Shane off the hook, but perhaps he lied about Rick’s fate because that was the only way he could get her and Carl to safety and it snowballed from there.  Obviously it isn’t going to be easily forgotten or forgiven.

The second issue of the episode is if Rick should return to Atlanta to rescue Merle, who has quickly gone insane from exposure and the trauma of being left alone, and retrieve Rick’s supplies from the tank.  Rick feels responsible for leaving him there, as does T-Dog for dropping the key.  While consequences are important on this show, so is the idea of personal responsibility.  It’s crucial to survival, but can also stick you in a dangerous position.

This decision is also informed by the point in the story they are in.  Rick is still new to this world, and makes decisions he would as someone sworn to serve and protect would and not one in a world filled constantly asking you to make greater sacrifices for your survival.  It’ll be interesting to see, if it goes that long, what season five Rick would do in a similar situation, something they’ve addressed in the books.

Even if that’s not what he intends, Rick’s mission is the first step in a shift of the camp’s leadership.  An episode earlier Shane butted heads with Amy when he refused to send more people to Atlanta to help the original search party; here Rick gets to head back to find Merle and the bag of guns.  Shane is a tough leader, but he needs to be because the stakes are so high.  However, zombie world novice Rick still feels the value of human life, even of a bad guy, is worth risking it all.  He’s also earning points in the camp, appreciating Carol’s ironing and accepting Glenn’s input while navigating Atlanta.

On the rescue team is Merle’s brother Daryl (Norman Reedus of Boondock Saints fame).  It may be another broad character, but Daryl is far better written than Merle, even if Michael Rooker is a better actor.  Unlike Merle and Ed, he has valid reasons to be angry.  First a zombie/omen of doom snacks on the deer he killed, leaving them to snack on squirrels and frogs (among other things zombies have presumably done to him).  Then he finds out his brother was left behind and almost everyone is content with leaving him to rot.

They return to the scene to find the rooftop abandoned, save for one hand, a nearby saw and a surprising dearth of blood, setting up the story for the next episode.  Since the chains weren’t broken and no zombies were on the roof, it’d be safe to assume that Merle has not been eaten or turned.  This cliffhanger reminded me a little of 24, down to the hacksaw.

Halfway through this abbreviated first season, the show has become a phenomenon, garnering AMC its highest ratings for original programming on top of a lot of critical praise from fans new and old.  However, the new characters and some really clunky dialogue are keeping the show from joining the ranks of Breaking Bad and Mad Men.  The established characters are integrated well, so maybe this is just the result of a condensed first season and them having to be a little broader.  AMC will no doubt let them give them a longer leash next year, and hopefully they can make the most of it.

Overall Score: 8/10 Crossbows

DON’T READ, SPOILERS BELOW

Although the Rick-Lori-Shane triangle is one of the few elements from the book intact from the source material, they have taken a few liberties that change the stage for viewers only as well as the comics fans.  The biggest of which is that we didn’t see Lori and Carl until Rick did in the books.  Doing it that way kept us in the dark like Rick, making his desperation to find them more palpable.  Showing them alive and well in the camp for two episodes instead makes it about the audience knowing of Lori and Shane’s romance long before Rick.  That changes the impact of the reunion scene.  Originally, it would be seen as touching, a glimmer of hope among people who could really use some.  While that element is still there, it’s more the old status quo crashing into the new.