Episode 1.02 “Guts” Recap and Analysis by hemoWILLIEac
A Little Introduction
After what felt like a ridiculously long week, we were finally treated to another episode of The Walking Dead. Sixty minutes of sex, violence, and racial slurs later; I’m here to share my thoughts.
Afternoon Delight
The episode opens with another glimpse at the survivor’s camp. Lori has a brief conversation with Amy. Dale provides an awesome “grandfather-esque” moment warning Lori to stay close to camp. You can tell he’s the sweetest guy in the world, until someone he cares about is in jeopardy. Jeffrey DeMunn hasn’t had a lot of screentime thusfar, but this small moment gives me nothing but faith that he’ll be a standout.
Lori heads into the woods, hearing all sorts of creepy noises. Shane pops out and scares the living hell out of her, only for her to quickly forgive him and remove her pants. At this point in the show, I’m hoping that we start seeing some more sympathetic elements to Lori. She’s a strong character, but I’m a little worried audiences are going to hate her too much to see that.
The moment Lori notices the ring is a pretty revealing glance into her character. It seems she has almost had to try and “forget” about Rick to keep her composure and keep her son safe. The moment in the pilot when Shane nearly mentions Rick is almost jarring to her, like she pushed him out of her mind completely. The memento around her neck pulls her back into reality for a moment, before she forces herself to forget once again.
Some might say that she is forgetting her husband for selfish reasons. I think she is forgetting her husband because it’s the only way she can keep herself sane. As for Shanes motive, I think we’ll get a better look at that soon.
Running With the Devil(s)
We rejoin Rick inside the tank from last week’s episode. The voice on the intercom gives him some much needed advice, and Rick prepares to take off. I was convinced Rick would use the grenade in this episode, but I think it will come into play later at some point. Rick then runs from the tank to meet up with Glenn, the voice on the other end of the radio.
Let’s recap that chain of events for a moment. Rick hitting that zombie in the face with a shovel? Awesome. Rick’s multiple headshots? Also awesome. Glenn? King of all things awesome.
After Rick and Glenn make their mad dash to safety, we get a little humor from the latter. Glenn is definitely going to be a nice character for comedic relief, no doubt. Steven Yeun is one of the most perfect casting choices I’ve seen for an adaption of any kind.
Meet and Greet
As the two run, a pair of armored, baseball bat-wielding men come out to smash some “geeks”. Rick heads to a department store and meets Glenn’s fellow survivors: Andrea, T-Dog, Jacqui, and Morales. Andrea puts a gun to Rick’s head (man, this guy can’t catch a break). After some heated conversation, featuring another mention of the helicopter Rick saw (foreshadowing much?), the gang heads up to the roof after the sound of gunshots are heard.
Enter Merle Dixon: a redneck, racist, coked out psychopath. I’ve always liked Michael Rooker, and boy was he at his scenery-chewing best here. It seems Merle and T-Dog don’t exactly “get along”, and before Merle can claim leadership duties, Rick knocks him down and restrains him with a pair of handcuffs.
The scene of Merle’s introduction does two important things. First, we get our first glimpse at a staple of zombie fiction: the psychopath. Often times in these stories, it’s not the zombies that pose the biggest threat, it’s other people. The second thing this scene does is make me believe in Andrew Lincoln. Rick talking with Merle is the first moment I was convinced that Lincoln IS Rick Grimes. He nailed the character perfectly here, bringing a quiet intensity I really admired.
The green screen work right before the commercial break was a little shoddy. But let’s keep in mind that for television, this show looks fantastic. Hell, it looks better than most movies.
Plan A
With some advice from Jacqui, the gang decides to head through the sewer system to escape the zombies Rick drew to them. The windows outside will not hold forever, after all. So Glenn and Morales (AKA future zombie fodder) head into the tunnel, while Rick and Andrea keep an eye on the windows upstairs.
I enjoyed the conversation with Rick and Andrea. You really get a feel for her character in a very brief amount of screentime. You can tell that these two will make great partners in future episodes. We head back to the roof, where T-Dog and Merle have a nice little bonding session. I loved that T-Dog could see right through his crap.
Glenn and Morales realize the path is blocked, so the sewers are a “no go”. Oh, and zombies enjoy rats just as much as horses. Equal opportunity killers, they are.
Rick and Andrea have a conversation about Andrea’s sister and her love of mermaids,unicorns, and other fantasy critters. I wonder if she liked zombies before all this? Anyway, this conversation is really about letting go of the old life, something the pilot dealt with a lot. Something like looting is so trivial in this world, yet Andrea obviously hasn’t quite let go yet.
Plan B
The zombies make it through the first set of doors and start working on the second. With the sewer path blocked, the gang has to come up with a better plan. The group decides that since these zombies rely on smell to differentiate us from each other, maybe that’s the key to escape. Rick and Glenn decide to walk down the street to some nearby trucks and come back for the others. All they need are some ingredients.
I want to take a moment here and say that I love the idea of “zombie science”: establishing a set of rules for the zombies to behave by. I love the idea that they can smell us because we aren’t rotting. It’s one of those things that few zombie movies touch on that I find really important.
Snap,Crackle,Pop
Everyone suits up in gloves and ponchos and get themselves a zombie corpse. The plan is simple: chop up the zombie and cover yourself in it’s guts, that way the walkers can’t smell you. Rick prepares to deliver the first chop and stops. This next scene is very important.
Rick must acknowledge both the world he now lives in and the man he needs to be in this world. He knows he has to do the unthinkable, but refuses to do it without paying his respects to the man he’s about to cut up. Rick will certainly face more dire situations over the course of this series, and hopefully continue to keep his humanity. It’s going to be thrilling to see the lengths Rick is willing to go to survive.
The over the top squishing sounds as the body was chopped up were hilarious, intentional or not. I’m not sure if there was an over zealous sound effects man working that day, but it was squishy. The “organ donor” line was absolute black comedy at it’s best.
The Road Through Hell
Rick gives T-Dog the key to the handcuffs, knowingly leaving it up to him to decide Merle’s fate. Then Rick and Glenn prepare their long walk through the streets of Atlanta.
The entire sequence was brutally tense. I half expected every zombie the guys passed to figure out their scheme. Bear McCreary’s music shines again during this portion of the episode. It does a great job at building upon the tension without overpowering the onscreen action.
T-Dog gets through to the camp, where we learn that Amy and Andrea are sisters. Well, that certainly raises the stakes. Shane is insensitive and Amy storms off. Shane has become a man completely unwilling to take risks for the group. I wonder what lengths he will go to in keeping his loved one’s safe?
The guys continue their journey to the trucks, when rain clouds set in. I loved the zombie that was following Glenn, it just look so disoriented and goofy. I thought it was Greg Nicotero at first, but maybe I’m crazy. Also, Glenn making the zombie face and sounds was another great comedic moment.
Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head
So the rain finally kicks in, and the smell is quickly getting washed off of Rick and Glenn. I loved the zombies gradually realizing their true identities. Very creepy and effective. So Rick cleaves a zombies head in two with an ax, earning him the zombie “kill of the week”, and the two men run for the trucks, dispatching a few walkers along the way. I don’t know why Rick was shooting them off of the fence the way he was, it looked weird and robotic.
The Great Escape
Rick and Glenn take seperate cars. Rick heads to pick up the group, while Glenn uses his car’s alarm as a distraction. The group heads down to a loading dock area for Rick to pick them up, when Merle starts begging T-Dog to set him free. After some internal conflic, T-Dog decides to be the bigger man. Unfortunately for Merle, he drops the key down a drain accidentally, and has no choice but to leave.
Judging by next week’s preview, this is all set up for that episode. T-Dog left the hacksaw pretty close to Merle, and made sure to lock the door, ensuring that no walkers could get to him. This will no doubt all come into play soon.
The gang climbs in the truck, narrowly escaping a group of zombies that finally broke through the doors. I swear, I thought Morales was going to fall out of the truck and get lunched. As they head off into the sunset, the group shoots some awkward glances at T-Dog. He explains what happened to Merle, and it seems as though they all believe him.
Glenn decides to take the scenic route, putting the pedal to the metal. He truly is what he told Rick: “a glass-half-full kind of guy”. If he’s going to have to live in the zombie apocalypse, he’s going to make the best of it.
Guts
Overall, this was a great follow-up to last week’s pilot. It was vastly different though. The previous episode was a slow burn, building up to the climactic final scenes. It was very intimate in it’s performances, music, and scenery.
This episode is everything the pilot wasn’t. It’s loud, over the top, and action packed. If “Days Gone By” was at the Romero end of the undead spectrum, “Guts” was at the Sam Raimi end. I applaud AMC for not holding back on the sex, language, and violence.
“Guts” sets up a lot of interesting plotlines, introduces some new characters, and is as entertaining as it’s predecessor. Another home run for Darabont and Co.
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Will Gibbs is a Michigan native and journalism student at Oakland University. He is a long time Walking Dead fan and self proclaimed "zombie survival expert." When he's not writing, Will enjoys watching movies, playing video games, and reading comic books. |
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Glenn is going to be my fav! What a handsome feller!