While the core family at the heart of the drama continues to be largely bland, this episode starts to give life to the horrific realities of the fall of civilization.  There’s still work to be done to make this as horrific a scenario as it should be, and the writers seem to be forcing certain thematic real-world comparisons, but the sense of impending doom and personal crisis is much stronger than in the series premiere. 

Perhaps the best use of “real world” dynamics was the idea that law enforcement, in the hopes of preventing hysteria, would keep the nature of the emerging threat a complete secret, even though it fuels the impression of police brutality in the process.  In this case, the protesters were literally uninformed, and therein lies part of the tragedy: in the name of trying to “contain” the problem, authorities simply create a great chaos that will allow it to spread even faster.  One must assume that they do not know, as becomes a revelation later in the timeline, that everyone is already infected and the Walker population will simply explode in the coming days.


Faced with a mob of terrified and angry rioters, the plight of the characters is actually palpable.  It makes sense.  And we see flashes of what the adults in the developing group might eventually be capable of, when the time comes to make hard choices.  I know I wanted to see that sooner rather than later, but I do wonder if this is coming to the surface too quickly.  Or is it part of the theme of the series, in the sense that civility is a veneer, even when society is merely on the brink, and this is how quickly that surface erodes away?  

The onset of the zombie apocalypse is familiar enough ground by now that the success or failure of the narrative is dependent on the audience’s interest in the plight of the characters.  Put simply, we need to care if they live or die, beyond the simple empathy of not wanting fellow human beings to suffer.  I still don’t know that the characters have given the audience much reason to care about their collective fate.  This episode helps a little bit, but there’s still work to be done.  (Granted, some of the cast of The Walking Dead have begged to be killed over the years, too.)


The scenes in the school were about as good as the ones in the city, and there was something all too familiar about Tobias being the theoretical expert about all things societal breakdown, only to prove overconfident when the monster bears down on him.  Isn’t that always the way it goes?  I did find it odd that the Walkers so far have been far more resilient.  On the original series, even when a victim is brand new, the effort to kill them is far less than repeated strikes with a fire extinguisher.  I’m sure if I paid attention I would see such discrepancies constantly, but this one stood out.





Right now, this feels like filler to tide over the audience between half-seasons of the “real thing”, which is all well and good, but hardly sufficient.  I don’t want filler.  I want something that engages me on the same level, and not because there are gory special effects or crazy megalomaniacs roving the countryside.  The main characters have to be worthy of the designation, and I hope we don’t have to wait for the end of the short first season to see why this is the family we are following.