The gang leaves Atlanta and hits the road. There's some Zed gridlock, and the road hits back.

Season 2, Episode 1: "What Lies Ahead"
Original Air Date—16 October 2011

Rick Grimes and company are back, in the much anticipated 90 minute Season 2 premiere of AMC's zombie/survival hit "The Walking Dead". (This premiere broke all ratings records for basic cable drama).

The episode gets right into the survival action as the gang leaves Atlanta and navigates a highway graveyard of abandoned cars and bodies. This premiere clearly doesn't have that event-level build-up of "Days Gone By", which is understandable at this point in the series. On the highway the group encouters a roving zombie "herd". In the comotion Sophia is chased by zombies and Rick rushes into the woods to save her. He tells her to hide and kills the pursuing zombies, but afterwards Sophie is nowhere to be found. We see tensions flare among the desperate group.


They search for Sophie and come across a tent in the woods(where Daryl hides the gun he finds of some guy "who opted out") then locate an abandoned church, filled with walkers, and futher feeding into the "hope" imagery of the "slim chance" mantra of this season.

The premiere ends with Shane, Rick, and his son, in the woods, encountering a deer. Carl inquisitively approaches the deer which suddenly gets shot. The bullet passes through and strikes Carl as well, culminating in the cliffhanger for the premiere.

In this episode some of the dramatic leftovers of S1 are touched upon. Shane claims he is going to leave the group (on the tension of his love affair with Lorie). Andrea is confronted by Dale on her choice to remain to die at the CDC. It appears that Shane and Andrea will be two tortured outsiders, and perhaps bond together. Is Laurie preganant with Shanes baby? Will Rick find out? I hope the series deals with it in an appropriatley dramatic intense treatment, and not veer off too far into a zombie soap opera.

A pretty good episode overall, but really one that needs to be judged along with the current storyline in episodes that follow. (see nitpicks, season 1 comparison).

3 "Zs" - Zombtac.com

NITPICKS:

-Zombie ate a woodchuck whole? Well it was a smallish skull...and I guess those jaws are flexible?

-Darryl's chopper is definitley Hollywood style-over-substance. While a dirt bike or fuel efficient scooter would server better as a recon vehicle (which is the reasoning for the motorcycle), I guess Darrly can't just let go of his 'hog'. For "real-life" purposes that thing is super loud and uncomfortable and fuel inefficient.

- Vehicles. You have your pick of thousands of abandoned cars, trucks, humvees, etc and you choose to stick to the old broken down RV, etc. I guess familiarity goes a long way, but especially witht the history of probelms with the RV this is a stretch (particularilly with all those new cars - military included - just littering the landscape, and the fact that they already took vehicles like the 2010 Dodge Challenger Glen speeds out of Atlanta in "Guts" 1.02). A free upgrade is long overdue, and realistically an easy transition.

-The feel of the S2 Premiere

Two things that differentiated the excellent first season and helped make it a break-out hit, was the "event"-like feel of the series, and the cinematic look to it. This is especially true of "Days Gone By" which was shot like a movie by movie director Frank Darabount, and was a much hyped-event and an episode that introduced an apocalyptic event.

The Season 2 Premiere, though 90 minutes as well had more of a serialized "TV" episode feel to it. Perhaps this is inevitable at this point into the series (familiarity of the situation taking away that "event" feel) and with a 13 episode order (compared to the 6 episodes of Season 1) a more serialized story is also a reasonable expectation. Darabount who functioned as much as the showrunner for the Walking Dead was unceromoniously fired by AMC into the second season. Whether the later episodes of S2 will suffer due to his absence is something we will anxiously wait to see. Creator and exec. producer Robert Kirkman has said however that this season is twice as good as the first. That we will also have to wait and see.

QUOTABLE:

Rick: I guess I'm losing hope that you can hear me, but there's always that chance isn't there? That slim chance. It's all about slim chances now.
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T-Dog: Ain't you supposed to be fixing that radiator? What if they come back with Sophia, and Rick wants to move on right away?
Dale: I had it fixed yesterday.
T-Dog: What? What was all that rubbing and sanding for then? Just bullshit?
Dale: Yeah, that's one word. Another word would be pantomime -- just for show. No one else needs to know that.
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Daryl: This gross bastard had himself woodchuck for lunch.
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Rick: The CDC was a dead end. I met a man there…a scientist…he told me something. He told me…it doesn't matter. What matters is we're moving on. Atlanta's done. We're going to try Fort Benning. We're facing a long hard journey. Maybe even harder than I can imagine. But it can't be harder than our journey has been so far…can it?
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ENTIRE RICK GRIMES MONOLOUGE That opens the premiere:

Rick: (talking on the walkie-talkie) I guess I'm losing hope that you can hear me, but there is always that chance isn't there? That slim chance. It's all about slim chances now. I try to do everything right. Keep people safe. I tried Morgan; I tried. Our group's smaller now. We lost another day before last. It was her choice. I won't say I blame her. She lost faith. The CDC was a dead end. I met a man there…a scientist…he told me something. He told me…it doesn't matter. What matters is we're moving on. Atlanta's done. We're going to try Fort Benning. We're facing a long hard journey. Maybe even harder than I can imagine. But it can't be harder than our journey has been so far…can it? Hundred and twenty-five miles, that what lies ahead. And I'm trying hard not to lose faith. I can't, if I do the others, my family, my wife, my son. There is just a few of us now, so we got to stick together. Fight for each other. Be willing to lay down our lives for each other if it comes to that. It's the only chance we got. Be careful out there Morgan. I hope you and Duane are ok. Stay off the road. Keep moving. Keep your eyes open. I don't know just…just be safe. Maybe we'll see you in Fort Benning someday. Rick, signing off.


FACTS & NOTES:

Andrea carries a Smith and Wesson 3913 "Ladysmith" that her father gave her.

Norman Reedus, who plays Daryl, once worked in a motorcycle shop. Reedus also starred in the iconic gun movie "Boondock Saints" as a hitman.

Rick Grimes carries a 6" Colt Python .357 Magnum.

Shane keeps a Glock 17 (9mm) as his sidearm and a Mossberg 590 pump-action shotgun (12 gauge) as his iconic long gun. The shotgun is fitted with an extended magazine tube, heat-shield, and collapsible KNOXX SpecOps NRS stock with pistol grip.

Product placement: The Gerber machete/hatchet kit Carl finds in an abandoned car. Gerber Machete Pro, Apocalypse Gear:

As Seen on Walking Dead: Apocalypse Gerber Gear

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