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Carl is shot after Rick asks for a sign from God.
Shane and Otis head out for supplies to save him.
Season 2, Episode 2: "Bloodletting"
Original Air Date—23 October 2011
Written By:
Glen Mazzara |
Directed By:
Ernest Dickerson
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OK. This was a slow episode, light on the zombies. Sure, I get
character development and I am all for it, but they really seem
to be taking their time. Season 2 isn't a network 22-episode season,
and this pace for cable 13 eps is dragging a bit. They set up
psychology and character development just fine with rapid pacing
in the first season "mini-series", but now in season
2 we are really feeling the contrast.
With the slower pace, there better be a pay-off. If Dr. Hershel
and clan are what they seem to be and Carl "just" recovers
I just feel like the storyline could have been condensed. Yes,
Rick is being tried psychologically, and there is the quest for
meaning, and spirtual overtones abound. But it still doesn't warrant
being drawn out over 2.5 episodes. Not with what they accomplished
in the first season. The bar was set high.
I'm still a little leary about the Hershel clan (as they seem
a bit "cult-like"). It's just a vibe and as I said there
needs to be a greater payoff or "twist" here (Not necessarily
vintage M. Knight, but something. I mean we are expecting Carl
to recover, so what else? Just pschological fallout. Will Rick
find god?). Then there's the telling and intended look Hershel
gave Otis, when Rick handed over his Colt Python to the hillbilly.
"Now we've got his sidearm" Mwuhahah!
And the only Zed action we get ends in a cliffhanger with Shane
and Otis at the school. The recipe now seems to be exposition
and character development/psychological crisis, then end on cliffhanger.
 2"Zs"
- Zombtac.com
SUMMARY
Before the zombie apocalypse, Lori tells a friend while waiting
for Carl at school that she had an argument with Rick the
night before. Meanwhile Shane arrives and tells that Rick
is in a surgery and tells what happened on the road. Rick
runs seeking for help, carrying Carl on his arm while Shane
follows them with the hunter Otis that had accidentally shot
Carl. They reach a farm and Carl is attended by an old man
called Hershel. He finds that the bullet has shattered in
six fragments and he needs Rick's blood for transfusion to
Carl. He withdraw one piece, but he concludes that he needs
surgical supplies to remove the other five fragments, and
Shane and Carl head to a school that is surrounded by walkers
to get the medical supplies. One daughter of Mr. Hershel rides
a horse and brings Lori to the farm. Meanwhile Dale finds
that T-Dog has an infection in his arm and needs to take antibiotic.
The group agrees to spend the night on the road waiting for
Sophia and travel to Mr. Hershel's farm in the morning. When
Lori finds that Mr. Hershel is a veterinary, she gets afraid
with the fate of Carl. Meanwhile, Shane and Otis get the necessary
supplies but are under siege of dozens of walkers.
Here
is a detailed synopsis from AMC's website |
NITPICKS:
-No more soap opera. I know the showrunners want to make the
TV series it's own thing, but don't pour on the Shane/Lori stuff.
No freakin' love child.
-Lori. The man is trying to save your son's life. Look around.
What options do you have? Chill out and deal. Sarah Wayne Callies
acting style is starting to bug. Perplexed, bug-eyed and pissed-off
or an agitated look does not mean depth in acting.
- Sophia's two day disaperance is "meh"?
- The Zombie attraction to the flare is "meh"?
An anti-nitpick is Daryl. He is pure awesome and
clearly a fan-fave (Norman Reedus simply rocks in everything he
does). I was suprised to find out the character didn't even exist
in the comic book.
-The feel of the S2 (we've said this before, but here goes...)
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.
It now seems that season two will have 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:
 T-Dog:
"Oh. And I'm the one black guy. Realize how precarious that
makes my situation?"
Dale: "What the hell are you talking about?"
T-Dog: "I'm talking about two good ole' boy cowboy sheriffs
and a redneck whose brother cut off his own hand because I dropped
a key. Who in that scenario is the first that's gonna be lynched?"
Dale: "You can't be serious. Am I missing something? Those
two cowboys have done alright by us and if I'm not mistaken that
redneck went out of his way to save your ass more than once."
---
Dale Horvath: Listen, your veins are very discolored. You
got a hell of an infection there. You could die from blood poisoning.
T-Dog: [laughs] Oh, man. Wouldn't that be the way? World gone
to hell, the dead risen up to eat the living and Theodore Douglas
is done here by a cut on his arm.
[laughs harder]
---
Andrea: "How much further?"
Daryl: "Not much. Maybe a hundred yards, as the crow flies."
Andrea: "Too bad we're not crows."
---
Hershel: "Mankind's been fighting plagues from the start.
We get our butts kicked for a while, then we bounce back. It's
nature correcting itself, restoring some balance."
Rick: "I wish I could believe it."
---
Daryl: It's a waste of time all this hoping and praying.
---
Lori: "Okay, but you have done this procedure before?"
Hershel: "Well, yes, in a sense."
Lori: "In a sense?"
Rick: "Honey, we don't have the luxury of shopping for a
surgeon."
Lori: "No, I understand that but, I mean you're a doctor,
right?"
Hershel: "Yes ma'am, of course. A vet."
Lori: "A veteran, a combat medic?"
Hershel: "A veterinarian."
Lori: "And you've done this surgery on what? Cows? Pigs?
You're in completely over your head aren't you?"
Hershel: "Ma'am, aren't we all?"
FACTS & NOTES:
 You
may also know Lauren Cohan (Maggie) from The Vampire Diaries
and Supernatural.
Scott Wilson (Hershel) was in the 1967 movie In Cold Blood
and had a recurring role on CSI.
A-positive is the second most common blood type after O-positive.
Ampicillin is a type of penicillin that has been used to treat
bacterial infections since 1961.
The Black Plague took over 75 million lives from 1340 - 1771.
Smallpox killed almost 300 million.
Hunters accidentally shoot more than 1,000 people in the U.S.
and Canada every year.
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information contained herein is strictly for entertainment purposes.
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individuals and assumes no liability from misuse of this information.
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