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Shane needs to bring back medical supplies to save Carl's life.
And he finds out that survival sometimes calls for some ugly,
hard choices.
Season 2, Episode 3: "Save the Last One"
Original Air Date—30 October 2011
Written By:
Scott M. Gimple |
Directed By:
Phil Abraham
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We start off in a bathroom, with Shane shaving his head and looking
into the mirror with loathing? Anger? Interesting. We will return
to this timeline (flashback/flash-present) at the end of this
episode and all will be explained.
Carl is dying and need Shane and Otis to return with medical supplies
so that Herschel can perfrom the surgery needed to save him. Shane
and Otis are having a hard time at the high school evading a zombie
horde and getting back to their truck with the medical supplies.
A decision has to be made about Carl soon. Just as Herschel preps
to operate on Carl without a respirator, a truck pulls up. It's
Shane alone, with the medical supplies. The operation saves Carl.
Shane explains that he lost Otis, but doesn't reveal what really
happened.
As Shane cleans up at the end of the episode (given Otis's clean
clothes) he notices a scar on his head, exposing a chunk of his
hair, and relives his escape for the high school. The two men
are running away from a zombie crowd, Shane hampered by a hurt
leg, Otis slow due to his weight. They take stock of their ammo
and are down to their final rounds. "I'm sorry man,"
say Shane firing a round into Otis' leg. He leaves the big man
for the zombies to make his escape, but not before Otis struggles
with him as Shane takes his suppply-filled backpack. In the struggle
Otis manages to rip out a clump of Shanes hair. Shane limps away
as the zombie horde focuses on devouring the wounded Otis. In
the bathroom Shane stares at his scar, which brings back the memory
of what he had to do, and he shaves his hair off in loathing,
secretly bearing the guilt of his survival.
This reveal of how Shane survived saved this episode. It's probably
the best moment of this season so far. It was classic intense
Season 1 "Walking Dead". I continue to be impressed
with Jon Bernthal's acting (despite having a --at times--unsympathetic
character i.e. his tortured aggessive demeanor in the fallout
of his affair with Lorie), just as I am continued to be bugged
by Sarah Wayn Callies "acting".
The rest of the episode continued to be some filler-like introspection.
There is a place for it, but by season one's pace, all of the
waiting, soul-searching, spirtiual overtones, and other character
development would have been condesned into 15 minutes. We are
3 episodes into the season and we have been on a highway and waiting
around in a farmhouse. 3 episodes into Season 1 and half the season
was over! These three epsidoes could have been condesed into an
1-1/2 episode; the highway seen, some woodlands searching and
church, the farmhouse with Carl, a bit of soul-searching, and
Shane and Otis's mission.
However, the bad-ass ending, of Shane's recollection of the true
events, and how he survived made up for the meandering pace of
waiting in the farmhouse. Sometimes survival means making hard
choices. It's an ugly business. You have to do what you have to
do. Shave your head Shane. Wash away the guilt. Grit your teeth
and bear your ugly secret.
 3"Zs"
- Zombtac.com
SUMMARY
Carl is near death and with internal bleeding. He is surviving
due to the successive blood transfusions, but Rick is getting
weaker and weaker. Daryl can not sleep during the night since
Carol is weeping all the time. He decides to take a walk with
Andrea to seek out Sophia. Meanwhile Shane and Otis are short
of ammunition and surrounded by a large number of walkers.
They decide to split to take a chance against the zombies.
Glenn and T-Dog arrive in the farm and T-Dog's wound is disinfected
and treated. When Herchel Greene is ready to operate on Carl,
Shane arrives, completely shaken, with the necessary medical
supplies. Then he recalls how he was able to survive.
Here
is a detailed synopsis from AMC's website |
NITPICKS:
-Lori continues to bug.
-The Maggie character. She's a bit odd. Is she flirting with Glen?
She slips in and out dispensing little nuggets of wisdom in a
coy manner. What's her deal? A weird character that seems out
of place. Maybe it's just her acting.
- The "Carl saw a Deer Lori!" speech Rick gives. An
awkward explanation for a reason to live. However, Lori's sudden
switch to thinking Carl would be better off dead bugs even more.
- The pacing. We are three episodes in. That's half of season
one! The storylines/reveals/happenings of these three episodes
thus far could have easily been condensed into the first 1.5 hour
episode or broken up over the first two episodes.
QUOTABLE:
 Daryl:
"It ain't the mountains of Tibet, it's Georgia."
(critisizing everyone's pessismism on Sophia's chances
of surviving)
---
"Got bit, fever hit, world gone to shit, might as well
quit."
(hanging zombie suicide note)
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Rick: "Why is it better for Carl to live, even in this
world? He talked about the deer."
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FACTS & NOTES:
 In
Robert Kirkman's comic book, Shane was a character that was killed
early in the series.
Shane and Rick seem to be longtime friends, with Rick in this
episode recalling a high school prank Shane pulled.
Summers in Georgia are hot and humid with temperatures in the
afternoons that reach, on average, to near 90 °F (32 °C).
Overnight lows fall to near 68 °F (20 °C) [17] and there
is usually an 8-10 degree Fahrenheit (5 degree Celsius) difference
in temperature between the mountains and Atlanta.
The number of justifiable homicides committed by police and private
citizens has been rising in the late 2000s to their highest levels
in more than a decade, reflecting a shoot-first philosophy in
dealing with crime, say law enforcement analysts.
The 391 killings by police that were ruled justifiable in 2007
were the most since 1994, FBI statistics show. The 254 killings
by private individuals found to be self-defense were the most
since 1997.
Disclaimer: Any
information contained herein is strictly for entertainment purposes.
Zombtac.com does not endorse or recommend any actions by untrained
individuals and assumes no liability from misuse of this information.
Always consult Federal, state, and local laws, regarding firearms
and target shooting.
*Adhere to all Federal, State, and local laws when using
firearms.*
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