Thursday 1 December 2011

TV Review: The Walking Dead 2.07-"If they move, kill em"

I was all set to review episode 2.07 of The Walking Dead. It blew me away and had me almost in tears. It was a powerful, horrible way to end the mid-season, but it was done so beautifully I had to share my views. But, I read Darren Franich's great recap, that was so good it took the wind out of my sails. Why try to better it. Truth is, I can't. Read it here:


 My additional thoughts:
Franich captures much of how I felt about the episode. Jon Bernthal definitely deserves an award for his performance, but then most actors in this do.
2.07 had Frank Darabont's stamp all over it. Each character had something to do, well most; T-Dog still seems superfluous and potential zombie bait in the second half of the season. When the end comes and Sophia's fate is revealed, it's not so much a shock as perfectly built-up to and emotionally heart-wrenching. It's more the character's reactions that pulls at the heart strings and Bear McCreary's emotive music. Seeing Carl and his mother in such grief was painful. The look of shock and horror on each face is focused on. Scott Wilson as Hershel Greene is fantastic in this scene as various feelings flit across his face: From sadness to a kind of "I told you so, now you depersonalise these things" look.
Like the end of The Mist, the direction (from the very talented Michelle McClaren) doesn't let you off the hook with what you should be experiencing and what the characters are very much feeling. Incidentally, one shot reminded me of some artwork from Stephen King's The Gunslinger. After Shane and co have blasted most of the zombies from the barn, the foreground is taken up with the finally dead corpses, similar to this:

A page from The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger

Not the exact shot that I meant but close

COMING SOON: Graphic Novel to TV show comparisons....


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