THE WALKING DEAD 2.10: “18 Miles Out”

This week’s episode of THE WALKING DEAD was all about confrontations that have been a long time coming — especially Rick and Shane finally…er, talking it out. That particular explosion has been simmering since early in the first season.

When Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Shane (Jon Bernthal) set out to release the captive Randall (Michael Zegen) at least 18 miles from the farm, they ended up finally talking about the elephant in the car. No, not the blindfolded Randall in the trunk, but all the issues between the two alpha males: from Shane abandoning Rick in the hospital to his affair with Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) to sacrificing Otis to challenging Rick’s leadership — it was all on the table.

THE WALKING DEAD 2.9: Triggerfinger

Lots of decisions this week balanced “doing the right thing” against survival — both for the individual and the group. Is it right to kill not only in self-defense, but “to protect what’s yours”? Are the rules different now that society has broken down?

Not unrelated, the members of our little band of survivors seem to be increasingly fractious, with whispering campaigns starting to swamp the group as deeply as the survivor’s guilt that has some guys trying to distance themselves.

THE WALKING DEAD 2.8: “Nebraska”

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Two guys walk into a bar, brandish guns at a tiny band of survivors of the zombie holocaust and say, “Take us and our group to your zombie-free safe haven or else!” Sheriff says no and shoots the interlopers dead. Only this ain’t no joke; it’s the life-or-undeath stakes of THE WALKING DEAD.

The Old West confrontation in the Deep South marked the climax of the winter premiere of TWD, which picked up exactly where the series left off in November: With Rick (Andrew Lincoln) lowering his weapon after shooting zombie Sophia (Madison Lintz) in the head. While the dead truly dead were buried and burned (“We bury the ones we love, and burn the rest,” Andrea [Laurie Holden] declared), Hershel (Scott Wilson) high-tailed it to town to drown his sorrows.