Angel Cohn: B | 1 USERS: A+
Go to the Head of the Class
By Angel Cohn | Season 2	| Episode 2	| Aired on 10.23.2011
We get to see what Lori's life was like before the zombie attack, right around the time that Rick got shot. This is only necessary for those of us who either didn't watch Season 1 or have completely forgotten why Rick was in a coma when the show began. Rick spends a lot of time running through a field before conveniently finding that the shooter (Otis) has a whole host of people at a farmhouse... one of whom is a doctor (Hershel). Lori actually smartly panics because of a gunshot and wants to go after Rick, but everyone else says they should go back to the RV. Carol starts whimpering about Sophia, but Daryl tells them to shut up and that praying isn't going to find the kid any quicker. Love him. T-Dog (Theodore, if you're nasty) has a blood infection, so they start ransacking cars for drugs. There's a fantastic shot of a gut-soaked car seat that might be my new computer wallpaper (just in time for Halloween).
Over at little farmhouse on the prairie, Doc Hershel is torturing Carl by ripping hunks of shrapnel out of his body. And Rick's been tapped to give blood transfusions, so he can't go after Lori. Shane gives a somewhat wise, but unnecessary speech to keep Rick from leaving his kid alone with strangers. Doc comes out saying that Carl needs major surgery, but the only place that might have the necessary items is a nearby high school that's been overrun by zombies. Otis and Shane take on that suicide mission, while an increasingly incoherent T-Dog points out all the obvious faults with their group. Vivian Volkoff (Hershel's daughter Maggie) decides to do Rick a solid and find Lori. Andrea gets tangled in a spider web and nearly taken down by a walker, until Maggie shows up on horseback, takes down the Walker with a baseball bat and brings Lori back to the farm.
Hershel compares the zombie epidemic to AIDS, and Rick tries to explain about the CDC, but Hershel thinks Rick just needs to believe that mankind will eventually win. Lori does some more of her patented one facial expression acting when she sees Carl. Where did the Greene's get fresh-squeezed orange juice? That's the sort of perishable thing that doesn't really survive an apocalypse. And we find out that Doc Greene is actually only a veterinarian, much to Lori's dismay. On the highway, the rest of the ragtag group decides what to do about the Sophia situation. Daryl, in his increasing awesomeness, has a whole stash of drugs on his brother's (Merle! I miss you!) motorcycle with some antibiotics for "the clap." Glad Merle had an affinity for skanky gals.
Shane and Otis use some flares to distract the hoards while they head into an EMS shelter to get the supplies they need. I like this odd couple, and it's rare that I like anything having to do with Shane. I don't however like Rick and Lori, who are fighting over staying by Carl's side. It seems a little out of character for Rick, maybe it's all the blood donations he's been giving. He and T-Dog are vying for least coherent character in this episode, giving whiny Andrea a break for a change. Otis and Shane get what they need, but are spotted by some teenage walkers (who are quite speedy in their stagger) and lock themselves inside of a high school... quite far away from their truck. Not sure this was the brightest plan they've had, but it does make for a remotely exciting cliffhanger with the metal gate getting ready to give way to the thousands of walkers on the other side. Plus, maybe we'll get to see a zombie Zefron pretty soon.
Watch TWoP's editors discuss the best TV shows on cable this fall in this video from the New York Nonstop news channel:
View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.