The Walking Dead: Season 2, Episode 13: Beside the Dying Fire – FINALE REVIEW

The finale of Season 2 began awesomely, by showing us where the massive horde of walkers originated from, all the way back in Atlanta. The helicopter from the first episode was flying overhead (don’t know who it was yet), and the walkers were mindlessly following it. As the horde heard Carl’s gunshot from, they followed that, and unfortunately for Herschel’s farm, there were hundreds of them at that point. Rick and Carl were heading back toward the farmhouse after the Shane incident when they noticed the horde of walkers following them. At this point Rick’s quick thinking took them towards the barn, where he proceeded to light it on fire – killing/distracting the walkers. The Grimes Boys escape with help from Jimmy, who pulls the RV up to the barn so they can jump onto the roof, and then stops the thing. Why did he stop the RV after Rick and Carl were on it? I presume suicide. My favorite part of the beginning, though, is that Lori suddenly realizes that Carl is not in his room. This is a running joke, now, because Lori always loses her son. I doubt if Carl even has the room that he is always supposed to be in.

After the fiery barn escape, the whole group teams up to fend off the giant number of zombies attacking them, and they fail. Patricia gets eaten right in front of everyone, as Beth had to be pulled away from her screaming. Who is Patricia, you ask? Otis’s wife… but I Googled that. Why did she get attacked? Because she was a very unimportant filler character, and every time she spoke, everyone fell asleep. Boom.

Hershel being the total bad-ass he is, tried taking on all of the walkers himself. Eastwood style.

He stood in front of his front door, and blasted them in the face one-by-one.

So in the confusion the group splits with Glenn and Maggie in one car fleeing the farm. T-Bone T-dog and Andrea were being badass circling around in the truck shooting zombies left and right until Andrea gave her seat to Lori and Beth so she could save Carol (stupid Carol! You burden of a woman!). This is about the time that everyone left Andrea for dead.  Lucky for Carol that Daryl heard her screaming, and picked her up on his motorcycle. They all headed for the highway where they were stuck before looking for Sophia.

With Andrea presumed dead the group set up camp a little way down the road. In actuality, Andrea was single-handedly owning face against walkers and trying to head to the highway alone and on foot. Holding her own quite well she eventually get overthrown, only to be rescued from a fate as zombie food by a mysterious stranger. For the comic readers, the character is Michonne!

Rick also tells the group that at the CDC, he was told that everyone is a carrier of the infection that turns you into a walker. As the episode ends, you can see the prison over the highway, where I am sure they will set up shop next season.I was hoping that the fact that they are all infected would be revealed this episode. I speculated last week, but I am glad that was resolved. I wonder if the fetus is infected?

This finale had a lot of gore, a lot of resolve, and a lot of setup for next season. I require all three to deliver a positive review… and I got it all in spades! The walkers over-running the farm was inevitable. I am glad they let that happen, instead of getting all Disney hero, and winning the battle against evil. I was glad to see that Andrea survived. Andrea is one of my favorite characters… not to mention that she is the only woman character worth a damn!

I am curious to see how Rick deals with killing his best friend. He is a good guy, and I guarantee that it weighs on his mind heavily throughout season 3. It was sad to see Shane go. What is much sadder than that, though, is seeing Lori get pissed off that Carl shot zombie Shane. First off – Bitch, keep an eye on your son and he won’t be out shooting people. Second, Rick was defending the family and his own life, and Carl was killing a walker, as he has been trained to do. Lori makes everything difficult. She has an affair, she gets knocked up, and now she can’t ever find her son! I deem her useless for everything but procreation.

Overall, the finale was a major success! In fact, it shattered records! It reached an astounding 10.5 million viewers! The season as a whole averaged 6.9 million viewers. It was difficult for season 2 to keep my attention for the first half. There were several things I think that they should have done differently. However, after the mid-season return, this show blew me away! The finale gets a 5/5 in my book. Everything fell into place nicely. I wish I did not have to wait until October to continue. Bravo!

Several pictures stolen from BEST WEEK EVER and THE LAUGHING DEAD.