The Walking Dead: Nebraska (spoilers)

After what seemed like eternity The Walking Dead has returned to our screens.  The first half of season two was very inconsistent with some very average filler episodes so my fingers were well and truly crossed that the show would finally reach its potential.

PLOT:  Nebraska opens with the closing shot of Pretty Much Dead Already.  No one speaks for the first couple of minutes which lead me to crank up the surround sound for fear of sudden deafness.  Despite half the cast holding bullet firing weapons everyone stands around and watches Hershel’s (Scott Wilson) daughter Beth (Emily Kinney) almost getting eaten by a Walker.  The group hoe Andrea (Laurie Holden) promptly dispatches the Walker with her weapon of choice – the hoe.  The subtleties of this show are impressive.

Shane (Jon Bernthal) demands to know if Hershel knew that Sophia (Madison Lintz) was in the barn and promptly got a slap from Maggie (Lauren Cohen).  Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Maggie have a conversation about their relationship in which the weaknesses of Glenn radiate through.

Hershel decides this is the perfect time to head to the local bar for a drink and true to form Rick (Andrew Lincoln) ignores Lori’s (Sarah Wayne Callies) pleas to stay with the family and sets off with his puppy Glenn in tow to save the day.   

Lori steals a car which she promptly crashes in an attempt to avoid a Walker with teleporting abilities (either that or Lori was reaching warp speed in that car).  In the bar Rick and Hershel rehash the conversation they have been having all season and thankfully it is interrupted by two strangers.  We discover that Fort Benning has been overrun.  There is a tense western style showdown in which the real Rick Grimes finally shows up.  END PLOT

Pretty Much Dead Already closed a choppy first half of season two.  Nebraska did not keep the momentum going and delivered an episode which can only be described as boring. 

I have appreciated the slowness of The Walking Dead as far as I can – it is time to get on with it.  The only consolation that I can take from this frankly piss poor episode is that it appears as though the Rick Grimes from the comics that we have all been waiting for has finally shown up.

The final section in the bar was very well written and there was genuine tension but it could not save the episode.  Lori driving off alone to bring back Rick only to promptly crash the car was ridiculously stupid and has regressed Lori character back to “irrational female”.  I am assuming Shane will save her and she will thereafter hate him for doing so.   

The Walking Dead has fallen into the habit of splitting each episode into ¾ filler and keeping the final ¼ to move the show forward.  This is not going to hold my attention in the long run.

The performances were all fine – Scott Wilson was the only stand out this week as Hershel finally broke down and realised that here was no hope.  Melissa McBride was ridiculously underused and Jon Bernthal looked as though he actually couldn’t be bothered any more.

This is a short review as there is really nothing left to say.  Nebraska was disappointing across the board.  The articles that I have read from Robert Kirkman and Greg Nicotero state that the second half of season two really ramps up the pace and the story telling.  We shall see.

Nebraska gets a 4/10.  I am shocked about how bad this episode was.

Performance of the week:  Scott Wilson

Annoying character of the week:  Lori

Zombie kill of the week:  Andrea (by default)