The Walking Dead: Guts

Spoilers for the episode

The Story:

Glen gets Rick out of the tank and to safety. Then we meet a load of characters, most of them I want pushed off the roof, who are trapped in the shop because of Rick being a ‘dumb ass’. So now they’ve got to escape and that involves draping intestines around their necks to smell dead to get past the walkers.

Thoughts:

We meet more of the camp and half of them I’d completely forgotten because most of them are dead. I don’t think that’s a spoiler for the rest of the series because this is a zombie show, lots of people die.

Lori goes off into the woods alone to have sex with Shane and the writers decide to try and trick us into thinking there’s something out there with her so we get lots of noises and someone watching her. I wasn’t fooled the first time I watched this and now it’s just wasting my time.

They have sex and she takes off the wedding ring she has on a chain around her neck. Oh no she’s taking off her dead husband’s wedding ring so she can move on with her life what an awful person.

Then we’re back to the city and I love the shot of the street from above. The walkers are still eating the horse and Rick is still trapped in the tank.

Rick’s talking to Glen on the radio and asks Glen his name but Glen’s to the point and asks if he’s been listening because he’s running out of time. Glen says if he could see what he sees he’d feel so much worse but he should make a run for it with Glen guiding him.

Glen calls them walkers but he also calls them geeks and so do others several times in the episode. Is that an American thing because it seems like a pretty strange thing to call someone as an insult.

Rick makes it to the alley while taking out walkers with his gun. Glen makes fun of Rick for being a sheriff and a dumb ass. They climb a ladder and apparently so can walkers. Glen’s a glass half full kind of guy and says that at least the fall will be what kills them not the walkers eating them. Rick asks him why he helped and Glen says he likes to think someone would do the same for him.

They get inside the shop and there’s Andrea who I hate so much more than Lori. She pulls a gun on Rick and gets in his face about bringing the walkers down on them. She’s right but this reaction’s a bit much.

They show Rick the front of the shop where walkers are trying to get in through the glass doors. One is using a rock to try and smash the doors. They all stand there in full view of the walkers trying to get in, giving the walkers a reason to want to get in.

They talk about trying to get the others on the radio and Rick asks about the refugee camp and Jackie says they’re waiting with biscuits. I love people making fun of Rick.

Shots come from the roof and they find Meryl taking out walkers with a rifle and laughing. T-dog gets angry and Meryl says you should be more polite to a man with a gun. That might be the motto of the series.

Meryl then tosses around a lot of racial slurs, starts a fight, punches Rick who goes flying, pulls a gun and demands they all vote for him as leader. Apparently this is a democracy which is something Rick forgets in later seasons.

Ricks hits him with the abandoned rifle and cuffs him to the roof. Then we get a Rick speech about racism while calling Meryl white trash.

They try the others on the radio again but Andrea’s so pessimistic saying they can’t help anyway. Everything that comes out of Andrea’s mouth is negative.

They decide to try the sewers and so Glen’s got to go down and scout it out. He doesn’t want them all coming with him though. They’ll get him killed if he can’t get out quickly so he only takes one person and sends Rick to go guard the front of the shop because he can shoot. Before this he only came to the city alone so taking people with him is a failure. I think he just took the wrong people.

Rick and Andrea decide to stand in front of the doors again, in full view, instead of watching from behind a counter or something so they don’t rile up the walkers anymore than they already are.

Andrea apologises to Rick, sort of ,for threatening to shoot him. He tells her the safety on her gun is on and shows her how to take it off. You’d have thought Shane would have gone over gun basics with her before she left for the city.

T-dog’s up on the roof with Meryl so we can have more delightful racist banter. Two stereotypes who I hope kill each other. This scene is just Meryl trying to get T-dog to release him and he doesn’t so it’s kind of pointless.

Glen’s found the sewer but there’s bars that would take a while to get through and a walker with a dead rat on the other side so we can have a jump scare.

Back to Andrea and Rick still in front of the walkers. Andrea wants to take a necklace for her sister but worries its looting. Rick says he doesn’t think those rules apply anymore. Another theme of the series.

Walkers shatter the first set of doors so they go to the roof to look at options. There’s a construction site and there’ll be spare keys in the office but they need a distraction.

To get there they cover themselves with walker guts so they smell dead. They snatch a walker form the alley and Rick goes to chop it with the Axe but can’t do it. He goes through the walkers pockets and has a mini funeral for him. He was an organ donor called Wayne.

Then Rick starts chopping and you don’t really see anything but the noises are enough. I’ve seen a post mortem before and I’ll never forget the sound of the ribs cracking open.

They start smearing it on coats they’ve put on to protect their clothes. Glen keeps saying ‘oh it’s bad’ as they drape intestines around his neck.

Rick gives T-dog the key to Meryl’s cuffs then decides they need more guts. See how they got the title of the episode in there. Then it’s out to the street where they sort of move like walkers but they’ve both got weapons which makes one walker give them a funny look.

On the roof they watch their progress with binoculars. Clouds gather and it’s obvious what’s going to happen.

Back at the camp Shane’s teaching Carl knots when the scavengers get through on the radio but only manage to say they’re trapped. Great now you’ve panicked everyone.

Shane says they can’t risk the rest of the group. Amy who’s Andrea’s sister tells him off. I remember her being so much more likable than Andrea.

Back to Glen and Rick on the street and it starts raining. The walkers start noticing them so they run and get over the fence of the construction site but apparently walkers can climb fences as well.

They get the keys to a lorry and drive off. They stop and Rick breaks the window of a car setting the alarm off which will be the distraction and tells Glen to lead the walkers away.

Up on the roof and they all leave Meryl only T-dog gets a conscience and comes back to set him free but drops the key down a drain accidentally. So he chains the door to the roof closed so nothing can get up there.

Walkers break through the second set of doors and chase them onto the lorry. Meanwhile Meryl’s having a tantrum on the roof and Glen’s having fun driving the expensive posh car.

This episode introduces us to a lot of characters and not all of them are likable. Meryl’s not meant to be because he’s a villain. He’s racist, sexist, selfish and an idiot but good with a gun. So he’s a great villain that you want to see dead but makes things more entertaining. Where as I’ve already had enough of Andrea. Nobody that unstable should have a gun. At this point Glen is my favourite character because he’s actually useful and he lightens the mood.

There weren’t enough horror moments to make this a good episode. The sewers were too brief, there was no point in adding that as a subplot. Walking through the walkers was good and Glen makes everything better. Especially when he tries to talk to Rick but a walker notices so he starts making walker noises instead.

Next episode we get some pay off with Rick showing up at the camp and finding his family.

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