Their moaning moral compass now suffering from an utter case of dead (the kind you don’t come back from), it doesn’t take long before the group begins to fall apart. Flying in the face of Rick’s promise to show Dale that they can all make nice, Shane finally goes a step too far. The events of Better Angels, then, are all Shane’s fault. You’ll be glad to be rid of him by the time it’s all over.

The events of Better Angel are mildly predictable, even if you’ve never read the comic books. After Rick decides to free Randall from the group’s procrastinating hands (will they kill him? Won’t they kill him? Just put the kid out of his misery, already!) Shane kidnaps the hostage and walks him deep into the woods. At first pretending that he wants to join Randall’s group, Shane puts the poor youngster at relative ease before unceremoniously breaking his neck behind a tree. To cover up his crime, Shane then smacks his own face into the same tree. The old “he broke loose and knocked me out” routine is priceless. Is it going to fool anyone?

No. Never mind the fact that Randall is (was) tiny and Shane could easily headline an action movie on his own – Rick immediately sees through Shane’s ruse. Maybe he recognised it from when Michael did the same thing on LOST. They walk into the woods together, for only one to walk out again. Also out looking for the ‘escapee’ are Daryl and Glenn. Detective Daryl deduces that Shane has led Rick in the wrong direction (thanks to some tracking skills that would have put LOST’s Locke or Kate to shame) and finds what the maniac cop really did to poor Randall. The revelation is made more shocking when Randall’s now-zombified corpse attacks Daryl and Glenn. This time Glenn saves the day (earning Daryl’s approval) with a machete to the head.

Meanwhile, Shane gives up any pretense of civility, and pulls a gun on Rick. His suggestion that Rick is a crap husband and father doesn’t seem far off the mark, but is severely lacking in tact. This has been on the cards since their physical confrontation in 18 Miles Out, but Rick still seems surprised. He at first tries to talk his old friend out of it, but Shane is in no mood for listening. The outcome is inevitable, but the show pulls it off in a very surprising manner. Who brings a knife to a gunfight? Rick Grimes. 

So soon after the exit of one series regular, another follows. Little Carl arrives just in time to see his Daddy stab Shane to death. He then pulls off the sort of move reserved for action movies and Stephen in Dawn Of The Dead: shooting a zombie that’s standing just over another character’s shoulder. In this case, the zombie is a re-animated Shane. Carl’s impressive shooting aside, the reveal is interesting in that neither Shane nor Randall were bitten by zombies. It casually reveals that a corpse doesn’t have to be bitten or otherwise infected in order to return.

All this in the same episode as Rick gives Carl the age-old “everyone dies” talk (like the birds and the bees, except more depressing). To be fair, it’s not as though he could just nip to Waterstones and pick up a copy of Gentle Willow: A Story For Children About Dying. This episode gives the kid yet another death to deal with. Unfortunately, Carl’s dad-saving gunshot might not have been the best idea in the world, as it looks to have been heard by every zombie for miles around. Oops.

The penultimate episode of the second series, Better Angels is an odd send-off to Shane. By far this series’ most important character, it almost doesn’t feel worthy at times. His death is an emotional moment – but somehow not emotional enough. It hits the same notes as the book’s treatment of his death, but does so differently enough so as to offer some surprises along the way. This way it manages to (mildly) surprise both newbies and fans of the comic at once.

Next week, the season finale.

If newcomer Randall thought he had it bad last week, well, hungry zombies prove to be a cakewalk next to an interrogation from Daryl Dixon. While he might not be as professional as Jack Bauer or well-spoken as Sayid from LOST, Daryl sure knows how to make a man talk. And he doesn’t like what he hears.

Perhaps foreshadowing the coming of a certain Governor, it emerges that Randall is part of a much bigger group – one with no compunction against raping and pillaging. It seems an execution is imminent. As ever, Dale disapproves. With the rest of the group largely in favour (or at least indifferent to) a lynching, he sets about attempting to convince them to spare the boy’s life. His pleas fall on deaf ears though, as most seem to share the cops’ belief that executing Randall might be for the best. Even Hershell is content to leave the decisions to Rick and Shane. The future isn’t looking too bright for poor Randall. Bless Glenn though, who admits to hanging on to his every word. Another father figure doesn’t look far off though, as Hershell finally gives the kid his seal of approval regarding Maggie.

Meanwhile, young Carl is acting up, sneaking into the barn to talk to Randall and answering back to poor, grieving Carol. This earns him a telling off from Rick, which sends him running off in a sulk into the woods. Here he encounters a member of the titular walking dead, which he deals with remarkably well. Looks like getting shot isn’t the only trait that runs through the male Grimes. Still, his misbehaviour and mouthiness is an irritant – we’re beginning to see the emergence of the obnoxious little brat from the comics. The end of the world will do that to a child. His behaviour here is reminiscent of that of Jack Marston in Red Dead Redemption. Just substitute nearly getting killed by a bear for nearly getting killed by a zombie. His growing attitude prompts Rick’s final decision as to what the group should do with Randall, and also proves Dale’s dissent to be right.

Judge, Jury and Executioner is a very Dale heavy episode, and therefore full of heavy-handed moralising and potty hats. While it is impossible to take a man’s pontificating seriously with a monstrosity like that on their head, it’s inevitable that the survivors of a zombie apocalypse will all dress that way: after all, survivalists love stupid headwear. It’s a much slower episode than we’ve had in recent weeks, but not a bad one, dealing with the inevitable questions that the show would always have to ask. And then there’s the ending, which is a complete shocker. It’s apt that there’s no music played over the end credits – I was rendered speechless too (this review not withstanding).

It’s quite tragic really – Dale’s primary function in the group is to look out for zombies; as soon as he decides to take an evening off, he gets bitten by a zombie. And how. His is the worst case of bitten-by-a-zombie since Andrea’s sister went out the same way in Series One. Sulkily examining a cow, Dale is attacked from behind and ravaged in the worst possible way. It’s up to Daryl to put the old fella out of his misery – but with Dale as the camp’s sole voice of reason, where does this leave the group? Will they set about lynching people willy-nilly now? Nevertheless, that’s the end of Dale. I can’t say I’m not disappointed – after all, I was hoping to see him on a peg-leg, noshed to death by cannibals, not going out like a chump in a field. Still, much as I have complained about Dale (a lot) he will be missed. He’s one of the original crew, after all, and one of the comics’ most memorable faces.

Here’s a moment of silence for Dale, gone to the great RV in the sky.

Their friendship (and somebody’s sanity) teetering on the brink of no return, Rick and Shane embark on a road trip to clear the air and set a few things straight. Turns out neither man has much in the way of negotiation skills – soon enough they’re punching one another in the head while zombies threaten to have them both for lunch.

This impromptu road trip is taken ostensibly so as they can be rid of the latest addition to their gang – an injured captive taken during last week’s gunfight. With the kid bound, gagged and blindfolded in the trunk, Rick and Shane drive 18 Miles Out to drop him off in the middle of nowhere. Rick takes this opportunity to warn Shane off Lori, Carl and the baby, giving the big guy a good talking to. The first of the big visual metaphors occurs as Rick gives his speech to Shane literally standing at a crossroads. Get it?

The air seemingly cleared, the pair find what seems like the ideal place to drop captive Randall off. But while bargaining to be allowed to stay with Grimes and friends, Randall reveals that he once went to school with Maggie. Realising that the kid must therefore know where Hershel’s farm is, the cops also know that their plan has suddenly been made redundant. Shane decides to solve the problem by plastering Randall’s brains all over the pavement. Which is his solution to everything. This is where Rick and Shane finally come to blows.

Rick wrestles the gun from Shane’s hands before attempting to sock his one-time friend in the face. Shane’s rebuttal; well, a headbutt. A vicious fight ensues – Rick repeatedly smacks Shane in the face before having a motorbike dropped on him for his trouble. It’s a no holds barred grudge match as the two macho men settle things the old fashioned way. Rick is certainly wearing the right boots for the occasion (something about cowboy boots is perfect for a muddy fistfight). It’s brutal and violent, and sure to have audiences alternately cheering and hissing from the sidelines. It brings to mind two things – the fight between Rick and Tyrese in the comic books, and the showdown between Jack and Sawyer during Season 5 of LOST. It’s too early for audiences to care about Rick or Shane as they did Jack and Sawyer, but it’s nice to see Rick finally stand up to Shane’s bullying. The fight culminates with Shane almost killing Rick by attempting to chuck a wrench at his head.

The fighting finally stops as a horde of zombies threatens to kill all three of them. Shane hides in a nearby school bus, Rick struggles to fend them off and poor Randall simultaneously attempts to survive and cut himself free from his bonds. The show continues to impress with some well co-ordinated action and horror scenes. Not content to rest on its laurels with one-on-one zombie attacks and dull CGI head explosions, the zombies come thick and fast – the kills inventive and messy. Most memorable is Rick’s fighting off three at a time.

Back at the farm, the womenfolk have trouble within their own ranks. Now conscious and coherent, Beth is determined to kill herself. While Maggie and Lori try to talk her out of it, Andrea is an advocate of letting her make up her own mind. It’s little wonder she got turned down for that job answering telephones for The Samaritans. With tensions so high, what better time to bring up that pile of laundry that needs doing? Lori and Andrea have at it in the kitchen – apparently women’s liberation went out with the rest of civilisation, since Lori is in little doubt that a woman’s place is in the home, not atop Dale’s RV. It’s hard not to sympathise with Andrea here. Her handling of Beth’s death wish is ill-advised, but few would argue against her being better suited to guarding the camp than just washing the men’s grundies and cooking their dinners. The encounter leaves Beth with stitches on her wrists and Andrea the latest member of the Grimes party unwelcome in Hershel’s home.

The decision to focus on only seven characters (not even Hershel or stalwart Dale make an appearance) makes 18 Miles Out feel focused, taut and important. Rick and Shane’s road trip give it a scale often missing from the series, and the opening gambit is a beautiful tease. I particularly enjoyed the iffy camerawork and use of the song Driver’s Seat (Sniff n’ the Tears) during Randall’s captivity.

Shane looks pensive (and bruised) as he and Rick make the long drive back to Hershel’s farm. On the face of it, things seem to have come to a head. But actually, the episode just leaves us with more tantalising questions. Is Shane going to take Rick’s warning and behave? What are they going to do about Randall? Who’s going to do Andrea’s share of the laundry? And what does Dale have to say about all this?

It’s said that one should never swerve dramatically to avoid oncoming wildlife on a slow country road. So with that in mind, poor Lori might have been better served by just splattering that walker all over the bonnet of her car. Instead, she winds up injured and upside down in a ditch. To make matters worse, no one even knows she’s missing.

At the bar, Rick, Glenn and Hershel reap what they have sewed as a gang of fellow survivors come looking for Tony and Dave. Upon hearing that Rick shot them both dead in the previous episode, they open fire on the bar. Not content with George A. Romero’s zombie oeuvre alone, Triggerfinger is an Assault On Precinct 13 inspired episode – although the angry breathers of this episode are considerably less competent than Carpenter’s hoods or the remake’s gangsters. As Glenn cowers behind a dumpster, Hershel proves himself a mean shot. Attracted by the gunfire, the surrounding area is soon overrun by walkers. The rest of the surviving antagonists turn tail and run, leaving Rick and friends with one of their seriously injured friends to deal with. Jumping off a roof, the lad impales his leg on a railing spike. Glenn is suitably horrified as Rick and Hershel discuss lopping off this poor kid’s leg. The one thing The Walking Dead television series has been missing so far is traumatic amateur amputation.

In her ditch, Lori finds herself beset by hungry roamers. She manages to escape the car and even fends them off herself before being rescued by Shane. Already stressed, Triggerfinger gives the tortured cop plenty of opportunity to rub his own shaven head. There’s a great drinking game to be played with this series of The Walking Dead: every time Shane rubs his head, have a shot. Pour yourself a double if Daryl shouts “Suff-fia!” Rubbing his head is to Shane as taking his sunglasses off is to CSI: Miami’s Horatio Caine.

Eventually both parties reconvene at the farm. Shane manages to once again make everyone angry, with Hershel going so far as to tell him to shut his mouth. He more or less admits to Lori that he murdered Otis and has yet another tense confrontation with Dale. He finds an ally in Andrea, who suggests that his storming around everywhere, shouting at everyone might not be the best course of action. He responds to this by rubbing his head some more. Andrea raises a good point though, suggesting that Shane has done more for the group than Rick ever has. It’s a shame his interpersonal skills suck: Shane is a very good leader, in spite of everything.

Which is not to discredit Rick’s rather impressive talent: staying so cool and chilled in the face of such relentless misery. Where comic book Rick responds to most questioning of his authority with melodramatic shouting (“we are the walking dead!”), Andrew Lincoln seems to take everything in his stride. It’s difficult to sound too angry with a Southern drawl like that.

More than any other episode so far, Triggerfinger feels like real, visceral zombie horror. Their attack on Lori as she lies helpless in the car is gruesome and very tense, with a ghoul literally crawling over broken glass to get to the terrified pregnant mum. The action is gory and fast-paced, both in the bar gunfight and the various zombie attacks which occur throughout. Quite how Lori and Shane didn’t hear the gunshots from this nearby gunfight (or vice versa) is unclear, but such plot holes have become par for the course by now (how did T-Dog and Andrea not collapse with the vomits while disposing of the rotted zombie corpses last week?). And with everyone else pulling their dramatic weight, T-Dog remains a burden. Even Dale the disapproving serves more of a purpose. 

The balance between scares and emotion was better in Pretty Much Dead Already, but this episode deals with the fallout better than last week’s episode did. Daryl’s grieving for Sophia is subtly put, while his interactions with Carol are genuinely very touching.

While there’s still a lingering feeling that The Walking Dead is resting on its laurels for the time being, Triggerfinger is a fun, scary and thrilling episode, quite nicely picking up the pace after one of the series’ slower instalments.

Following the explosive events of Pretty Much Dead Already, fallout is the name of this week’s game. Some members of the group bicker and fight. Others withdraw completely. Shane is unrepentant, as always. Hershel, meanwhile, is a man desperately in need of a drink.

And who can blame him? His beliefs rocked to the core, he retreats to the nearest bar. Trauma from last week’s barn massacre overflows into Nebraska’s pre-credits sequence, in which Hershel’s undead wife attempts to attack their daughter. She is swiftly dispatched by Andrea and a scythe, leaving the Greene family even more traumatised than before. He demands Rick’s group leave his farm (sadly without the words “get off’a my land” in a West country accent) before storming off to the pub.

As has become status quo with their relationship by now, Rick and Shane argue loudly. Mind, everyone argues with Shane these days. First he accuses Hershel of knowing that Sophia was in the barn all along, then has another run-in with disapproving Dale. Elsewhere, Carol refuses to attend her own daughter’s funeral, much to Daryl’s chagrin. Daryl’s obvious grief is touching, although his downcast attitude means that he doesn’t have a lot to do in this episode.

Meanwhile, despite Shane’s drastic unravelling, his tender side is revealed in a rather sweet moment shared with poor Carol. It’s moments like this which make Shane a difficult character to hate. Unless you’re Dale of course, who shares with Lori his (correct) theory about Shane murdering Otis. It may be a while before Lori gets to share this information though, since she promptly heads out on the road to look for her husband and ends up crashing the car in a ditch, upside down.

With Hershel missing, Rick and Glenn follow him to the bar to hold an intervention. Rick at last manages to talk the man out of the bottle and his crisis of faith, just as two men enter the bar. They are cordial and polite at first, but given that one of them is Michael Raymond-James (serial killer Rene Lenier) from True Blood, it’s a foregone conclusion that they’re a bad sort. Rick and Hershel obviously agree, refusing to divulge the location of Hershel’s farm. The pair get awfully testy at this news, whereupon Rick shoots them both dead on the spot.

This, presumably, is in preparation for the arrival of The Governor; suggesting that not all survivors are as friendly as the Grimes crew. There’s also the revelation that Fort Benning is completely overrun, leaving the survivors’ plans effectively dead in the water. Before being blasted away, the two men then mention being part of a larger group – what implications will Rick’s actions have for the rest of the season? Still, it’s probably for the best – Hershel has enough to cope with as it is, so it’s a good idea not to invite anyone else back to the farm for the time being. Especially not creepy serial killers from True Blood.

Nebraska is a logical follow-up to the previous week’s shocking events, but nothing more than that. The conversation between Rick and Hershel mimics many we’ve heard over the course of the show, with one character expressing a lack of hope for survival, and another contradicting that sentiment. It’s not explained how Sophia came to be a zombie either – a tiny little portion like that, surely she would have been whittled down to the bone, rather than escaping with just one dainty little bite? It’s a plot hole that plagues not just The Walking Dead but zombie cinema as a whole: why aren’t the streets strewn with meat-stripped skeletons by now? Surely a big city like Atlanta would have been covered with them? And why didn’t T-Dog and Shane seem to smell the enormous pile of corpses they were seen handling in the episode’s final moments? A stink like that, they should have been able to smell Hershel’s barn from miles away.

How much longer the group can stay where they are is unclear. It’s starting to hurt the dynamic of the show now, this decompression. Like Shane, the viewer is getting itchy feet. Time to move on, perhaps?

Since arriving at Hershel’s farm, Series Two of The Walking Dead has tended to feel slightly sluggish and drawn out. The last two episodes, particularly, whilst good from a characterisation standpoint, served only to emphasise by how much the search for Sophia is slowing the series down. But as any fan of the comic books knows, The Walking Dead is famed for its moments of calm before the storm.

Not only has the storm arrived with Pretty Much Dead Already, but it also serves to be the best episode of The Walking Dead so far. It’s an episode full of confrontation, arguments and topped off with an emotional gut punch worthy of the comics themselves. Finally, the show has caught up with Kirkman and Adlard to deliver forty five minutes of television worthy of the title. With Pretty Much Dead Already, I finally looked at Andrew Lincoln and saw Rick Grimes glaring back at me.

Following the emotional revelations in the aptly named Secrets, the episode kicks off with yet another: Glenn marches into the middle of the camp and lets Hershel’s dirty little secret right out of the bag. Way to put folks off their breakfast, Glenn. But never mind all that. On top of everything else it does (and it does a lot) Pretty Much Dead Already delivers the biggest shock of the series. Dale finally takes off the stupid potty hat.

But if The Walking Dead has taught us anything, it’s that some things just won’t stay down. The hat looks no less ridiculous on Glenn’s head than it did the old man’s. It’s an episode full of stupid hats though; little Carl gets in on the act, wearing daddy’s cop hat to swear at Shane and demand they find Sophia. Dale is still out of sorts following his confrontation with Shane, and heads into the nearby swamp to hide the group’s guns. Shane is hot on his tail, and a truly tense showdown occurs. His fuse burnt within an inch of explosion, Shane provides a catalyst for most of the action within Pretty Much Dead Already. He leads the group in marching up to the barn and suggesting they either flee or kill every last zombie within. As he spends almost the entirety of the episode ranting and raving, there’s a feeling that this episode could be a game changer.

It’s certainly a change of pace, seeing heated argument after argument precede a bloody shootout in the last ten minutes. Hershel demands that the zombies be corralled and kept locked away in his barn, telling Rick that the group may only stay on the condition that they abide by this rule. Reasonable Rick is on board, and even helps the old man collect a couple of lost walkers from the swamp. But as they make their way towards the barn (leading the zombies like the captive dead in Day of the Dead) Shane decides to make his move.

It’s like the massacre at the OK Corral but with zombies and an old man crying on his knees. Hershel is powerless to stop his guests, and looks on in horrified silence. No doubt he’ll have something to say about this in the next episode (most likely a variation on “get off’a my land”). But his stunned, shellshocked silence is likely to echo that of the viewer’s as the episode’s big twist emerges from the barn. It hardly comes as a surprise (many will have seen it coming) but that makes it no less emotionally devastating.

Pretty Much Dead Already is a superb episode of an already consistent television show. There are still little niggles and visible flaws, but they’re eclipsed by the sheer bravado elsewhere. It takes guts to be as depressing as this on Channel 5 on a Monday night.

Grim as Pretty Much Dead Already gets, something tells me that the aftermath is going to be even worse.

What do you feed a shedload of captive zombies? The answer, apparently, is traumatised chicken in a bag. With his farmhands feeding abused chicken to battery cooped zombies, it would appear that Hershel’s farm isn’t as happy as it might first have appeared to be.

The old man’s intentions are ethically sound though, not having the heart to put his deceased wife, stepchild and neighbours out of their misery. Since discovering the Greenes’ big secret last episode, Glenn keeps things mostly under his hat for now, telling only Dale what’s in the shed. It’s quite the day for revelations, with Dale finding out not only about Hershel’s pet zombies but Lori’s pregnancy too. Aptly enough, the episode is called Secrets. Poor Rick is on the end of a couple of doozies.

Foremost, Secrets is an episode full of character progression. As Rick and Shane teach the group how to handle firearms, we begin to see the birth of the sharpshooter Andrea that many will recognise from the comic books. Glenn comes in particularly handy, showing remarkable initiative with a wooden shelf and a walker’s head. This happens on a second trip to the pharmacy, Glenn yet again acting as Lori’s little errand boy. A zombie grabs Maggie as they peruse the aisles, leaving her with a change of perception and the zombie with quite the headache. All this in the pursuit of a packet of morning after pills. Maggie lauds Glenn’s intelligence, but even he doesn’t seem to realise that morning after pills aren’t going to be of much use if it’s an abortion you’re after.

Controversial issues, then, at the heart of Secrets. This gives Dale plenty of chance to offer his opinion about practically everything, from Hershel’s lodgers in the barn to Lori’s pregnancy to Shane’s rather volatile personality. It’s understandable that the old guy should feel aggrieved though; with Shane having survived the TV series’ Days Gone Bye arc, he’s now stolen Dale’s thunder and embarked upon an affair with Andrea. Mind, it’s inevitable that certain relationships should play out differently on the television – nobody wants to see Jeffery DeMunn and Laurie Holden getting it on, ew.

All this is following Shane and Andrea’s visit to a nearby neighbourhood where they suspect they might find Sophia. Instead they find a lot of zombies, giving Andrea the opportunity to show off her newfound gunplay skills. It gets both of them a little hot under the collar, and the pair pull up on the road for a quickie before returning to camp. In a tent, in the pharmacy and now in a car – those kinky survivors will get it on anywhere. Needless to say, hotheaded Shane doesn’t take too kindly to being warned off by Dale, and issues a thinly veiled warning to the man in the potty hat.

The interplay between the group has vastly improved since Series One, with the characters coming together to feel like a cohesive unit. There are exceptions (T-Dog remains incredibly underused) but I’m finally starting to feel for the survivors as I did the LOST castaways. One by one, we’re coming to care about these characters (except for you, Dale). Since Series Six of LOST came to an end, I and many others have sought a substitute. Dexter, True Blood and newcomers like American Horror Story have helped to fill the void, but it’s the “live together, die alone” spirit I’ve really missed. The Walking Dead isn’t quite there yet, but it finally feels as though it might be making moves in the right direction.

Secrets doesn’t end with a cliffhanger, as such. To be fair, given the revelations he shoulders in this episode, poor Rick Grimes is owed a break.

It’s a funny thing that The Walking Dead‘s breakout character so far is one of the few to have no counterpart or origins in the comic books. Chupacabra is a Daryl Dixon heavy episode, thereby adding further fuel to the fire of this reviewer’s man-crush. The man just plain knows how to rock a horse – even if he does fall off it five minutes later.

While searching for Sophia, Daryl takes a spill, falls down the side of a steep hill and winds up battered and bruised on the ground. Can a pep-talk from his brother save the day? Michael Rooker’s Merle returns, albeit in hallucinatory form. Even fake Merle is a foulmouthed racist, sewing seeds of contention in baby brother’s mind; encouraging Daryl to rebel against Rick and chums. It’s a shame that the show should spoil Rooker’s return (this review not withstanding) by including the big man’s name amongst the opening credits. It could have been better served as a cheeky little surprise, perhaps, in lieu of his real return to The Walking Dead. Another funny thing is that the character is served a lot better in these little hallucinations than his actual self ever was in Series One. 

Much of the episode deals with Daryl in distress, particularly during a tense scene with Andrea and a high-powered rifle. If Daryl was having doubts about his choice of travelling companions before, then they’ll only be compounded by Andrea nearly shooting his face in. It’s a good thing that her shooting is a little more off here than it is in the comics. Daryl’s, however, remains spot on. The guy’s a consummate badass even while lying smashed to bits at the bottom of a crevasse.

Also having doubts about the Grimes party is Hershel, quickly beginning to notice how unstable and unpredictable his new houseguests are. When they’re not stealing his horses, they’re taking his family for zombie-walks and rooting around in his kitchen. And then there’s the little matter of Shane murdering Otis and Glenn getting the glad eye for his daughter, Maggie. Still, Hershel is not a man without secrets of his own, as discovered by Glenn whilst on a quest for nookie.

After the past two weeks’ more padded, talky episodes, Chupacabra picks up the pace a little. It opens with a flashback to the beginnings of the zombie apocalypse – something it might be nice to see more of – and is punctuated throughout with either action or genuinely nice characterisation. Even Dale is less annoying than usual, sharing some sweet bonding time in the RV (of course) with Glenn. If Glenn’s theory about the women beginning to ‘synchronise’ is funny, then Dale’s reaction is even better. He’s less impressed at Glenn’s kiss-and-tell on Maggie though, and gets plenty of chance to practice his disapproving face. Oh Dale, you disapprove of everything.

We can only imagine how much Dale will disapprove of the episode’s big reveal (spoiler: quite a lot, probably) but one thing is for certain: Hershel’s got himself some explaining to do.

“Next time on The Walking Dead…” an odd decision by Channel 5 last week, to air Cherokee Rose’s closing moments as its own promo material. Especially given the air of mystery built up throughout the episode, with Lori acting mighty suspicious and requesting a top secret item from one of Glenn’s salvage runs.

The cliffhanger itself will come as little surprise to followers of the comic book or even half-astute viewers, but it’s still a silly marketing decision to air a spoiler in advertising the following week’s episode. This leaves the viewer left distracted waiting for the big moment itself to air – and when it finally does, there’s a bathetic air about it. Still, the rest of Cherokee Rose makes for fine television too. Following Hershel’s successful operation on Carl’s gut wound, the rest of the survivors arrive at his farm. A newly shaven-headed, obviously disturbed Shane speaks emotionally charged lies at Otis’s funeral while the rest of the gang concentrate on either finding Sophia or helping out on Hershel’s farm.

For Glenn, this involves a supplies run to the local pharmacy with Maggie. A supply run apparently being a metaphor for sex. The Walking Dead has no time for a will-they-won’t-they romance between the two, as they soon find themselves disrobing in the aisles. A bonus of boning in the local pharmacy: plenty of condoms on hand. Also, that secret something for Lori.

Elsewhere, Andrea and the menfolk find something nasty in one of Hershel’s wells: a waterlogged zombie trapped at the bottom. What’s that, Skip? A zombie, you say? Trapped down the well? Since shooting the thing would taint the water supply, they have little option but to pull it out by other means. The zombie effects are wonderful here, leading to a spectacularly gruesome payoff. It also gives Glenn something else to do, with the episode making him seem as gutsy and invaluable here as his comic book counterpart. Innocent soppy Glenn makes for a nice change from the rest of the bestubbled tough guys and traumatised semi-psychopaths that otherwise populate the programme. The other exception being Daryl, who gives Carol the titular Cherokee Rose with some surprisingly sweet words of comfort.

Aside from the wet zombie in the well, there’s hardly any walking dead to this Walking Dead. Rick gets to share a few tender moments with his son (the lad finally inherits his dad’s hat) as well as talking religion with Hershel. The kindly farmer promises to consider letting Rick and co. stay on his land, providing they abide by a few rules. Given the more volatile personalities amongst the Grimes camp, they’d be best off not holding their breath. Especially with Shane looking more and more bug-eyed as the series goes on. And I wouldn’t want Dale parking that eyesore RV on my land either. 

Like last week’s instalment, it feels a little padded – the missing Sophia storyline is beginning to get a bit tedious – but is enlivened with neat character building moments and the odd touch of horror. Cherokee Rose ends with a cliffhanger, but we already know what that is, don’t we.

This week’s Walking Dead sees as much eating of words as it does noshing of brains. Remember when I said that Shane was “the heart of the show?” and essentially a better leader than Rick? Well this week, all that goodwill and more is undone in the space of five minutes, leaving our Bloodletting review looking awfully silly. Thanks a lot, Shane. Bastard.

Sophia is still missing, Carl is still dying, Daryl is still awesome and there’s a zombie up a tree. At Hershel’s farm, Rick and Lori sit at Carl’s bedside debating whether he’d be better off alive or dead.  Save The Last One is a very talky episode for much of the time, save for the action with Shane and Otis in the school. It’s cracking zombie action, right up there with the Dawn of the Dead remake and the first Resident Evil movie. It’s a nice counterpoint to Rick and Lori’s mortal angst. Andrew Lincoln and Sarah Wayne Callies shoulder the emotional stuff well, but it makes for depressing viewing when everyone else is utterly miserable too.

Well, almost everyone else. There’s some neat comic relief in Daryl and Andrea, whose midnight sojourn into the woods results in a fun anecdote for Daryl and leaving Andrea looking a little less uptight. Their discovery of a zombie in the most unexpected of places is a highlight – this series it seems as though the writers are really pushing themselves to provide something memorable for the gang to stumble upon every episode. Last week it was a gore covered baby seat in a car – in Save The Last One, it’s a zombie dangling from a tree with an accompanying poem. Between this, Merle’s VD saving the day (his return can’t be far off, surely) and stories of Daryl’s itchy arse, Save The Last One brings some surprisingly poignant humour to the table. The same table upon which Carl is prepped for a surgery he probably won’t survive. Swings and roundabouts.

Elsewhere, things are finally looking up for Glenn, getting the glad eye from one of Hershel’s daughters. It’s a sweet if mildly predictable subplot, with plenty of furtive glances being exchanged  and possibly the most dialogue from Glenn since episode two of series one. Dale too, breaks out of his rut to leave his beloved RV and go for a walk. Now if only we could convince him to get rid of that bloody potty hat… His attempt to reach out once more to Andrea doesn’t go as well as he might have hoped, as he goes about it in the most condescending manner possible.

Save The Last One feels like the first of this season’s filler episodes, more concerned with building character than horror or action (although Shane and Otis find plenty of both in the school). Not that this is a bad thing. We’re at a stage where we need to start caring about the characters. Certain members of the group remain unbearable (Dale) while others seem consistently useless (T-Dog, Carol) but others are finally starting to gel.

Shane’s actions here are terrible, but John Bernthal and the writers show us enough regret to still feel for him, despite everything. He’s a conflicted man whose motives remain to be seen – is he genuinely trying to make up for his betrayal of Rick, or is this simply an attempt to get back into Lori’s good books? Either way – and however bad his behaviour is destined to get – there’s little doubt that Shane’s character arc is to be the most compelling of Series Two.