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Last year The Walking Dead had only 6 episode to show for a whole season and it wrapped most of its storylines quickly, despite the seemingly slow pace of the show. With 13 episodes this season they seem to take their sweet time to provide us with much needed information, but is that really a bad thing?

Having a sense of suspense seems like the thing the creators and actors aim for, we might live in the century of speed, it doesn’t mean it’s the best thing to have happened to us.

But back to the show. I apologise for the absence of reviews and recaps for the last two episodes – Save the Last One and Cherokee Rose – here’s a short briefing on what happened in them:

The merry band of misfits reaches the Hershel farm and meet a man so affable I keep expecting him to turn evil (Hershel himself) they are helped with Carl, but since he can’t survive without a lot of medical equipment that isn’t available, Otis – the man who shot Carl and Shane go off on a search for them at the local high-school. Then Shane turns completely evil and shoots Otis to save himself and Carl, by extension, lies to everybody and goes even more berserk than before. He also gets a haircut of sorrow.  Pardon the colloquial style, but it’s what happens.

Lori finds out she’s pregnant – in under a second! because that’s how pregnancy test work, you know? Andrea continues to be a whiny person with zero personality and Glenn meets a nice girl, Maggie and they go wild in a Pharmacy. Not sure anything of interest happened, other than Sophia being still MIA and Daryl showing a softer side and a passion for history, when he gives Carol a Cherokee Rose that symbolizes hope that Sophia will be found safe and sound.

I am sure you are aware there are other characters in the group. Yes, so am I. I recall seeing them on screen doing absolutely nothing.

Having more time to develop the story seems to have been interpreted by some as – catering to each character one episode at a time, but leaving all the other characters in the background, waiting for their turn is not a great way to keep my interest piqued as far as they’re concerned.

But back to the most recent episode – “Chupacabra“. The title stems from a tale Daryl(Norman Reedus) told when he first met the group about him seeing a Chupacabra – forked tongue, fanged teeth…sucks goat blood – on one of his hunting trip. It raises a few eyebrows and elicits a few chuckles, but seeing how the dead are walking the Earth, Chupacabra doesn’t seem that much of a stretch anymore.

In case you missed the memo and millions of happy fangirls taking the internet down with posts about it, this one was an episode dedicated to Daryl Dixon’s character. He proves once and for all that he is more than a hillbilly with nothing better to do than spot abuse at various people in his general vicinity. Since he stepped out of the woods he has gone through an amazing transformation, from disposable character to “that one guy that people will burn the AMC Studios down for, if he dies.”

Let’s see what happens – the search for Sophia is still going on – more people are losing hope, with Shane at the front, leading the way, but neither Rick, nor Daryl are ready to give up. Shane’s theories about survival make sense from a theoretical and practical stand-point, however, considering that they are talking about a child, he should perhaps hold his opinions for himself. That and we all know Karma is a bitch and might bite him in the ass for killing Otis the way he did. Pet the Karma, Shane! Pet the Karma!

During his search for Sophia, Daryl borrows a horse and when I say borrows I mean kinda steals, then gets thrown off, falls in a river and impales himself on his own arrow. Ouch. But, fear not! This is Daryl Dixon so he survives and manages to climb a slope twice, kill two zombies and show that Merle hallucination that he “ain’t nobody’s bitch”.

I will go off on a tangent here and praise the interaction Merle (Michael Rooker) and Daryl have. Rooker can be scary as hell when he wants it and here he is no exception. What I did find interesting is that his character despite being harsh and not a little bit cruel to “Darlena” has done nothing other than pushing him forward, making him get up and fight for his own survival. The way Daryl’s psyche approached the situation gives a little insight into the character, a little more if you think about from a psychological point of view. His own mind is abusing him, now what would’ve caused that?

Norman Reedus likened Daryl to a stray animal who would bite you if approached, but would still love it if you took him home and gave him milk. This episode showed Daryl just like that, skittish around the others, but still willing to do anything to gain their approval, however unaware even he is of his need for it.

After managing to finally return to the farm, hungry, hurt and tired, the day takes a turn for the worst when Andrea, still trying to prove something (and failing) shoots him in the head, thinking he is a walker. Now, shooting Daryl on the assumption that he is a walker is not necessarily bad, in the sense that shooting a potential danger to your group is rational. However, what is irrational is that she shot someone while: a) she had the sun in her face, b) everyone was yelling – Don’t shoot!, c) walkers get attracted by noise and living in a farm, in a relatively flat area would make them gather like moths to a flame. Not justifiable in any way. I’m still against her being crucified, though a nice zombie bite never hurt anyone.

Daryl finally gets some much needed medical attention and delivers the first proof they had that Sophia might still be around, her doll. Of course, since it was in the water it could’ve just been pushed there by the river. Carol is still grateful to Daryl and is the only one to show the slightest bit of appreciation for his efforts. (I’m looking at you Dale, doing nothing and still complaining about Daryl)The little flinch he gets when, hurt and vulnerable, he receives a kiss from Carol made me learn more about his character than his entire run on the show, kudos mister Reedus, a great job as always.

I seem to have forgotten this isn’t the Daryl Dixon show, it happens to the best of us, but with the distinct lack of character development and even some involution for some of the leads, what am I to do? But to return a bit to the story – Glenn and Maggie, an item that showed up last episode, a little out of the blue, but let’s face it, apocalypse gives you little time to ponder decisions such as finding a
suitable partner, decide to have sex again. They pass notes like in highschool, in full sight of her stern father and settle a “date”. For Glenn(Steven Yeun) that means taking the girl to the barn, oh, you romantic man, you! except the barn is filled with Zombies…yeah, Hershel, you’re dealing with those Walkers to the best of your abilities. To quote you – “I’m surprised you survived this long.”

More about the Walking Dead next week, when we shall see Andrea(Laurie Holden) try her hand at shooting again, failing, whining…Ok, I think it’s obvious I have a lot of disdain for her character. I was promised a bad ass and in a series where the female characters are all weak and pretty much useless -seriously, writing staff, give it some thought – I was

hoping she will be different, but at the moment I only dislike Carol more, because no mother should sit and cook dinner while her daughter might be roaming the woods alone.

Ok, the episode gets top grades from me, Michael Rooker and (both) his hands made quite an impression on me, he is wonderful and the whole #MoMerle campaign had better pay off for future episodes. Norman Reedus was the star of the episode, perfect from the start tothe end, with a bit of Deliverance/Universal Soldier somewhere in between. Making a “hick” likable is quite a task, making him vulnerable while still keeping him a cool character is in a whole different league.

Jon Bernthal – who plays a rather despicable character is amazing at what he does, all his torment is visible, and he might even squeeze some sympathy from my little black heart because despite being misguided he still had good intentions. I think he lost them somewhere along the way, but not everyone can deal with an apocalypse. Kudos to you, Mr. Bernthal. Your character might be evil, but at least you play him wonderfully.

The rest of the cast…get into it, people! Andrew Lincoln is doing great(with the very little he has to do lately), but what exactly are the rest of you doing? Writers! Start giving them something to do, looking angry/happy/excited in the background is not something to be admired, however much the actors can convey with their eyebrows alone.

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Here are the two previews for next weeks episode.

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Tags: Andrea, Chupacabra, Daryl Dixon, Glenn, Merle Dixon, Michael Rooker, Norman Reedus, review, Steven Yeun, The Walking Dead