Kieran Mathers watches dull things happen very slowly…

I really wasn’t looking forward to reviewing this episode. For the fifth week in a row, the party of survivors wanders through the woods in search of the missing Sophia. There is also friction with the patriarchal Hershel (Scott Wilson) over access to his farm and the liberties being taken by some of the group.

So thank goodness for red-neck hero Daryl (Norman Reedus) whose Touching the Void-style survival exploits reward us with a great series of scenes. His relationship with his missing brother Merle (Michael Rooker), last seen handcuffed to a rooftop in Season 1, is revisited as a means of fleshing out his insecurities about his role in the group, and his eventual acceptance at the end of the episode is lovely – a real highlight.

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After some hit and miss episodes, is there still life in AMC’s zombie horror series? Kieran Mathers finds out…

As a series, The Walking Dead has never aspired to the sprinting pace of 28 Days Later’s “infected”, and is usually content to amble along like a good old fashioned Romero zombie. But now it seems the series is degenerating into a legless corpse, dragging itself hand over hand, week by week, despite some occasional spikes in activity.

This week, our characters clear a well. Seriously, they hoist a zombie out of a well. Daryl (Norman Reedus) takes a walk in the woods and the little girl whom the audience no longer cares about is still missing. Some cars move … that’s about it.

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Is The Walking Dead living up to its potential? Kieran Mathers takes a look at the latest instalment…

Zombies have it pretty easy. Robbed of their higher brain functions, all they have to worry about is food. (And what exactly happens if a zombie doesn’t eat? Can they get any deader? All comments gratefully received). They certainly don’t have to contend with the existential crises that beset our heroes this week; is life worth living and what are they prepared to do to save themselves?

As Lori (Sarah Callies) and Rick (Andrew Lincoln) watch their son Carl (Chandler Riggs) slowly succumb to his injuries in the farmhouse, they are forced to wonder whether it would be kinder to let him die. We’re forced to wonder too – Carl’s distended belly and seizing fit are really tough to watch and his parents’ helplessness makes it all the more harrowing.

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Good news, zombie fans – AMC have announced that The Walking Dead will return for a third season next year. But will we still be watching? Kieran Mathers weighs the pros and cons of the latest episode…

Like the final floundering heartbeat of a zombie plague victim, this episode only manages sporadic moments of life. When it’s good, it’s very good but when it’s bad it’s ugly.

In this episode, Grimes has to get his son to a doctor. Realising they don’t have the correct equipment to save him, Shane and a companion head back into town, where an overrun FEMA hospital might provide the equipment they are looking for…

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A bitter struggle to survive. Mindless, shambling antagonists. A dwindling team facing a bleak and uncertain future… But enough about the backstage politics! What did Kieran think of the Season 2 opener?

I can’t imagine The Walking Dead being made by a major network. The offspring of such movies as Day of the Dead, it’s very much a work of horror and lends itself to graphic dismemberments and decapitations, so credit goes to AMC for being brave enough to push the boundaries.

And, until recently, the gamble seemed to be paying off.

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