Walking Dead Episode 5

Posted by Matt Arnold on Nov 29, 2010 in TV Review | 9 comments

Wildfire

The situation couldn’t possibly be more dire for our little band of survivors than they are now. Recovering from the attack at the end of Episode 4, the group is realizing their camp is not safe, there needs to be order, and that previous ideas of morality may no longer make sense. More than anything, everyone in this episode is seeking to regain control, in any way. However like the title suggests, often times you can’t, no matter how hard you try. Right now, the wildfire is way out of control.

Wildfire is absolutely focused on this theme. While the show has been excellent, only the pilot has been so thematically lucid. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to fans of FX’s masterpiece, The Shield. Glen Mazzara, who wrote 19 episodes of that show, penned this episode. The Shield was very much a show first and foremost, about a people slowly losing control the harder they tried to regain it.

The biggest struggle is that of Shane and Rick. Rick is desperate for approval and support at this point. “Why can’t you back me up”, he says feebly in the forest to Shane. Only moments before he was asking Lori to say, against her true feelings, that he was right to leave them. The episode started with Rick explaining to Morgan via walkie talkie, how he is doing his best. Morgan is clearly not going to answer, and so Rick is seeking his own approval as well as Morgan’s.

Rick’s cop uniform has become a rather clear visual metaphor for his desire to hold on to his past life, and it is used beautifully in this episode. When he is first talking to Morgan, he is in his dirty white t-shirt. No longer a cop, just an unsure man who feels guilty about the deaths of his friends. At the half way mark of the episode, Rick has a plan that both Lori and Shane eventually support, and the survivors are going to go along with it. Rick feels in control again, and after the commercial break the show starts with the same shot as it did at the beginning; Rick, in the field, talking to Morgan. Instead of pleas for understanding, Rick describes his plan to Morgan, and even makes sure Morgan could follow them if he indeed is trying to find Rick. This time Rick is wearing his uniform. He will for the rest of the episode.

Shane does not seem to struggle with what should happen next, or how to command the camp. He arguably is in the most control, even of Rick who seems to need Shane’s support more than Shane needs his. He has no sense of righteousness, simply pragmatic logic. When its time to go to the CDC, he is the one who tells the group.

What Shane is struggling with is his ability to control his jealousy towards Rick, and feelings for Lori. He almost loses the battle when Rick slips “You would understand if it was your family”. Rick instantly sees this hurts Shane, and tries to apologize, but he doesn’t understand to what level he did damage. Lori and Carl were Shane’s family. The insult is enough to have Shane consider shooting Rick right there in the forest.

Many characters find control, but only in death, not life. Andrea wishes to apologize to her sister. This may not be possible in life anymore, but she can wait till her sister comes back, and then mercifully kill her as she sees fit. Sophia finally has power over Ed, even if it is merely in death, and all of her helplessness and lack of control in their abusive relationship comes out as she destroys Ed’s head.

Perhaps the most personal struggle is that of Jim’s. Poor guy was bit by a Zombie, and is instantly quarantined by the group: though he is lucky not to have been killed by Daryl. Jim becomes something of a personal battle for Rick. Rick needs to save Jim in order to regain a sense of control over the fate of the people that he feels responsible for. Jim is struggling to simply hold on to his humanity. It’s desperate and futile as he slowly succumbs to the zombie disease. In one of the most powerful moments of the episode, both men realize their goals are impossible. Jim’s only power is that to decide how he dies. He wishes to be left behind and die in peace, in the sunshine, and in the breeze.

The last act of the episode takes a wild turn: the first massive deviation from the comics. The audience is shown a lone scientist in the CDC working on a cure for the disease. With a mistake as simple as dropping a key down a storm drain, the scientist loses all of his work, just when he seemed to be on to something. Clearly he was holding onto his sanity, just barely, with the far-fetched hope of finding a cure. The scientist casually remarks he will be blowing his brains out, only to then see the survivors coming up to his door.

The parallels between the scientist and Rick are obvious. Both are men holding onto a desperate hope – finding people at the CDC, or finding the cure. Both are on the brink of insanity. Also, both find solace in communicating to someone probably not listening.

The scientist desperately asks them to leave. He has just lost the world by accidently destroying the first hope for a cure. So he sure as hell doesn’t want to also feel want to feel responsible for this group of survivors.

When they find the doors lock, everything that has happened finally comes out of Rick. He loses control as the last bit of hope he had falls apart. Lincoln who captures the frustration, anger, and despair in equal measure plays the scene brilliantly. The illusion is gone. They are the last people alive, the CDC doesn’t exist, and they will all die soon. Everyone screams for order, for help, for a plan.

Rick seems to have finally accepted his fate for the second time – the first being under the tank when he puts a gun to his head. Just as a hatch appeared under the tank to save his life, so does the door open just behind him. Light fills the streets, and the survivors will live another day.

Random Thoughts

• Damn, Sophia picking Ed was gory as anything I have seen on TV.
• Dale seeing Shane was great stuff, and their awkward moment together was perfectly played by both actors.
• Glenn had a great moment, putting him at a level beyond comic relief. His cry to separate the zombies and their own dead was rather effective.
• Again, Daryl actually seems to have the coolest head. His only outburst being a quick curse that the group is so concerned about killing someone doomed to be a zombie, and a clear danger to them, but were willing to leave his brother out to die.
• There was another strong theme of family that ran through the whole episode. From the family leaving because it was best to them, to multiple people saying they have to do what is necessary for their family. Glenn already things of his group as family, and Dale essentially tells Andrea he feels she is a new daughter.
• Who wants to bet Merle finds the map Rick left for Morgan?