‘The Walking Dead’ Retro Recap: ‘Pretty Much Dead Already’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

There comes a point for every television series out there, regardless of genre, where it simply must establish what it is going to stand for. Because every T.V. show has a theme, and to avoid discovering what that is, does the story and the audience a great disservice. For it means the show in question will languish about as it tries to find its real focus and that can turn off viewers since it hurts the overall storytelling and well… this is relevant to our discussion today, simply because this is something that The Walking Dead had yet to establish through its first twelve episodes. For despite setting its world in a horrifying world where the dead return to life and attack the living, its genuine theme had yet to present itself, leaving fans back in the day to ponder upon where this show was indeed headed thematically, especially since the group was quite literally going nowhere, since the farm was serving as their new home.
​
But thankfully, it turns out that this was all part of a grandiose plan. One designed to make us comfortable and somewhat secure, so we would be utterly stunned when the series established its devastating direction, and it just so happened that the next episode in this storied saga, served as the moment when this series made it clear what it was going to stand for. For ‘Pretty Much Dead Already’ established that this series was going to be bleak in nature and heartbreaking on a regular basis. Because no one was going to be safe in this story and could exit at any time. Which meant that at its core, this was going to be a harrowing story of survival. One that would test the moral and physical and mental mettle of the good people that survived the end of the world and it established all of this, by bringing an important plot thread to a head. For early on in this tale, Glenn finally opted to tell everyone the truth about what was hiding in the barn and well, once the group learned how close they were to the living dead, all hell broke loose.

For Shane immediately opted to demand that everyone waste little time in putting those walkers down, all in the name of safety, of course, and that put Rick in quite the difficult situation. One where he had to fight hard with Hershel to try and prove that his people were worth saving and that there had to be some common ground to find so that the group and Lori’s unborn baby would be safe in every sense of the word. Since Hershel wanted the group gone for discovering his big secret, and well… that led to quite the ask of Rick. For Hershel tried to teach Mister Grimes exactly why he worked to save the dead. In order to see if the Grimes Group would be genuinely willing to abide by his rules. Which led to a sequence that truly informed us of the fact that Hershel had not come to terms with the fact that the world had come to an end and that the dead walked, and while Rick tried to use this weakness to reach common ground with his host, Shane continued his downward spiral into madness and oddly enough his fury, is what helped to establish the themes in question.

Because in essence, Shane was done with all the posturing and kindness and believed that his decision to kill Otis, was how things should go in this world and once Lori rejected him once again and made it clear that their love affair was over and that the baby was Rick’s… regardless of the genetic makeup, he simply decided that now was his opportunity to make a power play and take charge of the group and be seen at last. Which led to an all-out assault on the barn, one that revealed Sophia’s fate. For it turns out that she was indeed bitten on her way back to the highway and died of her injury and returned and was placed in the barn by Otis… and well, seeing her animated corpse hunger for her former friends and seeing Hershel realize that the infected were indeed dead, put a dark cloud over this episode, one that finally made it clear… what lie ahead.

If anything, this was simply a brilliant episode when all is said and done, since it truly hammered home the dark nature of this universe and how dangerous and terrifying this world was going to be going forward. Because if a child cannot be kept safe from the ravages of the living dead, neither will adults and well, that reveal holds up as well as it did all those years ago, despite the fact that you know it is coming a second time around. But all of that aside, this episode also excels because it features some top notch acting through and through. Because everyone sells their worries and frustrations and pain in a powerful manner, especially in that harrowing finale and well… now that we know (once again) what this series is going to stand for, it is definitely safe to assume that the back end of season two is going to hit quite differently, especially when all hell breaks loose during the finale and well… the best way to revisit how bleak this season truly was, is to hit play and continue the journey. Until next time.

---