‘The Walking Dead’ Retro Recap: ‘Vatos’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

I distinctly recall that the first time I watched season one of The Walking Dead, that I had one chief complaint when I discussed the series with my friends and fellow fans of the show in that; where exactly was the danger? Sure, we, the audience felt genuinely threatened by the hordes of roaming and starving corpses that the series was happy to feature, and we had indeed been treated to some seriously gory moments early on as well. But the real danger, the kind where lives are at stake and characters say farewell had yet to truly occur on this series and quite frankly, I found that surprising.
 
Granted, to a certain extent, this desire to see a smidge of carnage and loss seems a tad twisted to say the least but let’s be honest, that’s a staple of zombie related films and shows. These creatures and the world the survivors inherit are dangerous in every sense of the word and it simply took me off guard that this series wouldn’t take full advantage of that aspect of the story, especially when one considers how well everyone behind the scenes had pushed the envelope to this point. But as it turns out, my concern when it came to this issue was about to be resolved in the fourth episode of the series, ‘Vatos’, but not before the show took a little time to present more of some of the feel-good hallmarks that were present in season one.
 
Of course, at first glance, there was very little to be joyful about in this particular tale. After all, we came to learn quickly that Merle Dixon sliced off his own hand in order to be free at last and to keep himself kicking he even so far as to cauterize the wound. But while that’s bold and strong in its own right, the bleakness present here came about from the fact that Merle was nowhere to be found. Something that I thought would seriously strain the relationship between Rick and Daryl early on and well, their time back in Atlanta was further complicated by the fact that the bag o’ guns that Rick abandoned on the street in the premire, became a point of contention between his group, and another.
 
If anything, this part of the story made it seem as though we were going to bear witness to the darkest parts of humanity in a time of crisis. Since it seemed this group of men, who kidnapped Glenn as leverage to get the guns, were going to cause Rick and his friends great harm if they didn’t get what they want. But as is sometimes the case on this series, nothing is ever quite what it seems and I loved the fact that this group of thugs turned out to be solid human beings who were trying desperately to save forgotten lives and it was a lovely twist to see something like that happening as the world fell to pieces and that Rick did the group a solid and provided them with some weapons to keep fighting the good fight. 

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​But, that’s where all the cuddly moments come to an end in this particular tale. Because I made mention of the fact that there was serious danger to be found in this one and it all started the moment Rick and his search and rescue team came to discover that someone, most likely Merle, swiped their ride. Which meant that this intrepid group was going to have to hoof it back to camp before the sun went down and let’s be honest, there’s never anything good that comes about from people having to high tail it to safety in a horror film, and this entry in the series was no exception to that rule and just like that, you could feel the danger growing as the group started their long journey back to camp.
 
Of course, it is the camp in question that where the danger took place, and I have to give credit to the writer of this episode, a guy you may or may not have heard of, Robert Kirkman. Because Robert does a masterful job of building the tension in this part of the story because as you wait for something bad to happen, you’re supremely disarmed by the gentle nature of the campfire setting that everyone is enjoying and the fine discussion they share in because this was hands down the most normal moment we had seen on the series to date, and then…just like that…all hell breaks loose and the next thing you know, Amy is being torn to pieces and the dead…are everywhere.
 
In fact, this segment of the story was and still is a perfect ‘be careful what you wish for’ moment for me because the show held nothing back during this part of the episode and seeing the carnage unfold all over again, brought back solid memories of the fear I experienced the first time I saw this tale and I remember that back then, I truly wondered exactly who was going to come out of this one alive because for a moment there, it seemed as though no one was safe. But thankfully, Rick and the team returned from their journey to Atlanta, and helped to put the dead down, but the damage had already been done.
 
If anything, I think this episode was a good wake up call for the characters in regard to the danger surrounding them and that they had to remain vigilant at all times and that’s really the only good to come out of this story. Yet, what I found most intriguing about watching this episode the second time around, is the dark cloud that hangs over this one, and not because Jim’s dream came true. No, instead, it was obvious that we were being played in the early episodes, and were only given a real taste of how dark this universe was going to get, because everyone in the camp found themselves rattled and afraid now, and fear…well fear pushes people to do anything and everything to rediscover that sense of safety and that can cause its own brand of trouble. Until next time. 

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