The Walking Dead - Episode 5 (Spoilers Alert!)

Today's episode of The Walking Dead focused more on the drama and aftermath of the zombie attack at camp. One of my favourite scenes was when Andrea was mourning over her sister's death, particularly because I have a close relationship with my brother, well close considering the somewhat large age gap. The bond of sisterhood is strong, and when that all comes to an end, it's extremely painful. Add to that the feeling of guilt - not being there for your little sister's birthdays, being away at college and involved in your own life for years instead of being there to watch her grow up, and worst of all, being unable to protect her. This is what Andrea was feeling as she sat by Amy's corpse for hours on end. Andrea was much older than her sister, but still loved her all the same. We viewers knew that Amy was due to wake up any minute now, but Andrea refused to budge. Andrea wasn't stupid, she was waiting for this, so she'd have an opportunity to apologize to her when she awoke. And she made sure to be the one to end her life...or should I say death?

After smashing in the heads of the dead and burying them, they decide on a plan of action since staying at the camp is no longer safe from zombies. Furthermore, Jim, the man who suffered from a nervous break down before, admits that during the frenzy, he was scratched and shows the scar on his stomach to prove it. He will turn into a zombie, it's just a question of when and what to do with him. Rick suggests traveling to the CDC since they may have a cure or a treatment. After a full night's rest, everyone, excluding one family who plans to go to see some family in another city, decides to go find the CDC. However, during the ride, Jim becomes incredibly feverish and lucid and, at Jim's request, he is "ditched" at the roadside.

We then cut to another perspective - a lone man recording video journals and working on a cure for the disease is having no success in the lab. Moreover, after an accidental spill, he loses all his samples due to a complete decontamination of the lab. It becomes apparent that he's the only one left at the CDC and is seriously considering shooting himself...but not tonight. No, tonight he shall drink! However, it's on this very drunken night that Rick and crew arrive on his doorstep. There doesn't appear to be much hope, but at least he won't be blowing his brains out!

I liked this episode because not only did it combine a bit of drama into the episode, it also created a sense of urgency and direction in the plot. Typically, a zombie movie contains the latter, plus a whole lot of zombie killing. This show, especially since it's been picked up for a 2nd season needs more substance to remain interesting. It drives this from drama and having an overall sense of direction. So far, the goal seems to be "find help".

Check out a sneak peak for next week's episode:

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