The Walking Dead: Season 2 Premiere

Stories about a zombie apocalypse always remind me how unprepared I am for a major disaster; I really need to stock up on food, water, first aid supplies and probably huge amounts of guns and ammo. There's a part of me that believes humanity will always comes together when the s%@# hits the fan, but the darker side of me fears what might really happen if society's foundations were destroyed, and we were forced to fend for ourselves. Zombies roaming the earth in search of brains isn't a very likely scenario, but the idea of a devastating plague wiping out huge segments of the population is a real concern. That's why I enjoy The Walking Dead; it forces us to contemplate how we would survive if we woke up one day to discover the world we once knew was simply gone. And, well yeah, zombies are awesome.

Season two joins our small, haggard band of survivors following the tragic events at the CDC in Atlanta. That avenue of hope forever destroyed, they decide to head for Fort Benning, Georgia, which sets the stage for an epic zombie road trip. If you didn't know what the show was about, the early scene with Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his family heading down the highway almost feels like a family vacation with idle chitchat about a trip to the Grand Canyon and perhaps one day seeing it again. Of course, these hopes and memories are all they have to cling to now as their journey could turn tragic at any moment. Like Season One, the writers do a masterful job creating tension in every scene and soon enough a massive pile-up of cars and a busted radiator bring their caravan to a halt.

As they spread out to look for supplies among the auto graveyard, we feel their stress and exhaustion. We also fear the inevitable. Soon enough the cicada song ceases, and a massive herd of zombies shambles forth sending everyone scurrying under cars. This episode was packed with tons of great scenes, but this was one of the best. The thought of laying quietly under a parked car while the dead shuffle by only inches away is truly terrifying. The show excels at these moments of terror, creating a claustrophobic world dominated by a pervasive silence broken only by the moans of the dead and the screams of their victims.

The resulting chaos returns us to what makes the show great to begin with, the characters and how they interact with each other. These people aren't the shallow, stereotypical monster fodder that exist in your average horror stories. These are people for whom we constantly hope and fear because they remind us of ourselves and what it means to be human. Yes, zombies are a frightening prospect, but not as frightening as the pain and suffering we are capable of inflicting on each other. Conflicts from Season One surface once more. Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and Shane (Jon Bernthal) struggle to resolve their past as Shane threatens to leave; Andrea (Laurie Holden) confronts Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) about what happened at the CDC; and Rick, as the group's leader, must continue to remain strong and make the difficult decisions wondering how he will live with his choices. The fact that his latest decision results in Carol's (Melissa Suzanne McBride) daughter Sophia (Madison Lintz) getting lost in the woods doesn't help matters and only further frays the edges of the fragile group. It also offers a truly horrific scene as we see Daryl gut a zombie to check its stomach contents for Sophia's remains. Give credit to AMC for really pushing the limits of basic cable blood and gore. Hopefully, this season will continue to explore the group dynamic while also focusing more on the supporting cast who weren't as fleshed out during the first season. That is, provided they can survive long enough.

As the unrelenting tension threatens to tear the group apart, the distant clanging of a church bell offers some hope of salvation, right? Wrong. If anything, it provides only brief respite and the chance to offer prayers to a God who has seemingly abandoned them. Apparently, the zombies have the same idea as Rick and the others encounter three of them in the chapel sitting in eerie silence, transfixed on the bloody statue of Jesus on the cross. It's a creepy juxtaposition: Jesus (who according to the Bible rose from the dead) in the company of his zombie children. It is a haunting scene that forces us to think about life and death and what awaits us in the end. It's no surprise faith plays a role in this decimated world, and even Rick takes a moment to pray, though he admits he has kept his faith elsewhere most of his life. He asks for a sign, anything at all, in a great scene that shows just how near the breaking point he really is. If Rick's faith in himself and his decisions should falter, then their group truly is in danger of imploding. To say the Lord works in mysterious ways is an understatement given what transpires in the last scene of the episode. Once again, our characters will be pushed to their physical and psychological limits, and as long as The Walking Dead maintains the high level of storytelling we've come to expect, we're in for one hell of a road trip.