The Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 1- What Lies Ahead

"I don't need all the answers. Just a little nudge, a sign...anything will do"

-Rick Grimes

I hate Monday's. I'm sure most people can relate. Monday's are boring, slow and signify the longest possible time till the next weekend. I say this now because that is about to change, Mondays are about to be the best day of the week!!!(At least to people like me who have no social life) With the first episode of the second season of The Walking Dead premiering today (airing on Sunday nights in the US) and the season kick off did not disappoint. This season looks to be more gory and more action packed than the last season with, in this episode alone the biggest number of creative zombie killings I've ever seen (including a screwdriver and a good old fashioned big ass rock).

 *Warning Spoilers*

We last saw Rick and the group just survive getting roasted when a CDC facility self-destructed, toasting the lone scientist in residence and Jacqui who decided to bite the bullet rather than get munched on by the undead. Andrea tries the same thing and if it wasn't for the old man meddling of Dale she would've stayed there. Instead she drags her arse out of there just in the nick of time and the group puts the peddle to the metal and gets the hell out of there.

The episode starts just where it left of, including a summary/tell all by Rick as he explains to Morgan (if he's listening) the situation. The group are making their way on the interstate and it looks like they can relax for just a tiny moment when the RV breaks down (of course it does) and they're stranded in a twisted metal pile up. The group start to gather supplies and try to clear the roadblock while Dale acts lookout for any oncoming Walkers.

Now I'm not ageist and I'm sure it could have happened to anyone, maybe his cataracts were playing up, but for some reason, somehow Dale misses an entire 50-100 strong herd of Zombies!!! Fortunately there were no immediate causalities, even with one group member almost bleeding to death and another trapped in a flimsy bathroom and seemed the crisis was over and everyone could come out their respective hiding places when two stragglers try and take a bite out of Sophia, one of the youngest survivors which freaks her out enough to go running into the woods.

The rest of the episode focuses on finding Sophia with Rick leading the searches, guilt-stricken that Sophia is alone in the woods because he left her alone while he played bad cop with the stragglers from the herd. After no luck finding her in the woods or in the stomach of a recently fed walker (try not to toss your cookies on that one) the group follow the sound of church bells to a church which still contains a few of its undead parishioners. Once dispatched using their new shiny melee weapons (machete, my personal weapon of choice and some kind of weird claw thing) they determine that Sophia isn't there and decide to head back to the RV after a moment of religious reflection.

Carl, Rick and Shane decide to stay behind and look a little more where they come across a enchanting scene, a relaxed stag just minding its business totally unaware of the trio watching it. Carl approaches the stag and as he gets closer and closer a look of childhood wonder appears on his face....just as a bullet goes through the deer and into his chest.

On the whole the episode was a resounding success and I believe the producers are getting better and better at integrating/transforming scenes from the comic book into TV friendly yet still compelling drama. Anyone who has read the comic books (and cover your eyes for a moment if you haven't, but would like to) will know that in the comics Carl gets shot in the back by one of the men on the farm who mistook him for a Zombie. I have a hunch this was altered to reduce the amount of backlash from anti-child violence groups or whoever gets their knickers in a twist over nothing (which makes me very interested in what they will do with some of the later scenes). Still it was done well and served as a great cliff hanger as I'm sure we'll finally get to meet the inhabitants of the farm in the next episode.

The dynamic of the group has also changed, with people starting to pull in different directions, some wanting to leave (Shane and Andrea) and others trying to control the group in subtle ways (old Dale and his meddling). We also get to see Daryl do a lot more arse kicking and be a lot mellower, with him going out of his way to help T-Dog and the rest of the group. We see Andrea really clam up and get super mean, making her reckless with her gun use and posing as a danger to the rest of the group. On a final note we see Shane in a slightly rosier light, he is under no illusion about the things he's done and he seems to want to do right by everyone else (even if that means slipping away and splitting from the group) considering the role his character plays in the comics it will be interesting to see how his character develops during this season (considering that in the comics he should no longer be alive).

All in all an excellent start to the season and hopefully it will only get better (and gorier).