'Guts' - The Walking Dead, Season One

The Walking Dead

Season One

Episode Two

'Guts' - 8.5

I'm certain that zombie bitch has just uttered a horrible ethnic slur at poor Asian Glenn. 

I can imagine what the description of 'Guts' would be like: We open as Lori, our hero's wife and mother to their son, decides to take an impromptu walk through a possibly zombie-infested woodland. She is alone, with only the trees around her. A rustle grabs her attention, footsteps, maybe? Perhaps she isn't quite alone as she thought. The sounds approach, the camera jumps back and forth as Lori twists and turns to find her unknown pursuer. There is quiet, a still moment that tells the viewer something horrible is about to happen. Suddenly, in this tense, nail-biting scene, there is SEX.

Yeah, so Lori and Shane are getting it on as passionately as you can in the forest, completely allowing themselves to forget that there are zombies now. Would you wanna be caught with your pants down by something that wants to eat your brains? Anyway, this will no doubt be a problem later down the line - does Lori even know that Rick is alive? Or is that information Shane didn't give her? Who knows yet, I guess we'll have to wait and see. Either way, for a false-scare it was well filmed, and there was no jump music which is always a plus in these cases. I find an abrupt, deep booming sound designed to make us start at a point in a horror when nothing bad is actually happening kind of... condescending? I don't know, it's like the movie is screaming 'GOTCHA DICKHEAD!' then laughing and showing us boobies. But not here! The absence of boobies is noted, though it has little impact, but the fake-out is not taken all the way so viewer trust is not dumped in a puddle and stomped on. Hoorah!

In the midst of ‘geek’-infested Atlanta, our protagonist is rescued from his tank-prison by the meddlings of Glenn. It is good to have some new meat on the scene, and Glenn seems somewhat alright. Adept at climbing and escaping, he's Asian for no reason what so ever - which is a plus, by the way. Race shouldn't be relevant at all, and it isn't. There is also a black guy and a black girl, neither of whom are really referred to as such - except by me and that annoying redneck guy. There is also another woman and another guy other than the aforementioned redneck. I don't remember anyone's names, and none of them were particularly captivating. It looks like the show is focusing on the white girl, whose sister is at the base camp with Lori and Shane; which means this group in the abandoned store are really just a vehicle to reunite our main character with his wife. Fair enough, but it does make everyone of them fodder essentially.

The most notable moment - and I'm sure all will agree - is the dismembering of a walker that begins Rick's plan to escape from Atlanta. It is raw and nauseating, but the acting from all involved is reasonable, and makes the scene even more realistic. Rick's words of reflection on the dead man they are about to tear open with a fire axe are a tad cliché, but still relevant and a little moving, a total juxtaposition to the literal carnage that follows a few seconds later. We don't get shots of the axe flying into the air with blood splattering, no, we get shots of the torso being demolished and limbs being amputated. Well then, alright. You've got my attention, but was that really necessary?

The point was to have Glenn and Rick covered in zombie guts (hey look, a reference to the title!) so they didn't smell like living human beings anymore and could safely navigate the busy streets of Atlanta. Remind me never to visit this city, I don't like the smell of rotting flesh that much. Anyway, the plan is quite effective at first, and the slow shuffle through the horde is suitably tense and long. My only complaint would be the frequent shots of the rest of the crew watching from the roof top cause I seriously didn't care. The only characters I liked were currently walking through a death zone and I'm looking at the spectators?

Guess what? As our friends carefully navigated the street in fashion's new shade of red it began to rain! Apparently the stench of zombie is easier to wash off than mud, and the water reveals our heroes for who they are - alive! Next thing I knew, there are axes dividing skulls in half and our two friends running for the lives they just attempted to hide. Oh well, it had to happen our that entire traipse would have been far too boring, apparently. I've heard things need to fail or viewers get bored; I wouldn't know though, cause TV-plans NEVER work the way they are supposed to. All ends for the best though, as Glenn and Rick steal a truck, manage to distract the walkers and save the crew.

Unfortunately for redneck guy, he was a complete asshole and tried to seize control of the group earlier in the episode. Rick, being our boring-as-fuck, moralistic cop-protagonist stifles his coup and handcuffs him on the rooftop of the building, and this proves a disastrous decision when the black guy loses the key. They are forced to leave redneck jerk alone up there, essentially a pre-brought snack for the dead. Alas, watch me care for that guy, my only regret is that we didn't get to see him chomped to bits.

As the episode ended, our new group of survivors made their way out of Atlanta, presumably towards the 'safety' of the sex forest and its nearby base camp.

Should I mention the quality of the episode? Sure! Way more happens in this episode than in the last, and there is so little time spent on exposition that I have no clue at all who anyone but Rick and Glenn actually are. That's a negative right there, though I never really expected a zombie show to be a character drama. The violence, though way, way over-the-top was actually pretty standard for the zombie-genre, so I didn't really have that big a problem with it. I had to turn away from the screen during the dismemberment (only to rewatch it so I could talk about it), but I guess that's just effectiveness. Acting; well as I said I don't know who these characters are so I can't say much. Nothing hit me as particularly good or bad, though the work of the white girl was pretty good, as well as (I hate to admit it) redneck guy. To be honest though, acting didn't really matter. It's a horror film essentially, and who cares about how relatable the characters or their portrayers are? We just want fear, violence and suspense, and 'Guts' definitely delivers.