The Walking Dead season finale: “TS-19″

Photos: AMC

The Walking Dead ended it's first season with a bang, literally.  No surprise that it tops the list of most pirated TV shows.

Sheriff Rick

While the finale wasn't perfect, it was a good start to what could become great, and hopefully long running series.  Even though the main antagonists of the show should be the zombies, it has become the morally ambiguous characters, like Shane instead. Visiting his friend in the hospital at what appears to be the beginning of the outbreak, Shane tries desperately to move Rick out of his room. Armed soldiers are killing the infected, and even people who don't seem to be sick. The power goes out, and so does Rick's monitor.  Thinking Rick's dead, Shane moves a bed in front of his door so that at least the walkers won't get to his body. While he should be commended for trying to save him, that doesn't forgive him for what he has done while Rick was away.

Shane

Back to the present, Dr. Jenner allows the group to come in, as long as they all take blood tests. This doesn't really make sense, given what happens later. They all eat, and get drunk on wine. Rick toasts and thanks Dr. Jenner, whom after Shane demands, tells them what happened.  I guess there has to be a scene where someone explains what happened, people don't just die and then come back to life out of the blue. The other doctors left to be with their families, or decided to take easy way out. I had to agree with Glenn, Shane is such a buzzkill.

Andrea

After their nice hot showers, Dale overhears Andrea throwing up.  He tries to give her some hope, but she's convinced that "everything's gone." Rick goes to thank Jenner again, admitting that he was running out of options. Jenner assures him that everything is going to be okay. No, it won't! I'm sure they were all happy just to be inside, safe, and to have food and whatnot, but no one picked up on how creepy this guy was.

Hanging out in the library, drunk, Lori is confronted by Shane, who tells her that he loves her. Um, you guys had sex a couple of times, that doesn't equal love. He insists that he didn't lie about Rick being dead, he really did think he was. I understand his point of view, but she's married to your best friend. The one you almost shot in the head in the woods, remember?!  I don't know if watching people around him be ripped apart by zombies has mad him crazy, or if he was like this before. He tries to kiss her and basically assaults her, until she scratches his face. This is where we want Shane to die. Hearing her crying in bed, Rick tells her that she doesn't have to be afraid anymore. I think you do Rick--you're friend is trying to Single White Male you.

The next morning over breakfast, Shane says he scratched himself in his sleep. I totally do that too, when I'm having my Wolverine dream.

Jenner shows the group brain scans of the TS-19 test subject. They see the virus attacking the brain, and the test subject awakening, now as a zombie. This wasn't particularly fascinating, but it was something new as far as showing what happens when someone turns into a zombie. He admits that he doesn't know what the disease is, or even how to treat it. Yet somehow, he's still alive. Dale, being Dale, asks what the clock is counting down to. When it hits zero, the generators run out of fuel.  As the building starts shutting itself down, Jenner locks them in the control center. He stayed behind because he made a promise to his wife, test subject TS-19, that he would keep trying to find a cure. Which is all nice and fluffy, but let them out! All of this went on a little too long. I guess we were supposed to understand why he thought dying that way was the better way out for him, and probably everyone else. Which is worse, being burned alive, or being eaten by a zombie? Jaqcui chooses the former, not wanting to end up like Jim and Amy. Andrea chooses to say too, going against Dale's wishes. I love how much he cares for her, even willing to almost die just to call her bluff.

In the lobby, they use Rick's grenade, Carol found it in his shirt when she was doing his laundry, to blast through the windows. Dale convinces Andrea to leave, "You don't get to do that. Come into somebody's life, make them care and then just check out." They make it out just in time, of course. The CDC explodes and the group sets off with Bob Dylan's "Tommorrow Is A Long Time" playing over the final scene. So our cliffhanger is...where do they go from here? As Rick was leaving, Jenner whispered something in his ear. What was it? I don't want to spoil anything for you, but I was spoiled and well, it's big! I'm sure it has something to do with the blood samples, which Jenner told Rick that the results of was nothing special. The writing staff was let go, so we might get more character development, and a longer season next year. Hopefully Shane gets the snot beat out of him, if he isn't eaten first and the group runs into some more interesting survivors.

Still the biggest question is, where the hell is Merle?!!