The Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 3: Save the Last One

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I call this episode the “Breaking Dead” episode. It starts out much like “Breaking Bad” where massive events have happened, and we have to catch up. That’s not a bad thing, I just like that the episode practices the aforementioned show’s methods, and it does it well. We see Shane, we see him with a shaved head, and we know some heinous shit has gone down.

I say this again, though, Chandler Riggs really is at his top in this episode. Riggs, Bernthal, and Melissa McBride own this season without a doubt. Their performances vary wildly, but they take command of every episode they’re allowed to have a spotlight in. I really wanted to see more of Carl’s plight, and I was terrified for him from the moment he was shot.

His pain and suffering is apparent and Riggs pulls it off like a pro. This time around Shane and Otis have gone to the old school by the farm to pick up medical supplies for Carl’s surgery and they’re pinned down. But the clock is running out. Carl could die at any moment.

It’s a frustrating episode, if only because I really wanted Shane to make it to Carl before he died. It’s horrible watching Carl endure a seizure due to his lack of blood, while Rick can only spare so much for his dying son. The scenes in the school as Shane and Otis try to break free and find a way out are intense and I still tense up during certain scenes.

Particularly there’s the scene where Otis runs away luring the horde behind him, prompting Shane to make a break for it. The school is surrounded at every corner with walkers, and every second is crucial to Carl’s survival. It’s just a shame what Shane did to Otis in the end. His act of sacrifice is cold blooded, and absolutely a vicious act of vengeance for Shane who seemed to really take to heart Carl’s accident. Tit for tat is the order of the day, and Shane isn’t about to let Carl die for the sake of Otis lagging behind.

But it’s also indicative of the lengths Shane is willing to go to to please Lori and Carl. He’ll take a life, he’ll leave people behind, he’ll leave a whole group of people stuck in an Atlanta department store if he has to, so long as he has Lori and Carl beside him. Who gives a shit after all as long as Lori is there? I wonder if he’d done the same to Rick if Rick were running alongside him. It would have been the perfect chance to cut his competition short.

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Shane always comes off like an alpha male in the series more than the pitiful loser we saw in the comics, and that’s because Bernthal can’t play pitiful. He her a very dominant persona and Darabont uses that quality to make Shane a man who can survive well, but is unwilling to sacrifice himself for anyone around him. Let alone someone he barely knows at all. Otis’ death is graphic and vicious, but Shane makes it to Carl with his own secrets. Who knows what else Shane has done before the walker apocalypse?

“Save the Last One” is a banner episode of the season, one that depicts Shane as an anti-hero with his own motives and intentions in the apocalypse. It’s survival of the fittest, and he’ll ensure that he’s the fittest when it comes to helping Carl and Lori.