Thanks for coming back. I hope you have been enjoying my full episode reviews of each season. This installment is going to bring you The Walking Dead Season Two Episode Three as we continue our journey through Season Two. Let’s find out if Carl will survive and whether Otis and Shane make it back with the supplies. Oh, and we still hold out hope that poor Sophia is okay.
Season Two Episode Three: Save the Last One
Many cultures have rituals of hair-cutting to show some form of mourning or as a sacrifice. At the beginning of this episode, though, it seems like Shane’s ritual may be more about revealing the crazy that he has finally given into. We shall see.
While Rick and Lori are talking and watching over Carl, Daryl and Andrea are heading out to walk along the highway and look for Sophia. Back at the school, Shane and Otis are running from a crew of walkers about 20 strong. They have them treed like a couple of squirrels, up on top of the bleachers. The plan is for Shane to cover Otis while he runs to the locker rooms, then Shane should make his way to the small upper windows and jump out. As this plan proceeds, they both end up partially crippled with twisted ankles that make it very hard for them to get away.
Back at the farm, Glenn and T-Dog show up and are welcomed by Maggie. Everyone is still very concerned about Carl and the delay in Shane and Otis returning is just increasing the risks to his survival. This all leads Lori to begin to question whether they should even have children in this world. The thoughts of every parent, what will my child end up as, are just massively more morbid in this apocalyptic world, with now thinking that perhaps death would be the only logical solution.
Rick takes a stand here. “It doesn’t matter what he said.” He means Jenner back at the CDC. Shouldn’t they at least have the chance for survival instead of just giving up? I have to agree with Rick at this point. Giving in to what is perceived as the inevitable goes against everything in my being, but maybe I have just played too many video games.
Shane and Otis have been separated and right now, Shane is feeling sort of fenced in. Walkers surround him and he is running short on ammo, energy, and patience. Suddenly, Otis kills the few remaining walkers, and he and Shane limp off to save Carl.
Back at the house, Carl wakes up and is able to talk to Rick and Lori right before having a seizure. After the seizure, his body relaxes and he is unconscious again. Too much tension!
Andrea and Daryl have made there way down the road. Spending this time talking to each other about their lives, they find out a lot about how they grew up and their differing views of life. They come across a campsite with a walker hanging from a tree. He was a man who got bit and wanted to opt-out, but didn’t shoot himself in the head and instead came back as a walker. Andrea asks Daryl to shoot the walker in exchange for her answer about whether she wants to live. “I don’t know if I want to live, or if I have to, or if it’s just a habit.” Not a great answer, but Daryl shoots the walker anyway.
At the farm, Patricia sews up T-Dog while Maggie and Glenn discuss the value of prayer and belief. Glenn is not really sure what to believe but wants to at least try praying. Maggie says, no matter what, “you gotta make it okay somehow.”
Rick makes his plea to Lori, explaining about the deer and what Carl did when he saw it. The fact that when Carl had awakened and talked about the deer, something living, and not about being shot, was proof positive that they could have a life here. It is better to have a chance than to give up. Unfortunately, Carl is losing blood too fast, so Herschel may have to operate without the respirator they needed. Lori makes the decision.
As Herschel and Patricia prepare the operating room and move Carl onto the table, Shane pulls in. Otis, sad to say, didn’t make it. Shane looks both scared and ashamed, eyes darting around, not willing to look anyone in the eye… Shane tells about how Otis kept pushing him to run, to keep going, and he would hold them off. Shane looked back and Otis…
Daryl and Andrea make their way back to the RV. Dale realizes he made a mistake and returns Andrea’s gun to her. When he asks for forgiveness, forgiveness for not allowing Andrea to make her own choices, she says she is trying to forgive him.
Maggie gives Glenn a rundown of the other family members they have lost, now that Otis is no longer with them. Herschel steps out and tells the group that Carl is stable and then Rick and Herschel go to tell Patricia about her husband, Otis. Shane goes to check on Carl and sees Lori watching over the boy.
As Shane prepares to wash away the sadness and grime of the days activities, we relive Otis’ final moments. We see him and Shane hobbling away from the walkers and running out of ammo. Earlier, we notice that a hunk of Shane’s hair had been torn out. In the final moments, Shane says “I’m sorry” and shoots Otis in the leg, hobbling him so that Shane could take his backpack and get away, and in the scuffle Otis tears out that chunk of hair. Shane runs, leaving Otis to be a meal for the walkers and the much needed distraction that Shane needed to escape. No wonder he seemed ashamed earlier.
That’s it for Episode Three. Poor Otis. We could speculate on the fact that what Shane did was really all that he could do. His choice was either shoot Otis, the man who shot Carl, and in the end save both himself and Carl, or to continue to help Otis along and have both of them and Carl die in the process. Was it morally right? Good point for discussion in the comments below.
this was one i had missed the first time around. so it was like a brand new “lost” episode for me.