The Walking Dead S2E3: Mo Haircuts Mo Problems

The third episode of The Walking Dead’s second season, called “Save the Last One,” is another reminder of what happens when civilization breaks down, when we lack the necessary equipment to assure survival and even basic humanity.

This episode of The Walking Dead begins with Shane Walsh shaving his head, somewhat ominously (but also shirtless, for those into that sort of thing). We don’t quite know he is shaving his head and looking in the mirror, but the tone of the music and the mood suggest something heavy about it.

In the previous episode (“Bloodletting”) we saw Shane and Otis try to get a respirator from a walker-infested school, to save Carl’s life. Of course, the irony is that it was Otis’ bullet that accidentally struck young Carl down (an irony which may have shaped Shane’s behavior in this episode) .

The group really does the best it can under the circumstances:
Hershel Greene, the wise old veterinarian doing his best to save Carl’s life, demonstrates thoroughly a “make do with what you have” dynamic, and the need to preserve certain folk knowledge and tradition precisely for when things get rocky. Rick Grimes may not have Hershel’s medical expertise, but he makes up for it by doing everything in his power to help, including donating a potentially fatal amount of blood to his son.

More from Opinion

Not everyone does as well, however. Carl’s mother and Rick’s wife, Lori, definitely ranks among the most panicky in the group, and seems to excel at making an already bad situation worse. She asks Rick if they should even bother attempting to save their son in such a world. While one may understand such a question , it plainly does not contribute anything for anyone. Frankly, if she were reasonable, she would realize there’s no way anyone is going to deliberately let that child die (then again, this is just a story, as I am in danger of forgetting sometimes).

Similar “should we stay or should we go” themes have occurred previously on the show. In season one, when Andrea initially decided to “opt out” of life by staying at the soon-to-explode CDC center, she was only stopped because Dale Horvath pledged to stay with her. She found it unfair of him, and continually expressed a certain resentment over it, seemingly developing an even harder outer shell.

At the same time, she demonstrates that she hasn’t totally lost her softer side. As she and Daryl go out looking for Sophia, she takes interest in Daryl’s childhood story of getting lost in the woods and wiping his bottom with poison oak, and she no doubt hopes that Sophia is not gone forever.

When they encounter a walker dangling on a noose from a tree branch, she urges Daryl to dispatch it. Daryl does in exchange for an answer to whether or not she wants to live yet. She basically says “Meh” to the question, which does not satisfy Daryl.

Dale and T-dog Walking Dead. AMC /

Interestingly, this episode reveals that, when the going gets tough, zombies may resort to at least mild cannibalism, as the suicide walker’s feet were gnawed upon — presumably by other “geeks.” In other words, even the zombies can experience breakdowns in standard procedure and etiquette (so to speak). When Andrea gets back to the camp, Dale attempts reconciliation by giving her handgun back to her, adding the caveat that he doesn’t want to regret it.

Already the Greene home has proven valuable to the group in general, perhaps especially to T-Dog, who gets treatment for blood poisoning. However serious T-Dogs problems were, they still don’t steal the show from young Carl, who dramatically snaps out of his sleep momentarily to mention the beautiful moment between himself and the deer, before Otis shattered his bliss with a stupid bullet.

Then, as if struck again, Carl has a seizure, looking almost like a subdued, indecisive break dancer on the bed. Still, that one little moment about the deer is fuel for Rick’s discussion with Lori. Rather than focus on his getting shot, or how the world’s basically gone to hell, Carl saw fit to mention that deer.

More from Undead Walking

Sure, it was slated to become Otis food, but it was still a graceful and wonderful deer. Its potential to become venison — or roadkill, or drowning victim — does not overcome the beauty of that moment. Though Rick doesn’t say it out loud, I can imagine him thinking, “The deer is good enough reason to keep Carl alive, you dummy! Gawd! Gee, I hope nothing terrible has happened to Otis…”

And yes, this brings us back to Shane, Otis and the walkers over at the school. What a heap of trouble! Otis hurt his leg after leaping from some retracted bleachers, and Shane hurt his from falling poorly from a second-story window. Will Shane and Otis become buddies who will laugh about their “ouchies” later over a cold brew? Not quite.

Shane is the type to rationalize on his feet, and when his feet are limping he’s more likely to rationalize in less than ideal ways. In this case, he uses one of his last bullets to shoot Otis in the leg intending for Otis to become walker bait. Unfortunately for Otis the strategy ultimately works, and Shane is able to limp away as fast as possible, albeit not before Otis was able to fight Shane on the ground, tearing out some hair from his scalp.

Next: Episode 4: Cherokee Rose

That is, of course, why we see Shane shaving his head at the beginning of the episode, and why Shane — along with the rest of the episode — has us wondering if humanity can ever be restored after it has been severely crippled. Well, if nothing else, we can still get haircuts from time to time.

Home/Opinion