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The second season finale of AMC’s zombie-apocalypse thriller, The Walking Dead broke all previous records, luring in over 9 million viewers.
The season ended in true zombie-killing madness and as we eagerly await the third series, Purple Revolver has taken a look back to see what Rick, Shane and the group have taught us about living and surviving in a zombie world.
*May contain spoilers*
1. Zombies are bad news, best friends in love with your wife are worse
Tension boiled over in the love triangle that was Rick, Shane and Lori, with the former Teachers star’s leadership and marital qualities constantly called in to question by the brooding Shane.
Shane’s borderline psychotic desire to replace Rick as the alpha male of the gang, and to make his wife and son his own, climaxed in the end of a not so beautiful friendship.
Rick took his opportunity to end the saga, knifing his former partner and proving that no matter how many flesh eating corpses are on the roam, cheating wives and jilted former lovers are just as much of a present danger.
2. Boys will be boys, even in a post-apocalyptic world
What is wrong with Carl? The kid does more disappearing acts than Houdini. Bad enough in the ‘real’ world but in a landscape full with meandering herds of the undead, the kid needs to get a grip.
Lori and Rick have a lot on their plate but the parenting still has to be better. The stetson donning champ has run away, stolen arms, teased mud-stuck zombies with rocks and even tried to sneak in to an execution.
Season three will have to start with the little man given a good grounding and a few choice words or it won’t be long before he finds himself as living dead lunch.
3. Confined spaces are never the best escape route
The Walking Dead cast have a worrying knack of escaping the zombie bites and scrapes by darting in to the nearest one-way in, one-way out space.
Buses, barns and small rooms have all been used as shelter from the undead, but if one thing is apparent about our zombie friends it’s that they are no Usain Bolt.
Forget the target practice and get some sprinting sessions in. In season 3 I’m hoping the crew tie up their Nikes and get some distance between themselves and the barely power-walking hordes.
4. Do not go on long walks/day excursions with Shane
Otis and Randall both were taken out for the day by Shane, never to return. Otis being sacrificed to aide Shane’s own return to the farm and Randall led into the woods under the guise of an escape, before having his neck broken.
Rick nearly suffered the same fate. Led out to help find the ‘escaped’ Randall, Shane merely wanted the opportunity to pop one into his mate’s back.
One thing was clear Shane was not the poster boy for a good old man-date.
5. A farm is not the securest anti-zombie fortress
We all saw it coming, right? The knee high fences, the rickety barn, the picturesque, picket fenced home, the wide open spaces?
Hershel’s farm was nice enough, perfect in fact for a retired vet and his God fearing family, but as a bastion against the plagues of Walkers, it was never going to hold up.
And sure enough when the herd got a whiff of human flesh they were through the shoddy perimeters in a matter of seconds.
Next time around solid walls and big metal gates will have to feature in someway to keep the group safe.
6. If you’re a bit part guy or gal you are not going to survive a zombie invasion
Once the zombies started storming the farm those guys who kept popping up for dinner episode to episode but never said a word, were done for.
Hershel’s pointless hangers on were doomed to not make it out of the ill-fated farm, with both Jimmy and Patricia coming to extremely gruesome ends.
T-Dog better hope he starts to get some more lines or it could be curtains soon.
7. Everyone’s a crack shot
For a group thrown together by fate their shooting skills are enough to give the most highly trained Marine Corps Sniper sleepless nights.
Daryl, Glenn and Andrea showed that being thrown around in a moving car did nothing to diminish their accuracy, as they repeatedly popped off walkers with head shot after head shot in the season finale.
If they do survive then I’m sure a military career will follow for most of the gang.
8. Nothing sets a romantic mood like surviving certain death
Glenn finally manned up and told Maggie he loved her. Albeit after speeding away from her home, now over run by zombies and not knowing whether her family and friends had survived.
Timing is everything.
9. Nothing is scarier than a hooded, sword wielding, woman leading chained, armless zombie pets
If you thought the barely blinking Shane was a frightening sight, then the glimpse of Michonne saving a fleeing Andrea might have caused a few nightmares.
Her cameo seemed to imply two things: a giant, samurai style sword might be the way forward with ammo running low and zombies, although scary, can make great pets.
10. The Walking Dead is at its best when wave after wave of zombies need to be put down
There’s been a lot of yapping this season. A lot of who’s right and what’s morally the best way to go. But when all is said and done The Walking Dead is at it’s peak when it plays out like a final level of The House of the Dead.
Because for all the underlying commentaries on power, society and humanity nothing beats a group of people shooting, swinging and running for their lives from a seemingly endless army of the undead.