‘The Walking Dead’ season finale recap: Out with a bang
“The Walking Dead,” Season 1, Episode 6: “TS-19”
“The Walking Dead” had some ups and downs for such a short season. But Sunday’s season finale more than made up for any of the times I was bored by the show.
It opened with a flashback between Shane and Rick. It recounted how Rick was both abandoned in the hospital and why Shane thought his friend and partner was dead. Shane isn’t a bad guy (which I hope we all realize). It’s just that what’s going on around him has turned him into a live wire. The flashback proves Shane did all he could to rescue Rick from the hospital. He at least kept the dead out of his room by barricading it with a hospital bed.
Cut back to modern day. The group of survivors are inside the Center for Disease Control and appear to be the safest they’ve been since the outbreak. Dr. Jenner says they can come in as long as they submit to a blood test. They agree. He also warns them that once the doors close they won’t reopen. They don’t question this.
The group isn’t happy to find that Dr. Jenner is the only person left at the CDC. But they are happy there’s food, hot water and general safety. But something still isn’t right. He’s not telling them much. Everyone gets drunk to forget their worries. A drunken Shane nearly rapes Lori. But she scratches him and he leaves.
The following morning at breakfast, they demand some answers from Jenner. He takes them to where all the CDC magic happens, queues up the computer and gives them a lesson. He shows them what happens to a person who is infected through death and resurrection. He also lets them in on the fact that he’s failed, has no idea what the disease is and there likely isn’t any cure anywhere. Or maybe no one else but them for that matter.
Then someone notices a countdown clock and Jenner tells them that’s when the generator power runs out. He won’t tell them what that means exactly. Rick asks the computer. “She” informs them that once the power runs out the CDC will undergo complete decontamination. Which they soon learn means the entire building will be blown up by explosives almost as powerful as a nuclear weapon.
Jenner kind of flips out a bit and locks them all in there with him. Playing God, he informs them they’re stuck and they’re better off to stay in there with him and meet a quick and painless death. The alternative doesn’t sound much better, but they’re not ready to give up. Well, most of them. Jenner does finally let them free but Andrea and Jacqui decide to stay and meet their deaths. Dale convinces Anderea to go just in time.
Everyone who wants to be outside is just as the clock is running out. Then the CDC explodes. I won’t complain about how fake and disappointing the graphics were here because I liked the episode. So the survivors get into their vehicles and take off. Who knows where they end up and what next season holds.
I thought the finale was a great mixture of suspense and drama with a great payoff. I knew they weren’t all going to die, but I never quite expected it to end the way it did. It got pretty intense in the last 15 minutes. I kind of hoped Andrea had stayed in the building. I know that sounds terrible but I don’t like her. If I see her pull a gun on someone she shouldn’t one more time, I’m going to explode.
It was also pretty frustrating in the sense that Jenner kind of betrayed them. They thought they were safe there. They not only thought there would probably be a cure there, but the facility is kind of a dream for survivors. There’s no way the dead could get into that building. And there’s food. And water and comfort. Then they find out it was all very temporary.
Were you as impressed by the season finale as I was? What did you think of the season as a whole? What do you think Jenner whispered to Rick before he left the building? Maybe one of the survivors is actually infected?
