BRAIIIIIIIINS and Blood

Recapped by Angel Cohn · Aired 10-31-2010 · S01E01

The show opens on a quiet intersection with a police car driving down it. As the camera zooms backwards we see a cop (aka Rick, played by Andrew Lincoln) stepping out of his car and examining an overturned car and tractor-trailer and then several other vehicles that look like they'd been set on fire and heavily damaged. Suspicious sheriff walks down a hill towards a gas station passing quite the number of abandoned vehicles, including some that look like they have people living in them, and others that have seriously decomposing bodies inside.

Once he reaches the gas station, a hastily spraypainted sign informs him there is no gas, which is a bummer for him as he's carrying an empty gas container. As he heads back towards his car, he hears footsteps. He tries to hide, and then sees the legs of a bunny slipper-clad young girl. He approaches her from behind saying that he's a policeman and can help her. When she turns around we see that most of her mouth missing. She hears him, hesitates for only a minute and then lunges towards him. He sighs before pulling his gun and shooting her in the head. Credits!

Two guys are sitting in a vehicle eating some yummy looking burgers and fries and talking about girls. We spend a lot of time looking at the food... not that I'm complaining, but the squeamish at heart might not appreciate the juxtaposition of a young girl getting her brains blown up and ketchup on a takeout dinner. When we finally see the guys, one is Rick from before and then there's another cop person (Shane, played by Jon Berenthal who will always be known as The Class guy to me). Shane is griping about women not being able to turn off the lightswitch. Women apparently don't appreciate his attitude. Shane asks Rick how things are with Lori. He likes her and she turns off the lights, but she does complain that Rick doesn't really share his feelings. He thinks that when he talks, she seems constantly pissed at him... even in front of their kid. Aw, romance.

Deep thoughts about women are interrupted by a dispatch call. They and another cruiser head down a road. Rick and Shane set up a spiked barricade for the oncoming vehicle that is part of a police chase, then the four cops grab their guns and get poised to shoot. The spikes work and the speeding car flips several times before landing. All of the officers take their weapons and approach the vehicle, as the driver and passenger slowly crawl out fully armed and start shooting. Rick is injured, but not mortally, during the shootout. Just as Rick stands up saying he's OK and that he doesn't want Lori to know about his injury, a third passenger from the car comes out and shoots him, much more seriously this time.

In a hospital room, a blurry Shane is hovering over Rick, apologizing and bringing him flowers. Rick starts bitching about the ugly vase, but then we see that the flowers in the cheap vase are dead and it has clearly been a while since Shane was there. Rick looks over and sees that a clock on the wall has stopped working. Rick tries to get out of bed, and collapses and cries out for a nurse. When none answer, he stands up, looks for water and heads out into a deserted hallway and Rick starts looking around at images that look straight out of the early pages of the graphic novel (only here there's the occasional spot of color).

As Rick wanders, he sees a corpse that has been torn to pieces, blood spattered walls and an elevator that says "Don't Open, Dead Inside." Said elevator starts to open, in a way that it looks like its breathing and we hear some noises and see some fingers jutting out of the crack.

By Angel Cohn

Rick makes a questionable decision to head down a pitch black stairwell armed only with a book of matches. We see him react to the stench, but we don't see much else as the matches don't exactly last long. It is an effective and terrifying way to shoot this scene. He makes it to an exit, is blinded by the light and is greeted by rows of dead bodies hastily covered in sheets and tied with ropes. They are currently attracting quite a number of flies.

Rick, sill clad only in his hospital gown and boxers, no shoes and a bandage around his midsection, walks past several abandoned and broken down helicopters. As he finds a discarded bicycle, a skeletal corpse to it suddenly turns over. When the camera zooms out, we see the corpse is a zombie that is missing its lower half, has entrails oozing out all over the place, and really needs a dental plan. It vainly reaches out towards Rick, pulling itself along the grass. He quickly rides away towards his house. Once there, he starts calling out for Lori and his son Carl. No answer, but his house is pretty nice and fairly in tact, considering all the destruction we've seen throughout the town.

He has a normal person reaction, especially one that has been under heavy medication, and thinks he's in the midst of a nightmare and begs to wake up. When that doesn't work, he heads outside and just sits on his front stairs. He sees a figure all in black coming down the street. As his concentration is focused on the slowly lumbering feature, he fails to notice someone sneaking up behind him. The person from behind is a kid, who nails him in the head with a shovel. Rick calls out for Carl before he lands flat on his back. The kid calls out for his father, and after the dad offs the figure who had captured Rick's attention, he comes running over. The father says he heard Rick speak, and these zombies aren't known for their loquaciousness. He presses Rick to explain his wound, but Rick passes out.

By Angel Cohn

When he wakes up, he's lying tied to a bed with the son from before watching over him with a baseball bat. The dad (Morgan, played by Lennie James who keeps finding himself in these post-apocalyptic messes -- see also Jericho) has changed his bandages, and still wants to know what the wounds are from. Rick says a gunshot, but dad wants to know what else. Just shot. Morgan presses to find out if he was bitten or scratched, Rick looks confused, as a person who just woke up in the middle of a zombie apocalypse would. Morgan feels his head, says that a fever from a zombie would have killed him. Then he pulls a knife on Rick and threatens to kill him if he tries anything before cutting him loose and telling him to come out when he's able.

AMC is really concerned about warping young minds, as it plays the little message about this containing violence and graphic images and whatnot yet again after the commercial break. I would hope that after a half hour that would have been obvious, and that at 10:30 at night it wouldn't be a problem... but I guess, better safe than zombie.

As Rick wanders towards the dining room, he recognizes the house that the father and son are staying in. He tries to move a curtain to glimpse outside, but Morgan tells him not to because there are hordes of the walking dead outside. Apparently, the sound from using a gun to shoot one of them earlier drew the nearby zombies in like flies. And cheaper for the effects department as well, I'm sure. Rick starts accusing the father of shooting a man in cold blood, son says it wasn't a man (well, that's what he says after he gets his grammar corrected) and Morgan sets Rick straight. That wasn't a person, that was a "walker." The PC term for a zombie.

They sit down and eat, saying a prayer to basically stay alive, before Morgan asks Rick why he doesn't have a clue in the hell what is happening. He catches him up to speed on the flesh-eating zombies, who are especially active after dark. He gives him some basic tips: They like the cold; don't get bit; if you are quiet they will ignore you. Morgan says that if you get bit you'll die, then you'll come back and the son, Duane, says that he's seen it happen. This after we were shown the dad's wedding band pretty clearly makes me think that mom might have been a walker.

By Angel Cohn

Later that night, Morgan wants to know about Carl. Rick says he hopes he's alive with his mom somewhere. Duane wants to know if Rick is a bank robber. Nope, he's a sheriff's deputy. Outside a car alarm goes off. Rick wants to check, so they turn off the lights before looking out the window to see a sea of walkers stumbling around. Rick wonders if the noise will bring more, but Morgan says there is nothing that can be done, they just have to wait it out. Duane sees a female walker heading in their direction and says, "she's here." Morgan shoos him away and then he throws himself down on the bed and starts crying. Seems that mom wants to come home, as she comes up on the porch and tries to make her way in. It's a spooky moment as the handle of the barricaded door starts to turn. Morgan says that he felt the fever take his wife, but he didn't have it in him to kill her. The door handle still turns. For me, that's the first genuinely creepy moment of the episode, but I watch a lot of zombie movies, so I'm probably immune to a lot.

The morning, they step outside and Rick is still wondering if these walkers are really dead. Oh yeah, they are dead. Morgan says that it is something in their brains and that's why you have to aim for the head. Rick, now wearing clothes and a plastic face guard, heads down towards the edge of their property where one creature is sitting and hits him in the head with a baseball bat... repeatedly.

After heading back to his house, Rick is convinced that his wife and kid are alive because there are empty drawers and photo albums and framed pictures are missing. Morgan says that when everything went down, that was what his wife (she of the current zombie state) grabbed for. Duane says they are probably in Atlanta, because that was the location that the last broadcast said to go. The CDC is supposedly working on a cure. Rick gets a glint in his eye, grabs his car keys. They head to the station, where they hit the showers and happily discover that the propane system in the building is still working.

By Angel Cohn

In the locker room, Rick sends Duane around the corner to change, while he and Morgan discuss the possibility of going to Atlanta. Apparently, Morgan and his family were heading there, but the streets were insane and it was an impossible trek, and his wife had a heart condition before she died, so she couldn't handle being on the run. They've been lying low, and Morgan hasn't been able to work himself up to traveling on.

In the scene we see Rick opening the gun locker, and Duane is thankfully with them. I thought for sure when they sent him off on his own that he was some sort of zombie bait. I'm pleased to be wrong. Anyway, Duane is eager to learn to shoot, and the older guys inform him that he'll learn, but he has to respect the weapon. They load up duffels with weapons and ammo, Rick gives a shotgun to Morgan and is telling him it has a good scope on it, then tells him to conserve ammo, even at target practice. Rick begs him to come with him, but Morgan says he needs a few more days to get back in the shooting habit and to teach Duane. Rick gives him a walkie talkie, says that he'll turn his on every day at dawn for a few minutes and hopes that Morgan will find him if they make it to Hotlanta. Morgan advises Rick to watch his ass if he's surrounded by a gaggle of zombies. They are vicious when they are hungry and banding together. As they are about to part ways, another walker approaches; it's a cop Rick didn't really like. He shoots him in the head at point blank range. There's some pretty spectacular blood spewing. Then they hop in their vehicles and head their separate ways.

Back at their house, Morgan and Duane are hunkering down and barricading their doors. Rick, all decked out in his sheriff gear, heads into a nearby park of some sort. Morgan goes upstairs in their house to look at the pictures his wife brought with them. Rick is still walking. Morgan takes a picture of his wife and tapes it to the window as he practices using the shotgun scope. Rick passes the half of a zombie body from before. Duane freaks out at the gunshots. Rick stares at the still crawling "walker" body, apologizes that it happened to her, then shoots her in the head. Morgan sees his walker wife, who he was clearly waiting for, and tries to shoot her... but can't quite pull the trigger. He breaks down, she turns away, and he still can't make the shot. Rick just stalks through park.

Later in his car, Rick is trying his CB radio to see if anyone is out there and responding. Radio silence. However, we see a group of people who have set up their trailer and vehicles just outside the city trying to get in touch with him. One of the people is Shane. Also there is Sarah Wayne Callies, who is Lori, Carl (Chandler Riggs), Amy (Emma Bell), Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) and a few others. Lori says that she's wanted to put up signs for weeks along 85 warning people to stay away from the infested Atlanta. Now some poor person is heading right into trouble. Neither Lori nor Shane recognized Rick's voice? I suppose that's just stressful circumstances.

By Angel Cohn

They are unable to contact him back, but she wants to make time for the signs, and she'll go if he gives her a vehicle. Shane insists that no one goes anywhere alone, and she stomps off. He basically says that she can hit him if she wants, but he can't have her freak out and put herself in danger. For Carl's sake. Then they start kissing. And are interrupted by Carl coming down to check on her.

In his cruiser, Rick finds a picture of his wife and kid... so we know for sure that it is his family. He stuffs it in his pocket and then takes some weapons and a gas can up to a big old farmhouse. He asks to borrow some gas, but gets no response. When he peeks in the window, he sees some corpses in the living room, and we get to see that the words "God Forgive Us" are emblazoned on the wall in blood.

He walks away, finds a truck, doesn't find keys, but does find a horse. Not even a zombie horse. He saddles the horse up and heads off towards Atlanta. As they approach the city, Rick rides the horse into town on an empty side of the road, while there are thousands of abandoned vehicles lined up heading out of town. Lori didn't need to put up a sign as that should have been a big red flag. Rick still trots on, through the empty streets of Atlanta.

The clip-clopping noise awakens some walkers, Rick says it is just a few and doesn't panic, but does look slightly concerned to see the corpse of an army soldier being pecked at by birds. He hears a helicopter and heads off quickly in that direction, but when he rounds the corner he sees hundreds of zombies and they all chase him down. He's quickly surrounded and pulled off his horse. Poor horse is lunch, and Rick loses his weapons in an attempt to hide under a truck. He nearly kills himself, but looks up and sees an opening into the vehicle. He goes in, sees a seemingly dead soldier in a flak jacket and takes what looks like a grenade. Not-so-dead soldier takes exception to this, and Rick shoots him in the head, but given the close quarters, the blast causes some wicked tinnitus.

By Angel Cohn

As his ears still ring, he realizes he's in a tank, looks out to see his weapons a dozen feet away, but surrounded by walkers. They try and come after him, but he closes the tank and just hides out. While inside, he hears a voice over the CB radio, calling out to him. Addressing him as the dumbass in the tank. He looks stunned.

Outside we see that the walkers are still lunching on the entrails of horse, and they are climbing all over the tank trying to get at Rick.

And that's the first episode. Some parts were more than a little bit too obvious... especially to anyone who has ever seen a zombie or horror movie ever in their lives, but it's got potential. And there were some truly disgustingly beautiful shots of bodies getting shot up and zombies eviscerating humans. You know, if you like that sort of a thing. I'm just excited that I got to write about a show and use the word entrails repeatedly. That doesn't happen often, though I really don't want to give Gordon Ramsay any ideas for future Hell's Kitchen challenges.

Watch the episode below, discuss it in our forums, then debate zombie hotness on TV is the Answer!

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