The Walking Dead Season Two: In Harm's Way Review

[Vausch]

Also, what's everybody's problem with Sarah? I've heard people get annoyed with her and calling her 'dead weight'. I think it's justified; she's what? 12? It's also established that Carlos has kept her extremely sheltered and coddled her to the point where she's dependent on him. Clearly when she reacts to desperate situations, she's going to react differently then Clementine would.

I think she's a teenager. And if I had to guess she also has some form of developmental issues, else she wouldn't struggle so much with relatively simple tasks.

 

[TravelerSF]

Okay, I have to ask.

At the end who

Spoiler

cut off Sarita's arm? That just felt mean.

I

Spoiler

cut it off, since it was established that the hand has to be cut off very fast to stop the infection. It also freed her of the walker's grasp and I figured taking care of it afterwards (Clem just taking another swing at it or something) wouldn't be that difficult. Also, we have a doctor on board and stopping even a major bleeding like that with a tourniquet is very possible.

Not anymore we don't!

Oh riiight... Oops, must've slipped my mind with everything else that went down. Well, my choice is still valid in my opinion.

 

[UNHchabo]

Okay, I have to ask.

At the end who

Spoiler

cut off Sarita's arm? That just felt mean.

I

Spoiler

cut it off, since it was established that the hand has to be cut off very fast to stop the infection. It also freed her of the walker's grasp and I figured taking care of it afterwards (Clem just taking another swing at it or something) wouldn't be that difficult. Also, we have a doctor on board and stopping even a major bleeding like that with a tourniquet is very possible.

I also

Spoiler

stayed to watch Carver's death. Funny enough, I just thought of not leaving Kenny alone to act out his murder fantasy. Figured it'd be good for him to share it with someone. I really like Kenny, don't want him to fall too far on the dark side. Still, a bit worried about how this will affect Clem.

The episode as a whole though

Spoiler

I liked how it kept be wondering, if the place Carver had built was really that bad. It was probably one of the few, truly sustainable communities around and a rare change to live a safe, though hard, life. I don't think there's anything but death outside. In the end though, it was Carver that would've made living in there far too unpredictable and plain dangerous. I don't look kindly at a future where everyone's just gears in a machine.

Overall the end left me with a "well, this is just shit"-feeling. I feel the group falling apart and with the stronger characters getting killed or kicked down the term "dead weight" will definitely become a centerpiece of the end season. But I won't let my Clem think like that. Lee thought her better.

Spoiler

Yeah, as Lee in Season 1 I saved Ben, so I felt Clem would be willing to give Sarah quite a bit of slack, because she never means any harm.

I cut off Sarita's arm, mostly due to the knowledge that Reggie had survived a bite from a quick amputation, while Lee waited a few hours before cutting it off, and still turned.

 

[Batou667]

I only got round to playing this episode recently; hope this isn't a necro. (Also, spoilers, but I'm expecting most people who were going to play this, would by now)

Wowsers. I was expecting the pace to pick up, but it got almost frenetic in this episode. That the group would resist imprisonment in the labour camp and try to escape was inevitable, but I was expecting this to happen over the course of a couple of episodes - and I'm left wondering if it would be better if they'd done this. It would have allowed for a much more meaningful look at the life within the camp, the way Carver runs the place, and it'd have allowed us to form more meaningful relationships - sympathetic, collaborative, antagonistic, whatever - with the camp's controlling members. As it is we get a very effective if rushed and shallow snapshot of the camp, continuing Season 2's tradition of everything falling to pieces the minute Clem arrives - a cynical part of me suspects this is so that the writers can sidestep worrying too much about continuity and having to write multi-episode arcs for characters that may or may not live. Hmmm.

It's really interesting to see how 400 Days links into this episode, and in fact completely changes the tone from that - playing 400 Days you got the impression you were "saving" survivors, offering them security and community in a humanitarian way - turns out you were finding recruits for a fascistic cult. That's quite the twist. It's nice to see some familiar faces, but I was disappointed by how almost all of them are mere cameos - apart from Bonnie, of course, who I guess is destined to join you in 400 Days.

Decisions: I continued my trend of sticking close to Kenny, playing it cool with the rest of the group, and being uncooperative toward Carver's group. I was cold as hell toward Bonnie - I felt a bit bad about that, but I wasn't ready to forgive her for her betrayal at the turbine house, and she seemed like the kind of character who was too weak to be trustworthy. I chose to watch Carver's death - I'd have gladly pulled the trigger myself, given the chance. The guy had to die - he justified his actions with talk of the greater good and making sacrifices, but I strongly suspect the sick bastard was mostly motivated by the power and his messiah complex. Him beating Kenny and the implication that he raped Whatsherface just sealed the deal. I didn't help Sarah, and I chose to cut off Sarita's arm - she was very obviously bitten, and we know that people can be saved if you amputate the limb quickly.

I wonder where the rapidly shrinking group will go next? I can't fathom why they didn't try to return to the lodge with the turbine, or else use the Walker attack as an opportunity to seize Carver's compound (and all the guns and food).