When I first saw the previews to this episode, I was kind of at a loss. I didn’t know if I was angry or excited, but one thing was for sure: the producers ensured audiences that this series would only take what it needed from the comics and carve its own path. If at any point the show lost a portion of their audience, this episode would be the one that pulled them out.
It’s still a controversial episode, even with the producers jumping back in to the comics in recent episodes. “TS-19” is not a bad episode it’s just not a very necessary one. It’s both a season and series finale that leaves the characters on the road to an uncertain path; just in case AMC didn’t pull in enough ratings to justify a second season, or simply couldn’t afford another season.
Let’s face it: AMC gambled on “The Walking Dead.” No one wanted to make it in to a show, and AMC rolled the dice and hoped for the best. Had the show been cemented with another season during season one, I think “TS-19” would have been wholly unnecessary and likely left for another date. “TS-19” is just included to, as I mentioned, close up the first arc, while also explaining in detail what a zombie is.
For horror fans, we already know, but this is the episode proclaiming “This is what a zombie is, and this is what our zombies are.” It’s literally nothing but a lot of explanation about walkers, the infection, how the world ended, and even what happened to the hospital while Rick was in a coma. Though it’s a very pressing and tense prologue, it’s another pretty superfluous moment as Shane explains later on in the episode why he didn’t take Rick out of the hospital. We saw what happened, so why did we need it explained?
It’s clear, though, that Shane wasn’t willing to risk his life, either, as he tries to lift Rick out of the hospital alone, momentarily and just says “Aw the hell with it” and leaves his pal to fend for himself. It also helps us understand why when the group was stuck in Atlanta, Shane pretty much said “The hell with them, they’re on their own.” Fans often wonder who the real villain of the first season was and I think it’s not one entity.
It’s the entirety of humanity and how it’s still impossible to get them united to work for one front. Darabont embraces the more disastrous proportions of the series showing how we just can’t work together on one goal and survive. We all have our own vanity, selfishness, and grief that we can’t part with. Jenner is arguably the biggest menace because he just lies down and dies, and convinces Atlanta survivors Jacqui and Andrea to stay behind and accept death, as well.
In that scenario death is really just a quick second without pain. They’d literally dissipate in such immense heat, so why is that moment still so horrifying for everyone? I think it’s the will to fight and live. We all want to see how it ends, and we all want control over our own deaths. Jenner has the best intentions, but he is in no place to decide how everyone should die. Noah Emmerich is a stellar character actor, and he’s a master of shouting dialogue and coming off as erratic.
He plays it well with Dr. Edwin Jenner who isn’t a bad guy, so much as a man who’s been through the ringer a hundred times over and has decided to tap out. He’s failed and he doesn’t see a point in continuing on, while the group has to once again fight to survive and convince the man that living in the apocalypse is better than a swift, quick, and painless death side by side. He’s simply not a survivor. “TS-19” is an okay episode albeit one that over explains rather than allow us to understand what walkers are.
It’s solid as a series finale, but a missed opportunity as a season finale.