{"id":15945,"date":"2015-07-17T03:19:16","date_gmt":"2015-07-17T07:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=15945"},"modified":"2015-07-17T03:19:16","modified_gmt":"2015-07-17T07:19:16","slug":"the-walking-dead-season-2-episode-5-chupacabra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/17\/the-walking-dead-season-2-episode-5-chupacabra\/","title":{"rendered":"The Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 5: Chupacabra"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This is a banner episode for Daryl Dixon, who owes a lot to season two. Say what you will about season two, but it\u2019s where we get a better definition of the character and the rigid guidelines he operates by. For a long time he\u2019s been about himself and Merle, and now he realizes he has something else to fight for. He has a goal to strive for, and he\u2019s dead set on finding Sophia. The Daryl from season one would tell everyone to fuck off, but here he\u2019s saving T Dogg from being chomped by a horde of walkers, he\u2019s out bonding with Andrea, he\u2019s giving pep talks to Carol. And now he\u2019s going all Rambo to find a trace of Carol\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n

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This is an episode mostly focused on what Daryl thinks and what he tells himself day in and day out, and we\u2019re granted the great appearance by Michael Rooker who helps provide insight in to the character of Daryl Dixon. It\u2019s great to see that slimy son of a bitch back and causing trouble, even if it\u2019s some manifestation of Daryl\u2019s doubts and insecurities. It\u2019s not surprising that the bully has been bullied, and that the hot headed redneck is really just the byproduct of another hot headed redneck that has kept him under his thumb for so many years.<\/p>\n

Merle\u2019s antagonizing of Daryl is a top notch series of moments for the episode, because we\u2019re able to see wounds and scars within Daryl\u2019s personality that he keeps well hidden from the group the moment we meet him in episode two in season one. Here Daryl takes out the horse from Hershel\u2019s farm to seek out Sophia on his own. Rick is still weak from his blood giving, and Shane is hobbled, so he sets out to find her all alone, and it takes a nose dive in to disaster very quickly. It\u2019s a miracle Daryl didn\u2019t die during this mission to find Sophia, as he takes a massive beating during his quest. He\u2019s knocked down, battered, and very nearly eaten by two stray walkers in a creek, and he definitely acts on his toes. Even more he has to become primal and dominate the world around him.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s another character evolving to see the world in a new shade of light. Perhaps Daryl is another character that\u2019s lied to himself a lot, and now sees that the rules have changed. All illusions of humanity are gone, and goddamn he has to resort to primitive tactics and become a warrior, or else he could end up exactly like Sophia. On the flipside, I really like the flashbacks the episode doles out, as it\u2019s reflective of the flashbacks from the comic books, though not as intense. We get a better glimpse in to the bond Lori and Shane share, and see that they\u2019ve also come across the Peletiers.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s business as usual, even in the apocalypse as Carol is threatened by Ed with a beating for simply offering Carl something to eat, and Shane is able to garner a true glimpse in to the destruction inflicting Atlanta. Damned if the napalm did much of anything to solve the problem, but it\u2019s definitely a striking and disturbing visual to see Lori react as whole neighborhoods and shopping areas go up in flames. Darabont\u2019s take on the storyline is fascinating. I wonder what else he would have supplied audiences with and what flashbacks would have served to emphasize the apocalypse of key relationships. The rest of the episode pretty much feels like filler, from Lori\u2019s pregnancy scaring Glenn, to Andrea being even more eager than ever to shoot something.<\/p>\n

Seriously, I think the writers confuse eager and annoying with taking the initiative and this definitely makes Andrea an irritating element of the episode simply for her eagerness to shoot down Daryl when she mistakes him for a walker. Kudos on the shot, but acting beyond all logic for one lone walker really made me smack my forehead in annoyance originally. We get it, you can shoot well, now shut up. There\u2019s being a bad ass and there\u2019s being a blithering idiot. Guess which one Andrea is. \u201cChupacabra\u201d is that key episode for Daryl Dixon lovers, and it\u2019s a definite testament to Norman Reedus\u2019 growing acting ability. He really transforms Daryl in to a likable anti-hero with every passing episode, and he kills it here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a banner episode for Daryl Dixon, who owes a lot to season two. Say what you will about season two, but it\u2019s where we get a better definition of the character and the rigid guidelines he operates by. For a long time he\u2019s been about himself and Merle, and now he realizes he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[64,477,856,1079,1132,1221],"class_list":["post-15945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tv-tomb","tag-adaptation","tag-horror","tag-robert-kirkman","tag-the-walking-dead","tag-tv-show","tag-zombies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15945"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15948,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15945\/revisions\/15948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}