The Walking Dead E5: Wildfire

If you have not read my review of episode 4, you may do so here:  http://cinemakingdom.com/?p=233

This episode begins with Rick trying to contact Morgan on his walkie-talkie, with no luck.  The camp must now deal with the aftermath of the walker attack.  The bodies of the dead are being destroyed so they can’t come back as walkers.  Andrea quietly sits with her sister Amy, who will turn into a walker at any minute, understandably making the group pretty nervous.  Rick attempts to talk to her but Andrea pulls a gun on him.  After talking to her sister’s body (which is now reanimating) Andrea finally shoots her sister in the head, killing the walker version of Amy.

We come to find out that Jim has been hiding the fact that he was bitten by a walker during the attack.  This sets off a conflict as Daryl wants to kill Jim now before he turns.  Shane and Rick are also having it out as Shane blames Rick for leaving the camp with half of the men, leaving the camp vulnerable, as he had warned Rick of before they left.  Both Rick and Shane are trying to get Lori to take their side, but she simply states they were both half right in their decision.  Jim is put into the RV for now while Rick and Shane go to do a sweep of the area.

Rick and Shane continue to argue over what is best for the group when they hear a noise out in the woods.  This is where we see that Shane is not the friend he once was.  He points his gun at Rick while Rick is off checking out the noise.  Shane decides not to shoot but when he puts the gun down Dale is standing there, he saw what Shane was thinking about doing.  Shane trys to play it off but Dale knows the truth.

The group decides to move on, some will attempt to make it to the CDC, while others are going their own way.  During the journey to the CDC Dale’s RV breaks down.  Inside of the RV Jim is getting worse and worse.  Jim decides it’s best for him to just stay where he is, he is ready to die and be with his family so the group respects his wishes and leaves him behind, close to the road.

Next we see some scenes with a new character, filming himself on video.  His name is Jenner and he appears to be a scientist working on a cure for the zombie outbreak.  Unfortunately he knocks over some of the chemicals he is working with and the building itself destroys everything in the room during decontamination.  Jenner mentions on the video that those were fresh samples he had, not old decayed flesh.

Rick and the gang arrive at their destination and things do not appear to be good.  There are dead bodies everywhere and no one is answering them at the CDC.  We find out that Jenner is actually inside the CDC and after some internal debate, he opens the secured doors so the survivors can enter.

This was a pretty good episode.  We deal with some emotional things between Andrea and her sister, ethical debates on how people who have not turned yet should be treated and we now know there are going to be major problems between Rick and Shane (even if Rick doesn’t know it yet).  Some old character have left the show, but a new interesting and mysterious character has entered.  Will he hold any answers for the survivors or us?  Perhaps we will find out on the next episode.

3 out of 4 stars