Save the Last One

At the end of the last episode of "The Walking Dead," Carl was in need of surgery; Shane and Otis were trapped at the high school FEMA center and Sophia was still missing. As always, if you haven't seen this episode yet, Spoilers Ahead.

'Save the Last one' opens with Shane shaving his head in a bathroom as Rick re-tells Lori a story about one of Shane's high school exploits while the two watch over Carl.

Back at the highway, no one is able to sleep. Andrea practices loading a gun clip as Carol whimpers over Sophia and Daryl is kept awake by all the noise. Daryl decides to go a for a walk and Andrea joins him, in the hope that Sophia will see the light of their flashlights. Carol joins Dale atop the RV to keep watch. Glenn and T-Bone arrive at the Greene farm, where T-Bone gets his arm stitched as Glenn attempts to pray for the first time. Maggie admits to Glenn that she has lost her faith, telling him "You have to make it okay for yourself."

At the FEMA station, Shane and Otis are trapped by Walkers atop the folded up bleachers. Shane sees a window which he can use to escape and Otis takes off as a decoy so Shane can get out. After taking out a few Walkers, Shane drops 20 feet to the ground, injuring his ankle.

In the woods, Andrea and Daryl come upon a Walker who hanged himself. Trapped in the tree with his legs devoured, the Walker angrily tries to get at them. Andrea asks Daryl to kill it, but he doesn't want to waste the ammo. He finally agrees to shoot it if she'll answer a question: "Does she want to live?" She gives him a non-answer and he shoots the Walker, complaining about the waste of an arrow.

As Carl's condition worsens, Lori tells Rick that Carl may actually be better off dead, saying that Jacqui (who committed suicide in the CDC explosion) no longer has to worry about living in a world gone mad. Carl awakens briefly, telling Lori about how beautiful the deer was and Rick uses that to convince her that Carl should live. 

Shane makes his way back to the truck, joined by Otis, who managed to escape the Walkers that had been chasing him. Pursued by more Walkers, they count their ammo to find only 9 rounds left between them.

Carl has a seizure and Herchel tells them they must make a decision; let Carl die or risk surgery without the ventilator that Shane and Otis went to the FEMA station to retrieve. Lori consents, but just as they lift Carl onto the operating table, Otis' truck pulls up with Shane and the needed respirator. Shane tells them Otis didn't make it and Herchel insists they wait until after the surgery to tell Otis' wife. 

At the RV, Andrea and Daryl return, empty-handed. Dale gives Andrea her gun back and asks her to forgive him for taking her choices away back at the CDC. She tells him him she's trying.

The surgery works and Rick and Herchel deliver the bad news to Otis' wife, while a shell-shocked Shane checks on Lori and Carl. A grateful Lori invites him to stay, but he leaves and Maggie directs him to the shower, giving him fresh clothes that once belonged to Otis. As the shower water heats, Shane notices a chunk of his hair is missing and as he desperately searches the bathroom, he flashes back to the last few moments at the FEMA station. Desperate to escape, Shane shot Otis in the leg and Otis tore out a chunk of Shane's hair in his own desperate attempt to keep going. Shane took the equipment Otis had been carrying and leaves him as a distraction for the walkers. Shane eventually finds electric clippers in a bathroom cabinet and shaves his head to hide the evidence of his crime, though he could have blamed it on a Walker.

Wow. A particularly intense episode, 'Save the Last One' left us wondering what more can wrong. Sophia is still missing and an already less-than-stable Shane has committed murder (partially in an attempt to assuage his guilt about the affair with Lori). I hope Sophia will be found safe and sound, though I have my doubts.

Remember, November is Turkey Month here at Caliban's Revenge. Each Thursday I'll talking about a particularly bad movie, while getting back to my usual nonsense the rest of the week.

More, anon,
Prospero