The Walking Dead Review: “Triggerfinger”

The friends of the men Rick killed last ep come a-calling to the saloon, while the consequences of other past actions corral the survivors.

Title: “Triggerfinger”

Cast and Crew

Directed by Bill Gierhart
Written by David Leslie Johnson

Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes
Jon Bernthal as Shane Walsh
Sarah Wayne Callies as Lori Grimes
Scott Wilson as Herschel Greene
Laurie Holden as Andrea
Jeffrey DeMunn as Dale Horvath
Steven Yeun as Glenn
Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes
Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon
Melissa Suzanne McBride as Carol Peletier
Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene
IronE Singleton as T-Dog
Emily Kinney as Beth Greene
James Allen McCune as Jimmy
Jane McNeill as Patricia

Additional cast and crew information may be found here.

Premise

Herschel, Glenn, and Rick confront the friends of the men Rick shot, Lori must fend off zombies on a lonely road, and the concerns about Shane grow in survivors’ minds.

High Point

The combination Western / horror movie first-half made for suspenseful entertainment, and the writer did not overplay it. The episode switched direction and tone in the second half, and it left us contemplating issues that will shape the rest of the season.

Low Points

This is not so much a low point, as a point of discussion. I know we’re supposed to see the difference between the shooters (and Shane) and our survivors, but Rick, Glenn, and Herschel spend an awful lot of time trying to save Randall while walkers close in on them. That they would even think about surgery on the spot struck me as excessive. They would have either shot him, or immediately tried Rick’s solution.

The Scores:

Originality: 2/6

Effects: 6/6

Story: 5/6

Acting: 5/6 We’re in serious emoting-overdrive territory here, but the circumstances demand it.

Emotional Response: 5/6 We’ve had three strong episodes. Given how character-driven the forthcoming conflicts will be, however, we need to know more about these people. The loose sketching of character that carried over from the graphic novels risks becoming a liability.

Production: 6/6.

Overall: 5/6. The second half of season two continues to make amends for the first.

In total, “Triggerfinger” receives 34/42

Lingering Questions

Why are the majority of the characters so well-coiffed?

One reply

  1. An above average ep but somehow not as emotionally involving to me as the previous one. The situations just seemed increasingly contrived.

    Interesting buildup of tension between Rick and Shane with Lori channeling Lady Macbeth. Obviously the main attraction deathmatch, but Lori is going to have to stop acting so up-front stupid if we want to see her as behind-the-scenes smart. And if Shane was smart, he would give up on Lori and run off with Andrea – already his replacement squeeze. He could have Carol if he wanted her – but she’s giving Daryl a chance to slap her around first if HE wants to. Which Daryl doesn’t. This is actually so painful to watch it’s funny – the true definition of tragicomedy. Daryl is discovering that women are have confused, irrational and contradictory motivations and when you start from out in emotional right field where Daryl is standing, that is a discovery a hell of a lot scarier (and funnier) than zombies.

    Uh oh. Carl is getting play in the teaser commercials and readers of the comics know what THAT means, even in this altered timeline.

    We have another slow-burn backstory going with the sister in shock on the bed that is obviously leading into a New Shocking Revelation (prediction – will be tied back into the Jenner Whisper Secret) but every time we delve into such a girl-in-peril B story plot it drags. Her “crying” before she was attacked / infected / whatever by zombie mom was a terrible job of sound overdubbing. Maggie’s birth-control-pills-in-the-pond story is yet another sister-bonding tale a la Dad-and-the-fish-hook-knots between Amy and Andrea, and we know what happened to Amy after THAT. Wish the writers could at least TRY a different way to telegraph what’s coming, if not come up with something beside a tired plot retred that dragged when they ran it in the slow first half of the season. Maggie picking up a pistol and walking over to the bed to end it will at least be interesting. Maybe she’ll take one to Glenn when she’s finished.

    Herschel is the consistently best character this season. They missed a golden opportunity to throw in a comment that he was a Vietnam vet – which would make a LOT of sense.

    Pretty soon they’re all gonna be (even more) grizzled war vets. Hopefully their ratings are so high they can afford a bigger budget for better writing and spectacle for a show that deserves a high standard of both.

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