I like to reward them when they do well and they did well with the ending to last night’s episode. Skip ahead to 50:33 below. No worries if you missed the rest. I’ll catch you up: Obligatory Rick/Shane tension, a few lines for each of the minor characters to get them some camera time, Glenn blubbering to Rick in the car about whether he loves the farmer’s daughter, and then Rick and Glenn discovering Hershel in the abandoned saloon in town drowning his sorrows over his zombie wife getting pickaxed through the head. Some perfunctory banter about hope and hopelessness ensues — and then two guys from Philadelphia come walking through the door, hoping to join forces and find shelter with Rick ‘n the gang. Now you’re caught up. What follows is the first gripping dramatic sequence the series has had since … the CDC building blew up in season one, maybe? For a show about the apocalypse, TWD has been awfully thin on moments of kill-or-be-killed desperation among the characters. That changes here.

Nice work on the casting too. From the moment these two Philly sweathogs opened their mouths, I wanted someone to shoot them in the face. Give the people what they want, AMC.

Update: Wait, I forgot: Rick’s wife had a car accident too. Meh.