Worst2First: Ten Best "The Walking Dead" Episodes Thus Far

Worst2First: 

Ten Best "The Walking Dead" Episodes Thus Far

Zombies have always been one of my favorite horror subgenres.  I don't know what it is about them, but I can't get enough.  From "Shaun of the Dead" to George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead," if there's anything to do with zombies, you bet I'll watch it.

For years I've read "The Walking Dead" comics, and I remember hearing they were developing it into a series.  I was hooked from the first second of the first episode until now.  While there were some episodes that didn't quite live up to my desires, overall, it's my favorite television show ever.

With the second half of the season coming soon, I decided to count down my ten favorite "The Walking Dead" episodes...Worst2First.

**THERE WILL BE MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD, SO ONLY READ ON IF YOU'VE SEEN THE EPISODES OR DON'T CARE ABOUT SPOILERS!!!**

#10

Better Angels

Season 2, Episode 12

Most people say Season 2 was the boring season as it took place entirely on Hershel's farm, but I personally really loved the depth of character development and setting (since I'm a country boy myself).  In this episode, we're still reeling over the shocking, brutal death of Dale, the moral compass for the group.  Randall, a prisoner they captured from an evil gang of scavengers, is awaiting his sentence, which Shane enforces by snapping his neck.  Shane, Rick's best friend and lover of Lori, then goes certifiably insane (a term we use now called "full Shane") and decides to kill Rick so he can be with Lori.  Meanwhile, Daryl and Glenn find a zombified Russell and puts him down, and Daryl notices he wasn't bitten or scratched.  Rick and Shane have a final, fierce confrontation in a field with the full moon behind them, and Rick is forced to put down his former best friend.  To add insult to injury, Carl stumbles upon the scene and raises his gun at Rick, or so he thinks.  Instead Carl shoots the zombified Shane behind Rick.  This is an important episode because it marks Carl's first kill, the loss of Shane, and the discovery that someone can turn without being bit.

#9

Four Walls and a Roof

Season 5, Episode 3

Bob has been taking captive by Gareth and the remaining Termites, and have begun feasting on Bob's leg.  This is a nod directly from the comics, where this happened but to Dale instead of Bob.  Bob begins laughing and reveals that he had been bitten previously, and the meat they were eating was "tainted meat." 
Meanwhile, at the church, the mysterious Father Gabriel finally reveals to Rick his deep, dark secret - when the infection began, he boarded himself up in the church while his congregation were screaming and begging to be let in.  As this revelation comes to light, Gareth returns Bob to the church.  Rick and most of the others go in search of Gareth, and he plans a sneak attack on the church while they're gone, and only Carl, Judith, Tyreese, Bob, Father Gabriel, Rosita and Eugene are left.  It looks like Gareth's group will kill them, but Rick and the others appear in an ambush and brutally kill off Gareth and the others.  What makes this episode so great is the end of Gareth - as the series seems to drag out villains unnecessarily - along with Bob's iconic line, his tragic death, Michonne being reunited with her sword, and the dialogue between Gabriel and Maggie: "This is the Lord's house."  Maggie's response: "No, it’s just four walls and a roof."

#8

JSS
Season 6, Episode 2

The group has found a new home in the Alexandria Safe Zone, and Rick hatches a plan to dispatch thousands of Walkers that have gathered by the quarry nearby.  With most of the main characters gone, only Carol, Carl, Maggie, Deanna, Spencer, Aaron, Jessie, Rosita, and several Alexandrians remain at home.  Throughout the previous season, there were hints of a deadly band of survivors known as the Wolves who kill without mercy, and they picked this time to invade the town.  It starts off as a terrible juxtaposition: Carol has just started to bake a casserole, sets the alarm for 45 minutes, and looks out the window.  She sees a neighbor standing outside smoking a cigarette, when all of a sudden a burly man comes over and brutally hacks her to death with a machete.  The Wolves are attacking, and the big guns are gone.  Carol takes full control, killing a Wolf and disguising herself as one of them so she could stealthily assassinate them one-by-one.  Morgan returns to help, but his views of not killing go against Carol's views of kill everyone, and Morgan lets some of the Wolves go, and takes their leader prisoner without anyone knowing.  Meanwhile, we get a flashback of Enid and how she got to Alexandria, always muttering "JSS."  She leaves after the Wolves attack, and we learn what "JSS" means - Just Survive Somehow.  This is a fantastic episode filled with action, Carol being the ultimate assassin, and a great subtle moment when, as the Wolf attack ends, Carol's timer ends.  The entire attack takes place in a 45 minute timeframe, and it shows the sheer intensity of it.

#7

After

Season 4, Episode 9

After The Governor attacks the prison, the group is split up, and Rick is deeply wounded.  This episode isn't filled with a lot of action, but some deep, in-depth character development between Rick and Carl, as they cope with possibly losing Judith, their home, and their friends.  However, the main star this episode is Michonne, as we see in a flashback that she once had a family - a boyfriend, and even a young child.  We learn that the two Walkers Michonne had with her were her boyfriend and his friend, and that she had lost her child.  As she wanders alone again, she comes into contact with a group of Walkers, one of whom looks like her.  She goes on a samurai rampage and kills them all, and decides she doesn't want to go alone anymore.  She makes it to a town where she sees Rick and Carl in a house, and it's a fantastic scene as we see her vulnerability and desire to be with society again.

#6

Pretty Much Dead Already

Season 2, Episode 7

Season two has one epic tale: Sophia, the young daughter of Carol, goes missing after a Walker attack.  They spend the entire first half of the season in a frantic search for her, but ultimately come up empty.  Glenn learns that Hershel is keeping zombified family members in the barn, in hopes of finding an eventual cure.  Shane finds out, and the group decides to take care of all the Walkers in the barn.  They open the doors and unleash an assassination of all of Hershel's undead family, but that's not the end of it.  After the bloodbath ends, the camera goes to the point of view of someone in the barn.  Someone small.  To everyone's horror, the Walker Sophia emerges from the barn, having been there the entire time.  Carol is utterly crushed, and everyone is shocked.  No one knows what to do, as Sophia slowly inches her way to them.  Finally Rick goes up to her, puts the gun to her head and shoots.  I remember gasping in shock at the end, and was incredibly saddened by what had happened.  This showed that the show was more than just killing zombies - it was a rich, full character drama.

#5

No Sanctuary

Season 5, Episode 1

During the second half of the fourth season, with the gang scattered, they all found signs pointing to a possible safe haven known as Terminus.  Everyone except Carol, Tyreese and Judith have found it, and learned that it's not what they expected.  The Terminus people are cannibals and have imprisoned them with the ultimate outcome to eat them.  The episode begins with Rick, Glenn, Bob and Daryl tied up over a trough, with other people in a line.  A man behind them unmercifully clubs the people over the head and cuts their throats.  Just as they're about to get to Glenn, a loud explosion rocks the building.  Carol and Tyreese have found a Termite and learn what is happening, so Carol goes full Rambo and explodes a gas tank, bringing in hundreds of Walkers.  She disguises herself as one and infiltrates the compound, killing Gareth's mother, and retrieving Daryl's crossbow.  An all out battle ensues as Rick and the others free Maggie, Michonne, Abraham, Rosita, Eugene, Sasha, Tara and Carl and they go out shooting, stabbing and slicing Walkers and Termites alike.  They all manage to escape, where the best moment happens when Carol is finally reunited with Daryl, Sasha is reunited with Tyreese, and Rick and Carl are reunited with Judith, whom they thought was dead.  Not only was it action packed, but it finally reunited everyone together, and showed how amazing Carol can be.

#4

Too Far Gone

Season 4, Episode 8

The Governor launches another attack on the prison, this time bringing a tank and two hostages - Hershel and Michonne.  Rick tries to reason with him, to no avail.  In full sight of Maggie and Beth, Hershel is decapitated by Michonne's sword, and an intense battle begins.  The Governor and Rick go at it, while Daryl blows up the tank.  Yes, he blows up the tank.  As Walkers begin to invade the prison, everyone is scattered, and Rick and The Governor continue fighting.  Just when it looks like Rick might die, Michonne brings her sword through The Governor's chest, bringing an end to his evil ways.  As the episode ends, everyone is scattered, and Lilly puts a bullet through The Governor's head, and ends the time the survivors spend at the prison.

#3

Clear

Season 3, Episode 12

Michonne has just joined the group, and everyone is still wary about her.  She's quiet, she's antisocial, and she's dangerous.  Rick decides to bring her and Carl along with him as they travel back to his hometown in order to find weapons and supplies, and when they reach the town they see someone has booby trapped the entire town.  A man in full uniform attacks them, and Carl shoots the man, and they learn that it's Morgan, the first man Rick sees after coming out of his coma.  Morgan is now the shell of a man he once was, having lost not just his wife, but his young son as well.  This leads to a fantastic speech by Morgan, and shows Rick that someone can't be too far gone.  Michonne also shines in this episode, showing a more humorous side as she finds a disgusting cat statue and decides to keep it because, as she tells Carl, "it's too damn gorgeous."  Lennie James, who plays Morgan, gives a powerful performance here worthy of any accolade or award.

#2

The Grove

Season 4, Episode 14

This takes place while the group is split, and focuses on Carol, Tyreese, Judith, Lizzie and Mika.  They find refuge in an abandoned house, and think about staying there full time.  However, Carol notices Lizzie behaving oddly, as she plays with a Walker with no fear.  Lizzie believes that Walkers are still people, and that can be dangerous.  They just didn't know how dangerous until it was too late.  Coming back to the house, Carol and Tyreese find Judith sitting on a blanket, Mika dead, and Lizzie holding a knife.  She calmly tells them that Mika will come back, because she didn't hurt the brain.  In her delusional, psychotic state, Lizzie believed that by killing Mika she could bring her back as a Walker and prove that Walkers are just like humans.  Carol mercifully prevents Mika from reanimating, and decides that they can't keep Lizzie alive.  With the famous line, "Look at the flowers," Carol puts a bullet in Lizzie's head.  Not only was this a downright shocking, sad and disturbing episode, but it literally made my blood run cold, and I shiver even now thinking about it.  This was the full evolution of Carol - who lost her own daughter, and promised to raise Lizzie and Mika as her own - and also serves as an unflinching look at what the world has become: where a young girl kills her younger sister without remorse.

#1

Days Gone Bye

Season 1, Episode 1

The first episode is still the best.  The opening scene where Rick kills a zombified little girl in slippers holding a teddy bear is still one of the most prolific scenes, along with him killing another Walker who can't move.  He emerges from a coma after being shot on the job to see a world gone mad.  "Don't open, dead inside" is written on the hospital doors, chained, with Walker arms reaching out behind it.  As he tries to find his family, he comes across Morgan and Duane, survivors who inform Rick about everything that's happened since he's been gone.  Rick then goes to Atlanta on horseback where he comes into contact with swarms of Walkers who kill his horse and force him to hide in a tank.  Seemingly hopeless, Rick's about to kill himself when a voice comes over the tank radio.  What makes this episode the best is the story of Rick, how the world changed, and Lennie James's amazing performance as Morgan, a fan favorite (well, until recently).  This is how the comics came to life, and it was indeed glorious.


So there they are, I'm sure I'll be updating this list as more and more episodes are shown, because I don't see it ending anytime soon.