TV Geek Out 196: The Walking Dead, "TS-19"

And so the first season of The Walking Dead ended with a bang and a whimper. In "TS-19," Rick and the rest of the survivors discover that the CDC is far from the haven they'd anticipated, and that Dr. Edwin Jenner isn't as much of a samaritan as they'd thought. Or is he? Jenner offers to share the certain death the CDC's computer is counting down to -- one of the few sure things our crew has encountered, and something that's all the more tempting now that it's clear the whole world has fallen to the zombie outbreak. Sure enough, some of the crew takes him up on the offer (bye, Jacqui! We hardly knew ye!) but the option of taking the easy way out only strenghtens Rick's resolve to survive. The last vestiges of the survivors' hopes that civilization will return anytime soon go up in smoke along with the rest of the CDC, and the search for a safe place begins again. Yet for the season finale, "TS-19" was surprisingly light on zombies, aside from the tantalizing opening glimpse of just how bad things got at the hospital while Rick was sleeping. And besides the drama surrounding how and which of the survivors would escape from the CDC, the episode was so low-key that it bordered on anticlimactic. Despite the show's unevenness, its mini first season made a maximum impression. We talk about the strengths and weaknesses of "TS-19" and the season in general, our hopes for season two and much more here.