The Walking Dead is back, so let’s talk about Nebraska, or as I’m calling it – Hershel Flips Out, Shane and T-Dog Flip Bodies, and Lori Flips Cars.  I like to put in my thoughts in an e-mail for the guys to read on WDTV, but since the e-mails kept getting longer, I figured an actual mini-review with a bit more depth would be cool, so let’s try this out. [Note, it’s a mini-review and I did enough to communicate my points, but still scrambled to put this together in a short amount of time, with less regard for my grammar.]

I think, overall, this episode is fine.  Aside from a key moment, which I’ll get to, Nebraska did not set out to act as a hugely eventful premiere, as the Season 2 premiere, What Lies Ahead, did, but simply as a regular episode, that follows up the previous episode in a natural sense.  Picking up right where the previous episode, Pretty Much Dead Already, left off, the state of everyone at the farm is obviously shaken, given that we just saw the Great Zombie Massacre of 2011.  Some reactions were key; Hershel’s faith is possibly compromised, Carl is sad, but states he would have done the same, Dale continues to think ahead about Shane’s dark future, and T-Dog managed to have a few lines in the episode for a change.

For Shane, this episode did reflect what we have seen so far.  Shane is convinced he has done what is right (and I agree to an extent, despite how he went about things), but is also clearly having a level of guilt take a toll on him.  It is interesting, because I know he does not think he was wrong in what he did, but he does seem concerned with how the group is looking at him because of it.  His confrontation with Dale once again hints at what I assume will be a pretty intense final escalation into a (possibly innevitable) confrontation, but also serves as another fine piece of work from Jon Bernthal.  Fine work again in the later moment with Carol as well, as it was basically a nice monologue that had a bit of ambiguity to it, as Shane felt like he needed to say that he didn’t know Sophia was in the barn.  I continue to be most interested in Shane’s arc for the series.

Because I’d rather end positive, let’s talk about Lori for a second.  Geez was she maddening tonight?  And to think she started out in a better light than the way things ended.  When Lori basically told some of others to shut up, because “what’s done is done,” I was ecstatic with getting to like Lori, but of course, good things don’t last.  Lori goes to Daryl and has the nerve to try and call him out (leading to Daryl calling Lori “Olive Oil”, possibly one of the best lines of the season).  But then things only get worse.  I am still not completely sure as to why Lori felt it was absolutely necessary for her to take a car and leave the farm in an effort to bring back two of the most resourceful people they have, who can clearly handle themselves.  None of this matters though, because the next thing you know, she’s flipped over the car, following her battle against reading a map/hitting a zombie, while driving.  Frustrating to watch, but let’s move on.

There was some nice imagery in this episode.  The funeral scene was well staged – three graves, a small memorial, and a pile of bodies right next to them.  Earlier on, the zombie jump scare of the week was nicely done, as was Andrea’s follow-up sickle through the head.  When the arm fell out of the truck, after the group piled the bodies, it was simply a nice (dark) bit of gory fun to add to the proceedings.  Lots of wide shots overall in this episode, which is nice.  Given all the talk about budget, I can at least appreciate the use of location to its fullest.  Episode director Clark Johnson, who has done a lot of TV work in the past, did noticeably good work here, this time around.

Now how about the ending?  Following a lengthy, but necessary pep talk to Hershel from Rick, we get the two strangers coming in, one of which played by True Blood and Terriers star Michael-Raymond James.  This whole sequence was filled with the perfect amount of tension.  Moving from friendly chit-chat, to vague hints of ulterior motives, into straight hostility, I loved all of how this went down.  Casting an actor like James was a solid choice, as one was truly not sure if a somewhat recognizable face would make it past a 10-minute appearance, but BAM! Quick-draw Rick was on top of his game and in full bad ass mode, taking him down as well as his non-housetrained buddy.  For a fairly average episode, it certainly knew how to end with a bang.

Overall, I give the episode 3 ½ Busters, moving a notch up from 3.  The ending sealed the deal, making up for a necessary episode about grief, despite being somewhat meandering in its story.  Rick is emerging as a stronger leader, Lori was bothersome, Shane shined, and Daryl doled out some insults.  And keep this in mind – Glenn said that he doesn’t know what coming next and neither do I, which is why I want to keep watching.