The Walking Dead – Season 2, Episode 10: “18 Miles Out”

AMC’s The Walking Dead
Season 2, Episode 10: “18 Miles Out”
Directed by Ernest R. Dickerson
Written by Scott M. Gimple & Glen Mazzara

* For a review of the previous episode, “Triggerfinger” – click here
* For a review of the next episode, “Judge, Jury, Executioner” – click here

The start of this episode commences with Shane (Jon Bernthal) trapped alone in a bus. Walkers attempt to get inside, clawing and growling. He closes the doors tight, backs against them and tries to hold out. Long as possible.
Cut back to Shane on the road with Rick (Andrew Lincoln). They stop abruptly on an open, desolate stretch. Rick decides they have to chat together. He brings up Otis, the fact Shane believes he can’t protect Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), Carl (Chandler Riggs), his unborn child. There’s lots of tension here. Rick tells him “you‘re not going to be dangerous anymore“. The past between Lori and Shane comes up briefly, but the bigger man – Rick – shows us his strength, as a man, as a human being. He lays claim to his family, as if it had to even be done. Although, there is still something in Shane which won’t let go. Not all the way.
In the trunk they have Randall (Michael Zegen). What are they doing with him?

At the ranch, Maggie (Lauren Cohan) chats with Lori about Glenn (Steven Yeun). A bit of enlightening talk comes from Mrs. Grimes, but at the same time she has a bit of a male-female view of the world, at least in this new post-zombie apocalypse. Either way, it’s comforting for Maggie, at least some of their talk.
Trying to find a place to give Randall “a fair shake“, Rick and Shane stop off in a quiet area. Only a scattered walker moves around. Rick is determined to try using their knives more, instead of wasting bullets, as well as causing noise to draw them. He lures one in with his own blood on a fence then stabs it right in the forehead. Good plan, and something which will continue throughout the entire series. They’re slowly learning how to adapt in this savage new world.
Something I have to mention again – amazing practical makeup effects on the part of KNB, specifically Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero. There are so many instances of this, including when Rick walks up on a pile of burned walker corpses. Tons more. Each episode you get at least a couple awesome zombies, nasty blood and gore and all.
Also, we briefly see Shane and Rick talk about whether or not a couple bodies were bitten. Rick says they must’ve gotten scratched somehow. For those of us further into the series, we know what’s coming. For the time being Shane and Rick agree – must be a scratch.

Beth presents as suicidal. She even takes the knife off a plate Lori brings in the room, hoping to maybe end it all. Lori does her part and tries to track down the other Greenes. This is definitely a situation they need to keep under control. Last thing either Maggie or Hershel (Scott Wilson) needs is to lose Beth, too. And to suicide, even worse.
Leaving Randall out on his own, Rick and Shane head off back for the farm. The young guy cries out for help hoping to be saved. He lets slip he “went to school with Maggie“, which shows he knows about the farm anyways. No matter what they do. Now, Shane is worried he might get back to his group and that this might cause something terrible down the road. Immediately, Shane goes for the kill, but Rick stops him.
More breakdown with Shane. He’s gone insane, he can’t follow Rick without having something to say. After a bit of back and forth, Rick throws the first punch and misses. He and Shane end up rolling around on the ground, grunting, throwing more punches, headbutts. Their friendship has officially taken a wrong turn, their problems devolving into violence. The struggle goes on for a while, to the point of Shane almost killing Rick with a massive wrench – this brings on a horde of zombies hiding in the surrounding buildings, only creating further trouble. Good one, Shane. This is what prompts him climbing into the bus where we found him at the episode’s outset.

Andrea and Lori are in each others faces. The latter thinks the men don’t need her help out watching the camp, showing us a pretty old school view of things. At the same time, Lori tries to tell her “we are trying to create a life for the living” and I do agree, in a certain sense. But Andrea is a bit stubborn and hard-headed. She thinks Lori sort of glides by and everything is fine for her. They’re at one another’s throats because of Beth. Andrea thinks they don’t need to do anything for her, Lori wants to assure Beth that life is worth living. Is it? Or can it be, somewhere in the future? At least, for all her faults, Lori hasn’t given up on a normal life. Someday.
Finding himself in a tricky situation, Rick uses a walker head almost like a silencer. Out of another jam. He is one hell of a tough bastard. At the ranch, Beth is more determined to go out on her own terms, asking Maggie to go with her into death. Such a contrast between Rick’s groups and the Greenes. They are far apart in thought. But there’s also part of me that doesn’t disagree with Beth, who feels it isn’t worth living if life is being gutted, hauled apart by zombies eventually.
Rick is about to get away from the hordes of walkers nearby. He even has Randall with him. Then, it appears as if he’s about to leave Shane in the bus, trapped with all the zombies outside. Is this where Shane finally gets what’s coming to him?

Of most concern is Beth. She locks herself in a bathroom and opens up her veins with broken glass. Maggie and Lori get in there to find Beth bleeding everywhere: “I‘m sorry,” she weeps. At least they found her in time.
At the bus, Shane is saved when Rick comes back. He didn’t plan on leaving his former best friend after all. Rick diverts the walkers so Shane can get out the back of the bus and into their vehicle, Randall at the wheel and duct taped at the neck around his seat. Off they go, the three amigos. Alive and well, out of another terrifying few moments.
Andrea’s optimistic about Beth and her suicide attempt saying “she wants to live“. But nobody is happy with Andrea for leaving the young girl alone, letting her almost kill herself. Likewise, Lori does agree there’s some truth in what Andrea said, that Beth does hope to keep living. It was simply a cry for help.
Headed back to the Greene farm, Rick puts Randall back in the trunk again, hood over his head. No matter what happens, Rick is taking precautions. Still, though, he tells Shane: “If you wanna kill me you‘re gonna have to do better than a wrench.” He further goes on to say he needs time to think about what they’ll do with Randall, that if murder is on the table it can’t be done in split-second decisions. He also lays claim, once more, to his family. Making Shane realize it’s either fall in line, or fuck off. Or possibly worse. For now Shane has a second chance with Rick.