Author: Tim Goodman

Gene Page/AMC

Melissa McBride plays Carol on “The Walking Dead” — and had to make some terrible choices in the last episode.

[Warning: This column contains spoilers about Sunday’s episode of The Walking Dead.]

Executive producer and writer Scott M. Gimple penned one of the best episodes that The Walking Dead has ever done on Sunday night with “The Grove.” And it got to the heart of why The Walking Dead works on so many levels other than just being a show about zombies — and why it should be taken more seriously at a top-tier drama.

No series on television arguably uses children as effectively — and as shockingly — as The Walking Dead does when it tells its stories. And it has done this from the very start of the series when, out of nowhere,  there’s a zombie apocalypse spread from a contagion and everybody is swept up in it. By everybody, that must mean children and the elderly as well as the fleet of foot and the fit-for-fighting adults. The decision to have children in play was not only bold but important, keeping the series rooted in realism, which is one of its greatest strengths beyond the most important one — that this show is about the living rather than the dead.

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During Sunday’s episode, “The Grove,” Gimple wrote in not one but two shocking twists that, more than anything, the series had earned over time. Viewers had already been familiar with two young sisters, Lizzie (Brighton Sharbino), slightly older than Mika (Kyla Kenedy). They had been in a number of episodes. The sisters had lost their parents and were taken under the wing of series regular Carol (Melissa McBride), whose own daughter, Sophia, was turned into a zombie in the earlier days of the show and, memorably, was put down as a zombie in front of Carol’s eyes (one in a lengthy list of emotionally wrenching scenes that The Walking Dead has pulled off with aplomb).

Interconnected stories that run through characters as they grow are essential to making a great series. Believability and, ultimately, emotional pay-off come from not only getting to know characters well, but also having them act as we might expect them to as they face adversity, change or something unexpected. That’s why Carol felt it necessary to toughen up Lizzie and Mika — she knows all too well that the meek do not survive in this new world. Truly taking care of Lizzie and Mika wasn’t just about protecting them, but teaching them how to protect themselves against the “walkers.” And both girls have done just that in previous episodes. But Lizzie couldn’t get it right in her head that the walkers were not still somehow real people.

Mika, meanwhile, was relying too much on Lizzie’s older-sister protection and Carol knew that Mika had to toughen up. “The Grove” featured a strong scene where Mika tells kill-or-be-killed Carol that she won’t kill another human, but will kill walkers. Finding traces of humanity is a theme in the series, but sometimes with all the bleakness that hope has to come from within children. The Walking Dead‘s worldview is often unflinching — always has been — so it made clear from the start that other humans can be as dangerous as the walkers. When the world goes to hell and people are lost and roaming, the kindness in our hearts wants to believe that others will help, that coming together with strangers in a similar situation will make the larger group stronger. The Walking Dead has rightly chosen to subvert that in most cases — believing that our basic instinct takes the form of the survival of the fittest. But Mika wasn’t there yet (she couldn’t even kill a deer, which would have been quite helpful on the hunger front).

STORY: ‘The Walking Dead’s’ Melissa McBride Talks Carol’s Devastating Decision

In Sunday’s episode, Lizzie continues her dangerous inability to disassociate the walkers from humans. In a scene that perfectly captures that — while also harkening back to the fact that kids just want to be kids, even when their world has gone mad — Lizzie is seen “playing” chase with another young girl who just happens to be a walker. It’s scary and sad at the same time, and tilts the scale to Lizzie’s deepening mental schism.

Lizzie is outraged that Carol would kill her “friend,” but gets past that when soon after a group of walkers nearly catch and kill Mika in the grove where they have all temporarily taken shelter. That, too, was a nicely placed scene by Gimple because it seemed as if Lizzie finally understood the walkers and what she would have to do.

She didn’t. And in the first scene that rocked viewers, Carol finds that Lizzie has killed Mika with a knife — there’s blood all over her hands and Mika lies dead behind her. Lizzie believes that Mika will come back (as a walker, but in Lizzie’s mind, they’re not all bad). Lizzie even reveals that she was about to kill baby Judith.

And that puts in motion the next shocking scene, where Carol, tears running down her face, takes Lizzie for a walk and shoots her (as Lizzie looks at flowers, her technique to calm herself down — and a well-constructed nod to Of Mice and Men).

POLL: ‘The Walking Dead’: Did Carol Do the Right Thing?

It’s emotionally devastating. Killing children on television is sort of the third rail for most shows and writers. But what made “The Grove” so powerfully exceptional was how The Walking Dead, through all of its seasons, had earned that moment. Yes, some people only watch the series for the zombie apocalypse element and they get bored when there’s too much standing around and talking. But by now, most fans of this incredibly popular show have come to understand that the risk, the drama, the emotional toll that keeps the series so compelling only comes from those slower, talk-filled parts. It’s where viewers get to know the characters on a deeper level by what those discussions reveal, leading to relatability, likability and the kind of connection that really reverberates back through the screen when something bad happens to them.

It’s hard to explain to people who don’t watch The Walking Dead just how emotional the series can be — and how well the characters themselves express the emotion of loss, grief, anger, temporary happiness, unrelenting fear and the creeping existential depression that comes from realizing that it’s probably only a matter of time before you’ll die.

That is so far above and beyond a mere zombie show. And when you bring children into the mix, there’s a certain audaciousness in the decision. The Walking Dead has improved markedly in its handling of this issue. Carl (Chandler Riggs) used to be that annoying kid who wandered off and got himself in peril all the time. But this new world hardened him and the things he’s had to do (shoot his mother before she turns into a walker, save baby Judith from that blood-drenched nightmare and hold his own as a walker-killing “adult”) has transformed his role on the series and, in turn, made the series better as it fully embraces the brutality of its environment.

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That Mika was killed by her sister completely fits into this worldview that The Walking Dead has honed. That Carol realizes Lizzie “can’t be around other people” (and certainly not baby Judith) created a moral quandary that was as heavy as any you’ll see on television. You don’t just randomly have an adult shoot a kid dead on television. But it was believable and even felt like the right thing to do based on how hard the series has worked to earn that pay-off. It would be an awful thing for Carol to have to do anyway, but knowing her back story with Sophia and how she nurtured Lizzie and Mika to stay safe and alive just added another layer of devastation to it.

The Walking Dead is often dismissed by some as a mere zombie show (genre series often get shunted aside, critically). But the series has taken far more chances than many of its top-tier competitors — without ever getting Emmy recognition — and Sunday’s episode marked a clear point where it should start getting the respect it deserves for what it’s tying to accomplish. And Gimple, who has helped shepherd in the deepening resonance in the series, should be applauded for pulling off an hour of extremely difficult drama.

Email: Tim.Goodman@THR.com
Twitter: @BastardMachine

It’s strange to think that a series with mostly critical acclaim (at least when it launched), which was also the poster series for Neflix’s rise from content streamer to content provider, and one still commanding an impressive pedigree of people in front of and behind the camera, can be the subject of sympathy.

But that’s my current emotional state for House of Cards, which returns on Feb. 14 for its second season (which was rumored to be its final one, though negotiations are apparently still alive for more). Why have sympathy for a series that launched with a reported $200 million deal for two seasons and not only brought in David Fincher to direct but got Kevin Spacey and a fairly impressive cast to sign on?

Well, for starters, expectations are a drag. And House of Cards would have had to be something akin to The Wire or Mad Men to back-up the hype it was generating as Netflix’s bold entry into scripted programming.

VIDEO: ‘House of Cards’ Season 2 Trailer

House of Cards, despite good reviews, was never in that league. But it was very good. And it was interesting. A late season nose-dive, creatively, was the rallying cry from a lot of people including viewers and critics. Whether that was actually true or not (certainly it was in part), the rise of Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black led to House of Cards getting a lot less love on those ubiquitous best-of-the-year lists that come out in December and January.

I put House of Cards at No. 20 (out of 20 for best cable/streaming series), while I had Orange Is the New Black at No. 8. But a lot of people didn’t have it on their lists at all, or certainly not in the Top 10.

And yet, did it slip that much — did a lot go wrong from the early episodes critics saw to the end? Not especially — I think House of Cards was a heavily buzzed show that suffered from not being the greatest thing ever and there might have been a “meh” backlash by the time those lists were formed.

But here we are with season two approaching and, based on the early episodes made available to critics, House of Cards is pretty much the same show it settled into less than midway through its first run. It’s entertaining and cruises along with a strong pulse. There’s a core mystery and American politics is mocked, appropriately, for being a two-party hustle of recrimination and separatism. Dramatically, there’s much to be pulled from that divide.

VIDEO: Netflix Unveils Mysterious ‘House of Cards’ Promo

The familiarity at play in the early episodes is, for better or worse (depending on your take) where the show has settled. It can be overly dramatic, perhaps too neat and simplified (especially for an immensely complicated place like Washington D.C.). It still sells husband and wife power-at-all-costs couple Frank (Spacey) and Claire (Robin Wright) Underwood as a little too oily and reptilian for anyone’s good.

“There is but one rule,” Frank says. “Hunt, or be hunted.”

And, from Claire: “I’m willing to let your child wither and die inside you…”

The Underwoods might as well be called the Undertakers for how they’re sometimes portrayed in House of Cards. A little less tightly-wound sense of impending kill-shot from both of them might be a welcome change.

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And, yes, House of Cards can be maddeningly cryptic:

Claire: “You haven’t said a word.”

Frank: “No.”

Claire: “Where does that leave us?”

Frank: “I’m fully prepared. And have been for some time.”

OK, then.

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But it’s also a joy to watch. When the series hits on all of its cylinders, it is precisely the show everyone fell all over themselves about. And Spacey is nothing if not constantly magnetic. The man can take that Southern accent (his character started as a Congressman from South Carolina), and make it sound like the politest kind of ear-evil you’ve ever heard.

As season two starts, the wheeling and dealing Frank Underwood, who went from passed-over player to Vice President in the span of the first season, is about to take his oath. The carnage he left behind him from last season isn’t that far away, but he’s got more power now and that means he instills more fear in his enemies.

“He’s got power. He’s got a lot to lose. And right now, he’s winning,” says editor Janine (Constance Zimmer), who rightly begins to fear that the Fourth Estate is no match for Underwood, even though nosy reporter Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara) and eager editor Lucas (Sebastian Arcelus) are keen to expose Underwood for his connections to a string of dirty deeds.

Is Underwood — check that, are the Underwoods — unstoppable? It appears that writer Beau Willimon, who is responsible for House of Cards, wants them to get a little bit of the taste of victory they earned last season but not to gorge on it — they must face issues. Big issues.

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Willimon, who paired with director Carl Franklin for the first two episodes, has mostly delivered on the good stuff that makes House of Cards watchable. However, he’s still prone to letting Frank pontificate to the point of spouting cliches from time to time. And as much as I love watching Spacey devour every challenge in sight, real politics in a real Washington-setting are more likely to come up with bigger obstacles. Underwood’s conniving wins too often. Otherwise smart adversaries capitulate too easily. The addition of Molly Parker as a rising Congresswoman and the continued brilliance of Gerald McRaney as an advisor who can manipulate the president to his whim are nice counterbalances.

Visually, the series continues the little flourishes that set it apart (like putting text messages, etc., on the actual TV screen instead of a phone screen). And yes, the divisive fourth-wall issue is there, as Frank will turn and address the audience directly into the camera. I know some people really loathed this conceit, but I support it because Spacey often does his most delicious work here.

Cleverly, and perhaps as a nod to critics of this breaking-the-wall idea, Frank doesn’t actually address the camera in the first episode until just before the end: “Did you think I’d forgotten you?” Frank asks, looking directly into the camera. “Perhaps you hoped I had.”

Those are fun moments — times that are essential to cut the furrowed-brow heaviness of Frank’s big teachings. Just like his video-game-playing personality quirk can welcomingly shift the tone of an episode.

Does House of Cards sometimes over do it? Sure. There’s a heavier hand than is necessary at times. A subplot delving into “the Deep Web” has all the red flags that kind of story arc might conjure up in your head and proves, as it drags on, that House of Cards needs to stay more focused to be successful.

That said — before too many expectations are put on House of Cards yet again — let’s please also remember that it can be damned entertaining just as it is. There are a couple of scenes where Frank addresses the camera in this coming season that are more than worth an overly long ramble about power and politics. Take the show a little less seriously, and you might find yourself enjoying it more.

E-mail: Tim.Goodman@THR.com
Twitter: @BastardMachine

Nobody loves a formula more than Dick Wolf, and no network loves a Dick Wolf formula (that actually draws viewers) more than NBC. So it should come as no surprise that Wolf and NBC, who made good with Chicago Fire, are back with Chicago PD.

The only slightly unexpected twist is that the detective at the center of Chicago PD is Sgt. Hank Voight (Jason Beghe), who will be familiar to Chicago Fire viewers as an angry, corrupt cop who was sent to prison. Well, guess what? He got sprung somehow (perhaps this all will be explained later) and now runs the Intelligence Unit of the police department.

He’s still dirty – or, if you prefer, both a good cop and bad cop because we also get to see him be effective and sympathetic – and under his command, it sure looks like the Intelligence Unit will be cutting corners.

TV REVIEW: Chicago Fire 

Fans of Shawn Ryan’s legendary cop show The Shield will see hints of Vic Mackey in Hank Voight, although this series obviously won’t go that dark (even though NBC has no problem showing not one but two severed heads next to their bodies, plus photos of the crime scenes later).

While the odds are that Chicago PD will be as straight up predictable as most network cop shows (numerous elements in the pilot could be seen coming like a neon truck rambling down a highway), this series should be applauded for putting a shady detective at the center of the show, since broadcast has a bad track record at creating shows that seem cable-ready rough-and-real.

The problem with a show like Chicago PD is, if it truly does want to be cable-like, it has to have more going for it in the writing department and present less cookie cutter, seen-them-before characters.

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That said, even though Michael Chiklis can’t be duplicated – just as the Vic Mackey character can’t either – don’t rule out Beghe as he’s a very magnetic presence here. Along with another familiar face in Jon Seda, who plays Detective Antonio Dawson, and Elias Koteas, as Detective AlvinOlinksy, there’s enough hardened acting chops to make Chicago PD a watchable distraction in the Dick Wolf mode.

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Will it end up being something consistently good? It probably depends on your definition of good. There is a lot of mechanical elements to the rest of the show, where good looking detectives mingle with good looking street cops and the banter veers between tough, witty and tender as the strings are manipulated with familiar precision.

TNT’s Southland was the last great cop show, but that doesn’t mean something that passes as comfort food – much like Chicago Fire does – can’t be embraced for what it is.

And, given the Wolf brand, you know exactly what Chicago PD is.

Email: Tim.Goodman@THR.com

Twitter: @BastardMachine