The Walking Dead (season finale)

I won't go so far as to say that the initials of the episode title "TS-19" should stand for T(otally) S(ucked), but after five engrossing installments, the season finale of The Walking Dead proved a bitter disappointment.

The episode starts out promisingly enough: the opening segment flashes back to Shane's attempted rescue of the comatose Rick from his hospital bed when the zombie outbreak first occurred (a scene that underscores the complexities of Shane's character--he's not quite a hero but neither a total heel).  But with the return to the present moment, and the descent of Rick's group into the bowels of the Center for Disease Control, "TS-19" devolves into bad science fiction.  Lone resident Dr. Jenner (in the role of Mad--or at least Seriously Depressed--Scientist) provides food, drink, and lodging for the group, but it's obvious from the outset that he will be anything but a savior.  Meanwhile, the countdown of a red digital clock (could the show have resorted to a more hackneyed plot device?) heralds an imminent doom.  In less than thirty minutes, when the CDC's generators finally run out out of fuel, the entire facility will self-destruct (as we're informed by that quasi-feminine computerized voice that has sure found a helluva lot of movie work since Aliens).

Perhaps the lone bright spot of the sequence inside the CDC involves the deeper look at how a person transforms into a zombie.  T(est) S(ubject) 19 turns out to be Jenner's own doctor wife, who, after being bitten and infected, volunteered to have her death/rebirth process scientifically recorded (computer imaging shows that only the victim's brainstem reactivates, resulting in an impersonal shell driven by mindless instincts).  Still, this informational nugget is hardly the payload viewers expect from a season finale.  And the drama here just isn't that compelling.  Jenner locks down the command center and tries to convince the others that instant, fiery eradication is preferable to violent death and grotesque resurrection in the world outside (his fatalistic sermon makes an impact: not everyone from Rick's group decides to flee the CDC, some opting instead to join Jenner in what amounts to computer-assisted suicide).  Now, I understand that the show's strength lies in its human characters and the existential/moral dilemmas they face as survivors in an apocalyptic world, but is it too much to ask that the finale of a zombie series actually feature zombies (rather than the handful of walkers who make token, blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance here)?

Implausibility further mars the climax of "TS-19."  The group is liberated by a hand-grenade ex machina (which Carol just happened to be keeping handy [and all to herself] after finding it in Rick's uniform when doing the laundry back at the camp).  Worse, this facile escape (the grenade succeeds in blowing out a large window of bulletproof glass) comes only minutes after Jenner raves about what an impenetrable fortress the CDC was built to be.  One final bit of awkwardness involves the last exchange between Jenner and Rick: before the latter can make his hasty exodus from the command center, the former grabs him by the arm and whispers an indistinct something into his ear.  While a certain element of mystery is welcome in a season finale, The Walking Dead could have done much better than some cheap miming of the conclusion of Lost in Translation.

In the past week, rumors have swirled that Frank Darabont (executive producer of the series, which has already been renewed for a second season) does not plan on bringing back any of the staff writers.  Judging from the lame finale of The Walking Dead's first season, such decision can be made none T(oo) S(oon).