In a flashback, we see that Shane sorta tried to rescue Rick from the hospital, while it was under attack by walkers and the military, but thought he was dead and just left him. At least he kindly put the hospital bed in front of the door so that the walkers wouldn't attack him.
Inside the CDC, Jenner lets them retrieve their supplies, forces them to take a blood test and then locks them all in. They look less than impressed to see that he's the only one around. But then he gives them wine and food, and everyone is fast friends. Until stupid Shane brings the room down asking where all the people are who are supposed to be trying to save the zombies, getting his digs in at Rick. Everyone enjoys the hot showers, except for Andrea… and me, because I have to watch Rick and Lori making out.
Drunken Shane finds Lori in the library and seems to admire her knee socks and oversize shirt. He locks her in and demands that they talk. She's still pissed that he said that Rick was dead. He says that he lied so that Lori and Carl would come with him. She does her bug-eyed look. Can the new writers next season find a way to get her to make more facial expressions. Then Shane nearly rapes her, making me wish even more that he died like he did in the comics. But she claws him, he walks away, and she stares after him all bug-eyed. Naturally.
The next morning they're hung over, and they basically request that Jenner explain what's up with the whole cure thing. He takes them into the computer room and shows them some computer imagery of some brains. The scans are of TS-19, a test subject who worked there who let them record what happens after infection. At least we learn that resurrection time can vary from three minutes to eight hours. That's an interesting factoid to learn at the end of the season. They don't know what causes it. And he basically hits them with the fact that there is nothing left in the whole world. Dale spots a countdown clock, that only has an hour on it. Basically that's when the generators go out… and the place gets decontaminated.
The power starts shutting itself down, and Jenner goes to his office and gets dressed in his nice work lab jacket. Everyone freaks about the lack of air. We also learn that the French were the last people he knew that were remotely close to a solution, but they ran out of power. [Aw, hell -- they better not try to make it to France. - Zach] They try and get out, but Jenner locks them all in the computer lab. He says that it is better that they all die together, since all the gates are locked and they can't get out.
As the boys try to ax through rocket-launcher-proof-doors, Jenner explains that the burning up is a better solution than getting eaten by zombies. That this zombie infestation is an extinction event. They all plead with him to open the doors, except for Shane and Darryl, who want to kill the Doc. Rick has to forcibly stop them. And it finally dawns on these idiots that TS-19 was Jenner's wife. God, they are so freaking slow.
Jenner gives them a chance to escape, even though the top doors aren't controlled by him, opens the nearest gate, says he'll regret it, and then whispers something in Rick's ear. Then Jacqui and Andrea decide, with only four minutes left, that they are going to stay, so they don't turn out like Jim and Amy. Dale tries to sway Andrea, while the rest make it to the surface and open a window with the help of that grenade Rick picked up in the tank. Dale tells Andrea that if she's staying he's staying, too. This convinces her to come, and at 21 seconds Jenner and Jacqui look at the screen happy to see they got out. Then the entire CDC explodes in a pretty awesome way. Good job, special effects crew. And our last shot of the season is the little caravan heading out, with the black smoke of the CDC billowing up in the air. [Oh, and on the way out, they actually shot a few zombies. - Z]
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!
This is the last episode of this abbreviated first season, and I'm excited, until I see that it kicks off with a flashback involving Shane. He's at the hospital where we saw Rick wake up, and Shane's running around looking scared and hiding out from military people who are going crazy and shooting people with machine guns. Sure some of those people are walkers, but it doesn't look like they particularly care. Shane snatches a hospital bed and wheels it over to Rick's room, presumably to get his good buddy out of there. But he has no idea what wires to disconnect, and when the army looking guys come in, he ducks, and they don't make any effort to go in. He yells at Rick to wake up, but then the power goes out. He tries to hear a heartbeat, and although he's clearly no doctor, he decides his comatose friend is dead and leaves the room. He shuts the door and, after seeing some walkers coming down the hall, puts the hospital bed back in front of the door. On first viewing, I thought it was because he thought Rick might be alive, but on repeated viewing, I realize Shane is an idiot, but at least had the decency to hope that his presumed dead friend didn't get turned into a zombie.
Back in real time, we're at the CDC when we see Shane and company heading in to the silent building. Jenner wants to know why they're there, and Rick says they just want a chance. Jenner says that's asking a lot, but they can stay so long as they submit to a blood test. He also tells them to get whatever supplies they need from the trucks, because once he shuts the doors, they're staying shut. Oohh... foreshadowing.
He takes them down in the elevator, and the ungrateful members of the former Camp Terror crew have the nerve to question why he's carrying a weapon. Um, what if one of them turned out to be a zombie? Or Shane? I'd want to reserve the right to shoot them. Anyway, Jenner, who is clearly more patient than I would be, tells them there were a lot lying around after all the people hit the road or got turned into zombies, and he's had some spare time, so he learned how to use a semi-automatic weapon. See, Jenner doesn't just decide that putting up some tin cans is an effective way to keep zombies at bay. He's much more proactive. And Jenner kind of jokes around with Carl, and it is fairly adorable.
Once out of the elevator, Carol so astutely realizes that they are underground. Yes, the CDC and all of their gross diseases is known for keeping all of the plagues of the world underground. Anyway, she's claustrophobic, and my hero Jenner tells her to suck it up. Where is my sweet Glennn in all this? Just kind of hanging out and watching things unfold. Minding his own business. Good boy.
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