Rating
I've gotta say this was one of my favorite seasons. It's got one easily one of the best antagonists and character development for great characters. I would say this season is top-tier altough it's more of a drama than a zombie fighting show. I would give it a 5/5
As promised here is the review for the Farm arc of Season 2. While I am amazing at this, I think this review by HiKeiLoKei is a bit better than mine. Who makes pretty good videos and has some other Walking Dead reviews. It's one of my favorite arcs of the show and has some fantastic episodes. My fav episodes from this season would be Cherokee Rose (so good I shat my pants over it [note I do not rate things by whether I shit my pants to it]), Chupacabra, and Beside the Dying Fire. The first episode sets up the season and develops tension very well with the horde on the highway and the last episode is one of my favorite finales from TWD.
The budget for this season felt kinda smaller then it should've been. The practical effects still looked pretty good, but you can clearly tell that they put a orange filter on a shot in the middle of the day for an afternoon scene. The season has some great cinematic shots in Beside the Dying Fire. The writing was fantastic throughout the season and had tons of great character dynamics
One thing I like about the early seasons of TWD is that it talked a bit about how the women are adapting to this new situation. Something that it didn't do well in it's early seasons was race, T-Dog is pracically the only black man in Georgia till Tyreese shows up. They did comment a bit on how T-Dog feels about being in a group of two cops and a redneck who's brother is a neo-Nazi. Since the show focused on Rick, Glenn, Shane, and Lori so much, some characters got a bit sidelined and T-Dog felt like one of those characters having barely any lines. Again I would recommend HiKeiLoKei's video as he talks about it in a better way than I could.
After watching this season I kinda understand why people like soap operas so much. This season's greatest strength is easily how the character's interact. I think Shane's dynamic with Rick is one of my favorite rivalries in any media. They go from best friends to rivals in such a realistic way and how Shane couldn't bring himself to kill Rick is amazing part of their relationship. How Shane did all of this just to realize that he can't bring himself to kill his former best friend, so he had to instigate Rick. It's perfect how neither of them wanted to kill the other, no matter how much they talk about it. I am going to be honest about my bias, I am a Glenn x Maggie stan I love their relationship. I think Glenn was a bit bad in this season not in a character way just a cringe way, he talks about the women having their cycles lined up and being hormonal because of it. Everyone's relationships in the show is just perfect, the whole thing.
The season also brought up a very important question about morality after the apocalypse, and it answered it in a important way which would set up more problems in the next seasons. The question is "what do we do with out old beliefs" Shane tells us to abandon them, Hershel says to hold onto the old ways till it breaks you, and Dale says we have to maintain the sanctity of human life. While many people would say Shane is correct the show takes a different path; the writers ask us how would this affect Carl. Carl is becoming increasingly more prone to violent means he wants to hear what will happen to Randall and he wants to see Randall get shot. I think this scene is often overshadowed by Dale's death, but what it tells us is important that we are setting an example for the children. Rick stops the execution because of Carl and decides to find another way.
Dale is one of my favorite characters I think he's such an intresting character
I think it would be ridiculous to talk about season 2 without mentioning Shane and what he represents. His character is important when we think what it would take to survive. Shane is someone who represented the old world mindsets, Merle was a neo-nazi, Ed was a domestic abuser, and Shane represents toxic masculinity. It's easy to forget how early seasons of TWD commented on political topics, it would frequently comment on the roles of women in the apocalypse, with comments about how they're still stuck on laundry duty and Lori telling Andrea that it's her job to do the laundry not to do guard duty. Not groundbreaking but still important commentary about how the gender roles are still intact. Shane is a man, but not just any man he's, as folk singer Phil Ochs would say, a "masculine American man." He is violent but not in any way that protects and he views women as "belonging" to him. His conflict with Rick sprouts from the idea that he is entitled to Lori. That because Lori might be pregnant with his child that means Lori is his. I've seen countless people claim that Shane had Rick's season 5 or 6 mindset, in season 2; they say that as if it's a positive thing. Rick's rash attitude almost got them kicked out of Alexandria, and his pride and arrogance brought him into the war with the Saviors. This same mindset is shown with Shane who tries to break the group apart over issue after issue and him breaks open a barn full of walkers not knowing how many are inside. I think people assume being an asshole=adapting. I think Lori was correct when she told him "It's the easiest thing in the world to cut our losses and to not help. You keep telling yourself you're making tough calls..." he's not making tough calls, all he's doing is just refusing to help and acting like he's a tough guy.
tldr Shane would watch Andrew Tate