“What Lies Ahead” (2x01)
The bulk of the cut scenes comes from the opening episode of
the season, which was originally to be two episodes, but problems arose and
Frank Darabont either walked or was pushed from the show during the editing
process. The true story will never be known as to what went down, but anyway,
on with the deleted scenes:
1)
It appears that a sequence is missing here
showing Shane running away from a hoard of walkers as he desperately screams
for attention and fires his shotgun (as glimpsed in the season two Comic-Con
trailer). As evidenced from the conversation they have once Shane hops
aboard the RV and they continue their escape, Shane's vehicle must have run out
of fuel and he honked his horn to alert them. Then they come up with a plan to
buy them some time – head to the Vatos' hideout at the old folk's home within
the city.
2)
Our gang arrive at the Vatos' hideout, but
discover a series of dead bodies outside being feasted upon by walkers – Rick
says to hell with the noise and they gun down the zombies.
3)
They enter the building and discover yet more
dead bodies. Sophia begins to cry and make too much noise, so Daryl tells her
to shut up in no uncertain terms (before his character was softened as he
became more involved with the group during the season).
4)
The men continue to sweep and clear the building
upstairs. Bodies lie everywhere and there is an increasing sense of
hopelessness. Meanwhile downstairs the others hide from a passing walker
outside the now-barricaded front door, and when Sophia begins to panic Carl
calms her down. It's a nice little beat for Carl, who is clearly coping with
the situation far better than poor Sophia, and it's a nice juxtaposition to all
the death and despair around them.
5)
In an excellent moment of foreshadowing, after
they plan to stay the night in some of the upstairs rooms, Daryl points out (in
a sneering spat with Andrea) that the people have all been executed before
the zombies arrived – clearly there is now a human danger out there, somewhere,
waiting for them.
6)
“Cough drops and bonzo beans” - the group,
huddled in a small room, lay out their meagre supplies for Glenn to ration
between them all. Shane makes friends with Daryl with a peace offering of a
bottle of booze he pinched from the CDC. There's also an extra moment between
Dale and Andrea – no doubt the first moment for the two of them to have a
chance to debrief after he convinced her not to die in the CDC explosion –
which adds a horrific reality check from Andrea. Furthermore Rick begins to
blame himself for not following Shane's lead in heading to Fort Benning instead
of the CDC, but Shane and Lori say he shouldn't blame himself. After Glenn
makes a comment about their dire situation, the men exit to formulate a plan –
to ditch some of the vehicles, siphon the fuel, and head for Fort Benning.
Numerous small character beats here, as well as some exposition which covers a
couple of minor plot holes – particularly explaining why their vehicle count is
markedly different between the last shot of season one, and the opening montage
of season two.
7)
Fast forwarding to the highway, Rick returns
from his woodland encounter with walkers after Sophia ran off, and quickly
discovers the girl didn't make it back.
8)
Carol stands alone by the roadside late at night
looking into the woods.
“Save The Last One” (2x03)
1)
A brief action beat as Otis saves Shane with his
last rifle round. We discover that they're almost out of ammo as they move on
away from a load of walkers behind a fence.
2)
Hiding from walkers, Otis struggles to get his
bearings as Shane stresses the need to get the hell out of there now.
3)
A good scene for Dale next as he sneaks out to
one of the cars for a crafty cigarette alone. Turning on the ignition to warm
up the lighter in the car, a fundamentalist preacher comes on the radio
espousing doom and damnation for all those who ignored the teachings of the
Bible and following science. Dale bristles at the arrogance of the only human
voice on the radio, and ends up arguing back in hushed tones, calling the
preacher a “douchebag, pervert”. It's a darkly comic scene, which provides a
little bit of shading to the wider world around them, and an enjoyable beat for
Dale.
“Secrets” (2x06)
1)
A brief scene of gun training, lead by Shane,
which gives us a hint at his former life as a police officer who had previously
carried out such lessons before the apocalypse. Carl takes a shot (everyone
gets three rounds for practice) and it's interesting to note that the actor
was given a simple plastic gun with no barrel or working chamber – we can
assume that this would have been digitally replaced in post-production. There's
also some exposition regarding ammo rationing as well as the risk versus reward
for the sound of the gunshots out in the open.
“Pretty Much Dead Already” (2x07)
1)
In the wake of Sophia's Rick has a guilt-ridden
daydream that involves Carl's shooting and Sophia going missing.
2)
Rick and Shane assess the structural integrity
of the barn, and there's a small exchange that foreshadows Shane's hasty
actions later in the episode.
3)
Seemingly at his wit's end, Daryl ponders for a
moment by a lake until he spots a Cherokee Rose flower nearby.
4)
Finally, there's a brief exchange between
Hershel and Rick where the former states “my farm, my barn, my say” and
introduces him to how they wrangle walkers.
“Nebraska” (2x08)
1)
A brief connecting scene where Lori and Dale lay
out where everyone is and how they're doing.
2)
Hershel watches from his porch as some of our
gang begin to load the bodies from the barn massacre for disposal. It's an
extra moment to show Hershel's shell shock and crisis of faith.
“Judge, Jury, Executioner” (2x11)
1)
After a small moment between Carl and Daryl,
where the boy wants to learn how to shoot the crossbow, Carol comes over and
berates Daryl for beating up Randall instead of confronting his emotions over
the loss of Sophia. She also points out that Daryl's made real progress as an
integral part of the group and that he shouldn't retreat again.
2)
Glenn and Maggie look at her high school
yearbook and discover Randall was telling the truth about being in the same
school as her. There's a nice moment of wistful reminiscing and a nice exchange
between the two of them about how Glenn thinks Maggie would have never noticed
him if they'd been in the same school, to which she responds “I like geeks”.
3)
Dale tries to convince Lori to help Rick make
the 'right decision' regarding Randall, stating that Shane is like the Devil on
Rick's shoulder and that Lori should be his conscience whispering back on the
other. According to Lori though, Rick has too many whispering voices in his
ears. This is one of the best deleted scenes as it further explores some of the
more philosophical debates about the human condition in this time of great
stress. Dale is seemingly starting to give up hope for them, saying that they
blew their chance to come together, instead of continuing to fight against
themselves while they have a common enemy – the walkers. It's classic Romero
territory, and a satisfying extra moment for the thinkers out there.
“Better Angels” (2x12)
1)
A very brief moment between Glenn and Maggie as
he reconsiders her offer to sleep in her room. Inconsequential, but nice
nonetheless for fans of their apocalyptic romance.
“Beside The Dying Fire” (2x13)
1)
A small extension to the scene of T-Dog, Lori,
and Beth in the blood-splattered pick-up in which Beth blames Lori for leaving
Patricia behind when she was consumed by walkers. It speaks to Beth's innocence
in the face of the harsh practical realities. If you've been bitten, you're
dead.
2)
A minor scene extension when Michonne is
revealed and saves an exhausted Andrea from a walker. Here we see the katana
sword finish the job to the still-alive severed head.
So there you have it, quite a number of scenes, with many
being brief extensions or moments of exposition that were covered elsewhere in
the respective episodes. However, there are some excellent scenes that were
unfortunate to be cut out – such as Dale at the car radio – and it was good to
see most (but for some strange reason not all) of the scenes that had to
be cut when the originally-conceived first two episodes were combined into one
longer episode.
Finally, a word on box sets and special features – how come
we Brits have never got the Special Edition of Season One? There's a ton of
great-sounding extras that we've never got our mits on, not-to mention uncut
episodes (bizarrely some of the first season was cut on DVD/Blu-Ray, despite
being shown uncut on television). Furthermore, how come we Brits didn't get
any episode commentaries on the Season Two set? I'd dearly like to see the
former complaint rectified, and at least they're getting closer to providing us
with the same content as the Americans – but clearly not quite close enough.
Why on earth can't we get the same releases over here? It's a real annoyance
for we non-American TWD fans.
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