Guts

When a show starts off so well with a premiere, its always tough for the second episode to match the same level of high quality. Guts ultimately fails to be as good as Days Gone Bye, but that by no means makes it a bad episode. Guts remains several years on one of the best episodes of the show, as throughout the episodes run the tension remains high enough that any viewer would be glued to the screen.

We are first introduced to key comic characters Glenn and Andrea in this episode, alongside original characters Jacqui, Morales, T-Dog and Merle Dixon. I remember first seeing this episode and being immediately attached to these characters, which is surprising considering there's very little emotional connection drawn in the episode (at least in comparison to the premiere). Almost the entire plot of the episode is original content, with the road back to the Atlanta camp being much shorter and less interesting in the comic. Writing original content and managing to make it flow well with the story was something Darabont clearly could do well, and is something that is sorely missed after his departure, with future original content proving dry and out of place with the overarching story from the comic.

The episode itself doesn't have any stand out moments that make it so good, as the dialogue between the characters combined with the tense plot are enough to hold it together and make it feel worthwhile. In particular, the comedic one liners or gestures from T-Dog, Merle, Glenn and Jacqui make it a pleasant introduction. The only character who rubbed me the wrong way (without being made TO rub me the wrong way a la Merle) was Andrea, who seems quite whiny during her first introduction... which could be an ironic foreshadowing as to what her character would eventually become by the end of the third season.

Overall, Guts doesn't quite match the emotion and tone of the first episode, but leads us into a fast paced dark world. Another quick thing to point out with the episode, is that the whole episode the viewers are worried for the survivors (I myself thought T-Dog was a goner when he was running last to the van), without needlessly killing off characters moments after introducing and developing them... Mazzara and Gimple take note!