Review

Andrew is caught rummaging around in his next door neighbour's basement apparently looking for guns. The neighbour, Palmer, admits he has never liked Andrew and holds Andrew at gunpoint, relating how it's his birthday and his wife has made a fudge cake for him and the kids have made birthday cards, though Palmer had to clean up the invariable mess they made while doing so. You get the feeling Andrew is about a hair's breadth from joining the ranks of the deceased.

There's a dog whimpering in the background, apparently something attacked it and Andrew is looking for a gun to put the creature out of its misery. Seems this works somehow with Palmer, who comes to a decision. With banging and zombie growling upstairs Palmer asks for Andrew's help to finishing the job he was unable to do.

Once again we are in flashback mode as writer John Esposito explains what happened to the family dog that lead Andrew to shot it. Clearly the mutt was the victim of a zombie attack and Andrew is now faced with putting it out of its misery. Equally it should be apparent that Andrew doesn't own a firearm, hence why he is over his neighbours, though I got to say the quick lesson in how to shot the rifle he receives from Palmer would generally be inadequate to say the least, which makes Andrew's metamorphosis into a modern day Daniel Boone a bit surprising. Anyways Esposito is tying off loose ends here and ensuring no plot point is left unexplained.

Neighbourly Advice is pretty much a two shot for the running time of 3:58, with Andrew taking a backseat to Palmer (Rex Linn) who has previously been bitten by a zombie. The episode unfolds from Palmer's viewpoint and it's his story that is front and centre, with Esposito taking time out only to colour in some more of the background to the main action. Palmer appears better equipped to handle the zombie apocalypse than Andrew. Palmer has a gun and already seems to be up to speed with handling the walking dead, while Andrew is still in catch up mode.

The vex question about why Andrew shot the family dog is finally answered

Director Greg Nicotero is playing this episode for all it is worth; the two characters are in Palmer's basement which isn't by chance. Like Andrew and Palmer we can't see what is happening upstairs and are reliant on sound to determine what might be happening. Nicotero starts the episode with a dog whimpering somewhere above, and then while Palmer is launching his soliloquy we here someone or something banging around in the room above. This gradually gives way to the sort of zombie growling we associate with riled up walkers that have heard the dinner bell. I'm going to assume the zombies overhead are Palmer's children, as he was unable to shot them in the head like he did his wife. For Palmer this is the bridge too far, but in Andrew he sees a solution. Nicotero gradually uncovers a threat to Andrew, then explains it, before finally it dawns on Andrew what Palmer requires him to do. Got to say besides a fair amount of tension the Director is also adding some pathos which reminded me of the Dead universe refrain, we are them and they are us.

One of the aspects of the episode I was digging was Palmer seemed aware of the zombie outbreak, or at least that people were being infected by something and turning psychotic, and quite happily put his wife down but was unable to do the same for his kids. Clearly the character had reached the end of what his suburban mind set could cope with and was unable to go further. Suffering remorse, I would imagine, he opts out which leaves Andrew with a situation to deal with. Clearly, since this is a flashback, Andrew negotiates the next obstacle in his path, I assume a kitchen housing a couple of Eddie Munsters, and has some hope of survival. Or at least his survival chances are on par with anyone else in the Walking Dead universe.

While we were watching the episode the other day someone mentioned that these sort of movies always end up in the basement, and it never works out quite as well as one would expect. I'm not entirely sure if the audience is meant to take a wink at Night of the Living Dead but for sure Palmer reminded me of the Harry Cooper character from that movie. He likes to think he has the situation sussed but when the whip comes down he's cracking under the pressure. Actually the other thing brought up was how did Andrew get down into the cellar with a couple of zombies in the house and Palmer roving around with a rifle?

Pretty much the last couple of episodes have brought us all up to date with the current situation Andrew and Hannah find themselves in. We know what happened to the dog, who is rolled up in the carpet, and how Andrew has turned into some sort of survivalist. I would imagine the story will advance from the next episode, though we do know there is going to be a pretty nihilistic end to this one, fingers crossed Rick Grimes makes a cameo. I enjoyed Neighbourly Advice as a dramatic interlude but am now ready to rock with some zombie festivities over the next couple of episodes. Hang onto your linen, this is going to get pretty gruesome folks!