TS-19

"TS-19"

"TS-19" is the sixth episode and the first season finale of the post-apocalyptic horror television series The Walking Dead. It originally aired on AMC in the United States on December 5, 2010. The episode was written by Adam Fierro and Frank Darabont, the creator of the series. It was directed by Guy Ferland.

Plot

The prologue of this episode begins with a flashback to the hospital where Rick Grimes was convalescing in a coma after his gunshot wound. His partner Shane was visiting when the outbreak hits the hospital. Shane observes military personnel executing the medical staff and walkers roaming the halls. He initially tries to carry Rick out, but Rick is attached to life support equipment. A soldier opens the door to the room, but leaves the comatose Rick alone. When the hospital loses power, the life support goes off. Shane checks Rick's heartbeat and hears none. Distraught, he exits into the hall. With walkers coming in from one side, and soldiers executing people in another, Shane closes Rick's door and blocks it with a bed before making his escape.

The main episode begins with the survivors having just entered the CDC headquarters. They are confronted by Dr. Jenner, armed with an automatic rifle, who asks if any of them are infected and insists on a blood test as the price of entry. The survivors have the luxury of food, wine, and hot showers. During dinner it emerges that many of the CDC staff left early in the outbreak to look for their families, and that later—after the military cordon had been overrun—most of the rest committed suicide, leaving Jenner as the only researcher left in the entire facility. Shane, drunk, confronts Lori to explain his actions, professes his love for her, and nearly rapes her before she scratches his neck. The next morning, Jenner shows them the clinical results from test subject 19 (TS-19), a person who was bitten by a walker and volunteered to be observed for research purposes as the infection took over. The time-lapse MRI video shows the virus attacking the subject's brain in a meningitis-like fashion, ultimately killing the victim, and then restarting the brainstem to reanimate the body. Jenner reveals that the outbreak likely affected all the other research facilities as well, and that the building would begin automatic decontamination procedures when the generators ran out of fuel, in approximately 1 hour. As the survivors scramble to gather their equipment and escape, Jenner locks them in and tells them that the decontamination procedure will mean the destruction of everything inside the facility—offering a quick and virtually painless death to everyone inside. It also is revealed that TS-19 was his wife, the facility's head researcher. Rick and Lori plead for the doors to be opened; Daryl and Shane nearly kill Jenner. Finally, with less than five minutes remaining, Jenner opens the doors. Two of the survivors, Jacqui and Andrea, choose to stay behind, and Dale refuses to leave without Andrea. Before Grimes leaves, Jenner (who had already decided to stay behind) whispers something to him, and the rest of the group heads for the exits, using a grenade to blow out one of the front windows, and fight their way to their vehicles through several walkers. Andrea and Dale emerge from the building moments before the building detonates spectacularly; Jacqui stayed inside with Dr. Jenner. As the episode ends, the survivors form a convoy in their vehicles leaving the area, while a massive column of smoke and flame marks the place where the CDC building had stood.

External links

• "TS-19" at AMC
• "TS-19" at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com episode