page_title: What Lies Ahead
section_title: Critical response
hierarchical_section_title: What Lies Ahead / Reception / Critical response
caption_attribution_description: English: Laurie Holden at the ACE Eddie Awards 2012.
context_page_description: "What Lies Ahead" is the second season premiere episode of the post-apocalyptic horror television series The Walking Dead. It originally aired on AMC in the United States on October 16, 2011. It was written by series developer Frank Darabont and series creator Robert Kirkman, and directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton and Ernest Dickerson. In this episode, Rick Grimes leads his group toward Fort Benning, Georgia, but during an encounter with a herd of zombies, colloquially referred to as "walkers", Sophia Peletier goes missing, and a search group is formed.
  "What Lies Ahead" was the last episode written by Darabont, who had been fired from the show in July 2011. It was first previewed at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 22, 2011. Production commenced in June 2011. Unlike the first season, most of the principal photography for "What Lies Ahead" took place outside the city limits of Atlanta, Georgia; filming took place in Smyrna and Henry County, Georgia. Before its first airing, several segments were announced and broadcast, including a six-part internet series and a live after-show hosted by Chris Hardwick.
context_section_description: "What Lies Ahead" was met with general acclaim from television critics. Gina McIntyre of the Los Angeles Times felt it was the series' best installment, calling it "thrilling" and "heart-wrenching". Similar sentiments were echoed by Josh Jackson of Paste, who gave the episode an 8.8 out of 10—a "commendable" rating. Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly liked what he called the "casual" atmosphere of the opening scene and described the ending as "daring". IGN's Eric Goldman felt the episode got the second season off to a strong start; he gave the episode 8 out of 10—a "great" rating.
  Hank Stuever of The Washington Post found the pace of this episode "sleeker" than that of previous ones, adding, "This has the subtle but immediate effect of making The Walking Dead less predictable and more frightening." Derek Boeckelmann of Daily Nexus commended the episode, deeming it "frighteningly good". He praised the performances of Holden and Reedus and described the former as one of the show's strongest characters. David Chute of Indiewire approved of the special effects and commended the highway sequence, saying, "a sequence in which the humans hide under the wrecked cars in a freeway pileup, able to see only the feet of the flesh eaters shuffling past, is a classic nail-biter." David Hickley of Daily News gave "What Lies Ahead" three out of five stars and expressed the view: "The Walking Dead may be under new management, but it seems to have kept its rhythm, moving easily between bursts of intense violence and long stretches of psychological sparring." The Hollywood Reporter writer Tim Goodman concurred. "It's 90 minutes of skill", he wrote, "bringing viewers back into the story without missing a beat, adding immediate depth to characters, ratcheting up suspense [...], plus expanding the emotional palette of the series." In his 3.5-star review, John Griffiths of Us Weekly liked the personal dynamics almost as much as the bloodthirstiness.
  Some critics were less enthusiastic about the episode. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave it a B+ grade; he praised the horror sequences in the episode, but called the character development "tepid". "At the very least", he wrote, "the show does a fine job working within its restrictions. There are a handful of absolutely top-notch set pieces in ['What Lies Ahead'], starting with an attack on the highway that seems to go on forever." Alex Hanno of The Tufts Daily felt that, although entertaining, the plot lacked "a much needed rush of energy". He gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars. Likewise, Nick Venable of Cinema Blend wrote: "I won't say I got bored, but much of the episode left me unmoved, and far less tense than I should have been."
caption: Laurie Holden's performance was well received by television critics.
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "3264", "Image ImageLength": "4928", "Image BitsPerSample": "[2048, 2048, 2048]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D5100", "Image Orientation": "0", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Picasa 3.0", "Image DateTime": "2012:02:18 21:26:33", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "278", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1142", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6589", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:02:18 18:34:10", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:02:18 18:34:10", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "5906891/1000000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "18/5", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "473/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "18", "EXIF SubSecTime": "90", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "90", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "90", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1479", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1794", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1018", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "27", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "d1b1d3012f82d17da631a89eef1ab164"}