The AMC stamp in the bottom corner of a television series has really come to mean something, and it's bizarrely perfect that a show about a zombie apocalypse can stand alongside Emmy darlings like the aforementioned. I don't know if Emmy voters would have it in them to give any nods to the show for acting or anything else, but I could definitely see a writing or directing nomination for an episode so tightly and beautifully framed as this one. From beginning to end, every beat of the episode was beautiful (there's that word again).
There was the beautiful and inevitable tragedy of Andrea and Amy. In a testament to her strength and compassion, Andrea stayed by her sister's side literally from the moment of her death until the moment of her turning. And why? Not because she was grief-stricken, though she was, nor because she had lost her senses, but because she had unfinished business to attend to with her sister.

An undead Amy isn't quite the same, but it was enough to allow Andrea the closure she needed for her own guilt. "Amy, I'm sorry," she said as Amy's eyes opened and she began to twitch. "I'm sorry for not ever being there. I always thought there'd be more time." By this point, Amy was starting to reach for her. "I'm here now, Amy. I love you." And before Amy could take a bite from her, Andrea calmly blew her brains out. She'd said her peace and had the strength still to kill what was no longer her sister. Again, a beautifully acted, shot, written and presented scene.

We got another tragic moment after Jacqui revealed that Jim had been bitten in the previous night's fracas. This time, though, he wasn't dead, and nobody shot him. Instead, he was left in peace by the side of the road. Surely, in time, he will be wandering the countryside. Would it have been more humane to shoot him? Perhaps, but the lesson learned here, and that Lori emphasized earlier when they were burying their dead, was that despite the world going to hell around them, they need to hang onto what humanity they have left.

The gang bid farewell to Morales, which was another important scene. It made it that much more significant that everyone else who chose to stay with the group did so. They faced the dangers of going back into Atlanta, or at least to the CDC. It may have been from fear that they didn't want to go it alone, but that moment tightened the bond between this group of survivors, growing smaller by the episode. As Lori said, smaller numbers makes them weaker.

It was a bit of a jarring transition, when we came back from commercial to a computer screen, and ultimately a transmission from Jenner, a man living still at the CDC, and admirably still working toward a cure. Admirable because it appeared that he was there alone. I could help but be reminded of Desmond in 'Lost,' locked down in the Hatch all that time. There was even a parallel by having the episode end with a flash of light coming out toward the survivors. The brightness of that light shining over a still shot of the cast created a powerful image of hope after such a bleak and seemingly hopeless episode.

The fracture between Rick and Shane started to show, and it's nice to see that things aren't always black and white. Shane thinks that had Rick and his gun-running crew been there when the zombie attack went down, more lives could have been saved. Rick thinks had they not had those guns, more lives might have been lost. Who can say who is right and who is wrong in that instance, which is an important lack of distinction. It would be easy to try to paint one or the other as clearly wrong-headed, as then we'd know who to root for.

Ultimately, it's nearly a stroke of luck that one man was still alive and ultimately -- despite his best efforts -- had enough of his own humanity left to open that door for them at the CDC. Otherwise, Rick's plan to head there would have surely spelled their deaths, as he was telling Jenner over the camera interface. Knowing how reckless and impulsive, if good-intentioned, Rick can be, and how persuasive, you can even almost understand that chilling moment in the woods when Shane had Rick in his sights.

The significant moment there came when Shane didn't take the shot, even before realizing that Dale had just seen what was going down. After what Shane did to Ed, he's showing himself capable of quite a lot to be nervous about. Very few would fault him the reasons for what he did to Ed, but the excessive violence of it spoke more to Shane's own demons. He's dealing with his feelings for Lori and his frustrations in how he sees Rick treating this woman he's so fond of; something that was happening even before the world ended.

I was sold on this series even before it began because of the source material, but now I am absolutely mesmerized by it. 'The Walking Dead' is the best show on television. From the writing, directing and the acting; even the special effects are horrifically beautiful. AMC is creating one of the most intense, emotional, powerful, cinematic and wonderful pieces of television. I can't believe, though, that it's almost over (for now). Just one more episode left and we have to wait until [*gasp*] next Halloween for Season Two.

'The Walking Dead' airs Sundays, 10PM ET on AMC.

[Follow Jason @ultraversion21 on Twitter.]