Earlier today, my girlfriend privileged me and my dad to an episode of The Walking Dead, and if the rest of the series is anything like the first episode, this show deserves every amount of hype it gets.
The pilot episode follows Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), a Georgia Sherrif's Deputy, as he awakens from a coma to find that the world has been infected with a zombie-like virus. Miraculously saved by a massacre at the hospital, Rick is horrified to see piles of dead people everywhere, as well as more gruesome sights called "Walkers," the Walking Dead. While trying to figure out this new world, he is captured, and later befriends, Morgan Jones (Lennie James) and his son Duane, who bring him up to date on the world since the zombie apocalypse outbreak and give him warnings concerning the Walkers before Rick makes his way to the heart of Atlanta, Georgia to find his family, where, unbeknownst to him, a horde of Walkers await him.
Frank Darabont has done it again! While there is certainly a bunch of zombie guts shown throughout this episode, the mastery of it is that it's not focused on the apocalypse, making it more of a backdrop to the human element of it. One of the best moments in the episode was when Morgan once again tries to put to rest his zombified wife as quiet, simple notes play to heighten the emotion of the somber scene. The show could have really failed if it chose to go the route of recent horror movies, like Resident Evil or Silent Hill, and choose to simply have the good guys mow down the infected and whoever falls behind is a sissy. The show would have probably lasted only until its first season then. But I was emotionally attached to the few characters we saw, so much that the television show is very much like a movie. That said, Darabont is one of the biggest names in Hollywood's screenwriter community, so it really isn't that big a surprise that the show is good.
The actors pull off very believable, realistic performances. My girlfriend constantly said, "That's what I would've been like if that happened to me!" Lincoln as Rick shows that, yeah, a person would have some culture shock, but eventually they'd get over it as he soon returns to the Rick we opened the episode with in the prologue and shootout scene.
The only negative I could really come up with is that there's a bit of an overabundance of headshots. It certainly makes sense that they're there, since it's a definite kill, but, to me, they're a bit gratuitous.
Overall, the show is masterfully written and directed, the actors make their characters believable and relatable, and the little extra elements are nice icings on the cake to make a zombie show not completely about zombies! It shows that AMC really is the king of TV. I give the pilot episode 4.5 out of 5 stars.
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| Trust me! It's not as dumb as it looks. |
Have you seen The Walking Dead yet? What did you think? Should I do more TV reviews? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
1 comment:
Great review Adam, I'm glad to hear you liked it! I think the best thing about this show is the fact that the word 'zombie' dosen't exist in this universe, and neither does 'zombie' media. With all these zombie video games and movies, the characters are often like us, fully aware of zombies and how they 'function'. I find it cool that the characters are learning of this phenomenon without any preconceived knowledge, it adds to the emotional and dramatic take of the show. -Gabe
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