6/27/13
Subject Review: The Walking Dead, AMC, Season 1
This show is old news to many (sorry just let me catch up since I'm new around these parts!). But in a way, it's ironically fitting that I'm just getting to this now as the zombie fiction genre have always had this weird tug-a-war between stagnation and celebration. Arguably, what makes zombie stuff "fun" and "cool" isn't the same as what makes fiction thought-provoking. To be more specific, character and plot development tend to give way to shooting dead people in the face. It's cool, it's badass, it's fun, but it also can be boring to those who look for more in fiction than casual enjoyment. So as a result, hearing about any new piece of zombie media has almost always resulted in me being less interested. So you can imagine my enthusiasm going into Season 1 of The Walking Dead (this part will only cover the first season)... it's another piece of zombie fiction. On top of that called "The Walking Dead". Could this be an omen of creative bankruptcy?
Yup, my reaction too... except with less enthusiasm
The answer to that question is complicated. Right from the start the show doesn't seem too worried about retreading old ground. In fact, it starts off like 28 Days Later and practically every other apocalyptic stories (remember that zombies are a sub-set of these types of fiction). So, already a little bored by the first Act, I grabbed my potato chips and braced for another zombie story as vanilla and uninteresting as Enterprise was to science fiction. But, by the time the character of Morgan Jones started grieved over his sniper rifle at the sight of his dead (or walking dead) wife, I had stopped eating and was drooling into the bowl.
This show's different... and it's different in a way that I've always wanted in a zombie story. Morgan (and his son by extension) is a character that represents the human costs of survival and a desperate struggle between the good decision and the right decision. Is it frighteningly strange that it's rare to see characters like this in zombie stories? Characters that symbolizes and develop a deeper meaning to societal breakdowns? Oh sure we sometimes get banter about similar subjects in other zombie stuff, but to see Morgan personally struggle with it for basically, most of the episode, gives it a true dramatic weight to the story when many other zombie writing throw in philosophy as a token effort to not be stupid.
But with Morgan we're also not just given symbolism. It is also developed. That's not common for many fiction let alone zombie genre fiction.
The rest of Season 1 was a little more disappointing. Episode 2 introduced a wider range of characters that began as stereotypes and, for the most part, remained as stereotypes. However, the more irritating stereotypes of the casts (such as the borderline racist Merle and his brother Daryl) are the ones that are most softened up towards the end of the show. Characters like Daryl gradually showed a wider range of reactions and emotions and that kept some of these stereotypes at least believable. The plot development also seemed to have been written with more care as cliche pitfalls that a lot of other zombie stuff sometimes can't help themselves jumping into are mostly avoided. The inner city gangbanger episode had a fairly nice twist, despite its credibility a little stretched. But it was nice to see that the writers didn't get lazier with their development. Copy and paste template zombie plot is one of the best ways to ruin your story into a generic gore fantasy.
Sorry folks, but it's been a while since we've had a twist!
The finale is probably the weakest part of the show. The addition of a self-destructing scientist in the form of Dr. Jenner was a potentially interesting addition, but the entire episode seemed to be more concerned with exposition than character development. That is not to say that character development is absent throughout the episode; elements that made the early part of the season great are still present in the finale. Yet, the finale is the first time where the writing felt content with exposition when what made The Walking Dead great was how it explored humanity's reactions to hopeless situations. I wanted to learn more from Jenner and Jacqui but all I got was just a plot twist.
At the end of the day, The Walking Dead soars over many other zombie fictions. It's truly an achievement when it can make some of Romero's weaker works completely forgettable. Yet, as the series goes on, you gradually get a sense that the writers were quickly running out of ideas on how to handle the adaptation. Which might be a concern considering that season 1 is very short (only 6 episodes). I can't say if that's an omen... after all, the first omen I thought I saw turned out to be inaccurate.
Rating: The Walking Dead is a show that isn't afraid to retread old ground but it also isn't afraid to let it's characters and plot breathe. It assumes that it's audience aren't just here for a quick thrill ride and that's really what gives The Walking Dead a lot of depth. NOTE: It must be noted that I have not read the original comics. I've played through the games but the games are not closely related to the TV show. Thus, as an adaptation, my review lacks this dimension. This is a review of someone who has only watched the show.
