As I write this, an unpredictable horde of bloodthirsty (brainhungry?) zombies are currently running around on campus, feasting on the flesh of their brethren and stabbing unlucky neighbors and roommates in their figurative backs. Humans do whatever they can to survive, traveling in packs to Harris and avoiding Shain Library and its one exit at all costs. So it only seems right that a brand-spanking-new zombie adventure show called The Walking Dead has premiered on my fall TV line-up.
The Walking Dead tells the delightful tale of a group of good friends as they embark on a wonderful romp across America – who am I kidding? These are zombies we’re talking about. Zombies aren’t delightful and wonderful and they don’t romp. They’re bloody disgusting and so is the show.
As an AMC production The Walking Dead pushes about as many boundaries as it possibly can. AMC has proved, with past shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad, that it’s as close to premium channels like HBO and Showtime as it can get before leaving the comforts of basic cable. This is not a safe show. In the first five minutes, the series’ hero, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), shoots a bullet through a little zombie girl’s head, splattering a funnel of thick, ugly blood behind her. If they kicked the gore and violence up just one more notch, we viewers would be forced to fork over $14.99 a month to keep up with Grimes and his weekly zombie-killing antics.
Grimes’ tale begins like many other familiar zombie tales. After slipping into a coma following a shooting while on the job (he’s a police officer), Grimes wakes up to find that the world has gone to shit. (Sound familiar? Well, it’s a coincidence – 28 Days Later was filmed at the same time that the first comic of The Walking Dead was being written.) The hospital is deserted, bodies are strewn everywhere, and an ominous pair of doors have been chained shut, with the message “Dead Inside! Don’t Open!” written across them. Returning home, he finds that his house is empty, with his wife Lori and son Carl missing.
With the help of a father and son squatting in his former neighbor’s house, he deduces that his family has headed towards the city and decides to find them there. Once arrived, he finds that the city is the last place anyone should go, as the streets are swarming with the undead leftovers. As they tear apart his horse, he seeks shelter in an abandoned tank, about to give up hope when a cheerful voice is heard over the tank’s intercom, asking him if he’s cozy in there.
The Walking Dead is based on Robert Kirkman’s ongoing comic series, to which I am currently addicted. Since the idea of basing a movie adaptation off of an ongoing series is silly – as there would be no guaranteed conclusion in sight – a television series was definitely the best choice, filling that much-needed zombiepocalypse genre gap that network television has failed to fill before.
The ongoing nature of the series – and, hopefully, the show – means that characters die off as quickly as new characters arrive. No one, except perhaps Rick, is blessed with plot armor; anyone can, and probably will, die.
After the first episode ended, I was pleasantly surprised to realize that the pilot only covered the first twenty or so pages of the comic’s first book. This worries me, since only six episodes will air this first season. At this rate, The Walking Dead will be moving at a zombie’s pace, and the season finale will probably coincide with the book’s climax. There are twelve books thus far, with a November 23 publication date for the thirteenth. As optimistic as I want to be, I doubt AMC is willing to spring for thirteen-plus seasons; it’s expensive and risky to make such a decision, especially for a channel which has only started its reinvention.
However, if the show continues to move at this pace, it will never catch up with its original source. I want us all to meet fan-favorites like Michonne, Tyreese, the prison inmates and, God forbid, the Governor. The characters are what make the story so good; the zombies only add to the scenery.
With only one episode to base my opinion on (one more will air before this review is published), I can safely say that The Walking Dead is a breath of fresh air. Thank God AMC is willing to take risks with the show, giving the producers (including The Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont, who wrote and directed the pilot episode) some freedom to display whatever guts and gore they please. While this might mean that the show is not for the squeamish, don’t be fooled by the zombie tag – the heart of the show is the human survivors, who are, at times, the most dangerous part about living in a zombie apocalypse.
What’s best, according to Darabont, the show’s already been renewed for a second season. This means that, unlike personal beloved shows like Arrested Development or Life on Mars, I don’t have to watch with crossed fingers, praying that it’ll be back on my television screen the following year.
I give The Walking Dead 3.5 out of 4 camels – it would be a perfect show if only it wasn’t moving at such an undead pace. •
