| As someone who has
been following the series by individual issues (I'm
not one of those people who say "I'll wait for the
trade paperbacks!"), I can assure you that the show
was tricky. Horror has a tough time being taken
seriously, and regardless of Kirkman's adult writing
and sharp characterization, "The Walking Dead" as a
TV show was a gamble. And it had every chance to
fail. Any network could have turned the series in to
a flashy action show like "Resident Evil" or just
completely toned down the gore in favor of a PG-13
vision. But AMC Network rolled he dice and went for
a score, and surely enough the series was welcomed
with open arms with massive ratings and critical
acclaim. But let's be honest, when all is said and
done, the ratings is what counts. Nothing else. And
when season one came to end AMC had every reason to
bring the show back. Season one consisted of six
carefully written and drawn out episodes that tested
the waters on every single episode. It introduced
characters, it killed off characters, it left plot
lines in the air--just in case they came back, and
they effectively closed up the entire arc for the
first season.
You know... just in case the show had rock bottom
ratings and were greeted with a thud. That way AMC
could end the show without any lingering questions,
and they could insist it was primarily just a
mini-series. But we know it's coming back for a
season two in October of 2011 and will have many
more episodes than season one did. For better or for
worse, "The Walking Dead" has been going off on its
own tangent and it's been a trying experience. For
folks like me who have read every individual issue
it was fantastic to see some of the great moments of
the series come to fruition. Frank Darabont provided
a wonderfully realized vision of Kirkman's world in
stark and gritty color, with a pilot movie that
expanded on some things in the first three issues of
the series, and reduced others. Rick's awakening in
the hospital in "Days Gone Bye" after the zombie
apocalypse and his venturing in to the bowels of the
abandoned medical building is a harrowing and
horrifying experience to this day.
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Darabont's insistence on relying on
stark silence to convey the graveyard
atmosphere in this hospital is
absolutely disturbing, and Rick's
stumbling on to signs of the carnage are
incredible. Darabont improved on much of
the first issue from Kirkman's series by
relying on subtlety. Kirkman had to sell
his first issue for audiences to become
a hit, so the first issue features Rick
opening the doors to the cafeteria to
see a horde of zombies feasting on human
victims. It's disgusting, nauseating and
he manages to getaway by the skin of his
teeth. Darabont instead opts for a much
more subtle approach to where Rick
stumbles on to the entrance of the
cafeteria where he sees a warning to
keep away and watches as mangle hands
slide in through the crevices of the
door. Rick knows there is something
truly dangerous behind the doors, and he
knows better than to investigate.
Meanwhile to compensate for the lack of
grue in the first half, Rick lays on a
young girl in the dark hall of the
hospital who has been eaten down to her
skeleton with only her face in tact and
looking up sleepily. |
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Not to mention to
convey the extremity of this new world, the opening
minutes feature Rick's confrontation with an undead
little girl he has to shoot down once she lunges at
him. This is after she takes it upon herself to pick
up her teddy bear when Rick spots her under a car.
Another of the big moments from the comics is the
reunion of Rick and his family to where a tearful
reunion in the comics becomes one of the most
heartbreaking television moments of the year in the
episode "Tell it to the Frogs." No matter how good a
comic book is, if you have a proper cast, they can
really launch it in to sheer fame, and the combined
cast of Andrew Lincoln, Chandler Riggs, and Sarah
Wayne Callie remains a truly gripping moment in the
show considering Rick fought to get to safety. In
the series Rick is found by Glenn in the middle of
Atlanta, and Glenn helps him travail the rooftops to
where they make it in to the woods to meet with his
family. Here the series makes Rick earn his
salvation in "Guts."
The episode "Guts"
does give us a better more complex look at key
characters Andrea and Glenn, both of whom are
perfectly portrayed by the fantastic Laurie Holden
and Steven Yeun who is flawless as the reluctant
hero of the group. Not to mention the episode was
able to stage one of the more memorable scenes from
the comics but with its own individual flavor.
Rather than Rick and Glenn donning SWAT team outfits
slapping guts on themselves to grab guns, Rick and
Glenn slap guts on themselves with thin medical
robes and have to venture in to the horde of geeks
to find transportation to the Atlanta camp. Both
variations end up being gripping since the
introduction of the rain is one sick twisted joke
from fate. All the while I commend Darabont for
taking throwaway characters like Morgan and Dwayne
in the first issues of the comic and expanding on
their character transforming them in to parallel
struggles for survival in the aftermath.
| In the
comics they were good characters but
convenient plot devices. Darabont gave
them their own survival arc, and many
people are wondering where their fates
lie. My dad continues wondering whatever
became of them. I'm also a fan of the
show turning Shane in to an actual
complex person rather than making him in
to a heel right away. Jon Bernthal's
unhinged erratic portrayal of Shane is
superb, and he is a delightfully
despicable human being with no scruples
who seems to work under the delusion
that no matter what he does, no matter
who he hurts, he's doing it for the
better of his fellow survivors.
But we
know he's a selfish egomaniac incapable
of making the right decisions. His
insistence on staying in camp is clearly
the display of cowardice, but to him
he's being heroic. Bernthal has turned
Shane in to a three dimensional being
and one who is given an admirably new
plotline in the final episode where we
see his last confrontation with Rick and
his escape from the hospital. Even in
the face of sleeping with his best
friend's wife, he is still convincing
himself that he's doing it for his own
good. |
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I'm still not sure
how I feel about Jim's omen of the impending zombie
siege if only because it's a supernatural element
that isn't needed or shouldn't have been added. The
series has stuck to the realism as much as possible
and Jim's omen is nothing short of far-fetched. But
I did enjoy the added elements that are sprinkled
along every episode as a grim reminder of the
character's impending fates. If you watch the
episodes, you can see the looming horizon of the
city of Atlanta over the tree lines like a specter
of death and it's one of the more subtle and
uncomfortable plot devices of the season. And who
can forget the amazing episode "Vatos" where Rick
and co. have to duke it out with a seemingly
ruthless Mexican gang who take Glenn hostage.
Like every fan of the
comic I initially hated the idea because there is no
such sub-plot in the series. But prior to learning
Kirkman wrote the episode, it ended up being a truly
remarkable sub-plot that stuck true to the values of
the Hispanic culture. And this entire episode led up
to the massive zombie siege that was terrific in its
chaos, and carnage leading to the death of character
Amy. Anyone who read the comics knew Amy would
eventually die, but it all became a matter of
"When?" once we discovered the show was intent on
being its own animal. I can still remember stirring
at the news of the gorgeous Emma Bell playing Amy,
but realizing that I shouldn't get too attached
because Amy does die. Her character's death is
crucial to the development of Laurie Holden's
character Andrea. |
