TV Review: The Walking Dead

AMC’s The Walking Dead – Episode 1

What can I say about it?

My expectations were high for this new television series. I never like getting my expectations up too high, just because I’ve been so disappointed in the past. But, I knew the comic it is based off of is good, I knew the director is pretty darn amazing, and what I have seen of the makeup for the zombies was impressive. It was difficult not to have high expectations.

Thankfully, my expectations have been met and pretty much exceeded.

The makeup and the direction were superb. The acting was also very good, you will notice a few familiar faces from Frank Darabont’s (the director) of The Mist. While the story didn’t follow exactly to the letter of the book, it does a very good job on it’s own because even though I know basically what to expect, I still find surprises. I also find what it changes slightly to be a good change. The  more detailed story of the first people that Rick Grimes comes across was a nice touch.

The city of Atlanta scenes did bring a sudden gasp to me that I wasn’t really expecting. Very intense and that is when the show ends, when the hero does a major ooops.

The worst part of watching The Walking Dead… having to deal with commercials. Swear words crossed my lips everytime a commercial break started.

I honestly can not wait until next Sunday for Episode 2, and I will be continuing with the review then.

The wait for episode 2 to come out on the 7th was a long, grueling wait. The first episode left us with such a cliff hanger that it was a nail biting experience with a laugh. Episode 2 picks up immediately from the nail biting moment. We find out immediately who the voice is on the radio and we find there are more survivors than before.

Again, here’s a big difference from the comic books. There was only one additional survivor in the city instead of six. While I understand it might make more sense to send in more people to scavenge for supplies, I didn’t feel that it added anything to the story to have so many people.  So, this time, the book did a better job. It also seemed to drag the story behind while the survivors tried to find their way out of the city. The story of the city escape could have been told between two commercial breaks rather than the entire episode. Also, I just shook my head with the scene between Lori and Shane.

Though, it was nice to see Michael Rooker playing a redneck racist.

This episode, to me, seemed to have lost some of the momentum from the first episode. That said, I am still anxiously awaiting the third episode.