After a few friends of mine begged me to watch the hit TV series The Walking Dead I gave in. I now know what all the fuss is about, it is incredible. If you haven’t watched it you must!
Based on the comic book series, a group of survivors, led by Rick Grimes must fight for survival against a world full of zombies. The Walking Dead comes from the brilliant mind of Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption), supplying the show with incredible actors, make up and special effects.
“Days Gone Bye” is the episode that really show you what The Walking Dead is all about: now a lot of people approach this series with hesitation thinking it is going to to be horrifically gory have a lot of jump scares like many other zombie stories. However, that is not the case. Robert Kirkman (the creator of the comic book series) took a completely different take with his comic book series and Frank Darabont was able to bring the story to life, especially the title “The Walking Dead”, referring to the living as much as it does the zombies in the show. It examines that which is changed and exposed in the hearts of the living, as human are faced with the hell that is on Earth.
The very first episode emphasises this theme with the subplot about the character Morgan Jones. Now Morgan Jones is the human heart in all of the zombie insanity as he deals with the internal struggle to let go of his wife who was turned into a zombie and do what is best for his son. The agony of his struggle is clearly emphasised as we watch Morgan Jones hold a rifle up and aim it at his zombie wife’s head, making his finger falter. Not only do we feel his agony we actually understand it, why the visage of a lost lover still has the power to be able to move someone. We have seen moments like these is zombie stories before, however it is the strength of actor Lennie James that gives it the emotional impact that we see.
We are introduced to the character Rick Grimes, a character that we are made to root for. From the opening scene of the episode – Rick and Shane (played by Jon Bernthal) discussing their different approaches when dealing with women – we instantly get the sense that Rick is going to be the good guy. However, we know that in the midst of the hell on Earth Rick is sure to cross a dark moral threshold and do some terrible things in order to survive.
The scene where Rick returns to the park to give his condolences to the half-a-torso zombie girl is where we see him set aside his humanity in order to shoot the girl in the head. In every scene that Rick encounters a zombie it is foreshadowed with the complexity of his character. We are given a brief look at Rick’s wife Lori and son Karl (who we are lead to be missing when Rick returns to the house to find them) partner Shane and the other survivors, we immediately establish that there will be some serious drama that will unfold later on in the series.
The final minutes of the episode remind us that in the middle of all the drama there is plenty of zombie action to get our blood really pumping. We watch with anticipation as we see Rick enter Atlanta nearly getting torn to shreds by the walkers that surround him (unfortunately the horse that Rick rode on it gets the worst of it and gets eaten). This scene had my heart racing with panic even though I knew very well that Rick would survive the huge heard that surrounded him in the tank. The final shot of all the walkers surrounding the tank was amazing and really emphasised how far up shit creek all of the characters really are.
It took me about a week to get myself up to date with all of the episodes in all three series and there are a few things that I have noticed. In the first episode when we are introduced to Morgan Jones’ wife we can see that she clearly recognises where she is and has familiarity with the house she used to live in. However, later on in series we are told that walkers have to memory of the life they used to have or any recognition of their family or friends that they once had. Another thing I noticed was the fact that his wife tried to open the front door of the house. Again we are told that walkers cannot open doors and the only thing they can physically focus on is their hunger and feeding.
All in all this is a series that I would definitely recommend for all you horror, thriller, zombie fans out there.
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