The Walking Dead (AMC + Darabont) - Page 7

Rather like "Sherlock," where they prefer to quietly dance around the fact that, in our world, Holmes' deductive abilities are not the mystifying work of a "freak," but a part of the cultural heritage.

Anyway, as a seriously old-school type, I always associated "zombie" with voodoo, and it took me a while to even get used to the term being applied to the films of Romero and his successors.

Agreed. It's a good storytelling decision as well. The creators know that they have more episodes so they wisely spread the exposition, and focus on characters instead.

I want to live next to this store, which is probably in the strip mall with the S Mart....

http://zprepared.com/zblog/category/zlife/

The condescending tone of this is really ironic when Rick's main priority is finding his family. What a fool, right? If wanting to know WHY is even in your top 5, you need to re-examine your priorities.

That link is awesome, though.

Prior planning prevents piss poor execution. Or, like GI Joe taught us all--knowing is half the battle.

A little intel goes a long way. Maybe our hero wouldn't have just drove down the highway until he ran out of gas, like someone mentioned earlier. Maybe he would have just avoided the deathtrap of Atlanta, like some people have done.

So just go on and react to things without thinking some things through. You'll be zombie chow soon enough, pilgrim.

I actually sort of agree with Viv, that Rick ought to ask the question of how this happened, even if the answer is a shrug. But I'm willing to believe he would want to find his family and reconoitter first.

Of course, the real reason is that we, the audience, get the general gist without having to be told. As opposed, again, to Lost, where the situation was just as strange to us as it was to the characters, and so it was frustrating to see them be so passive when it came to finding answers (or doing anything else, really).

It does. And also leads to Rick's assertion that....SPOILER: they are all the "walking dead".

Maybe Rick asked about the zombie genesis during one of their "off-screen" discussions, and Morgan said "I don't know". So it doesn't merit removing something from the allotted 70 minutes of the TV show to illustrate that. His focus on his family makes sense (given what his son heard his mother say about him prior to his hospitalization), over his general curiosity. We aren't going to be privy to conversations not relevant to the story at hand. This episode didn't need to make him intellectually curious. So...I'm sure he asked off-screen. Since no relevant information was passed, the audience didn't need to see it.

All better.

Rick didn't know that Atlanta was a wasteland from what I gathered. He just knew it was the most likely spot, his family would have headed. His main priority is finding his family, and knowing how to deal with the zombies. I don't understand how knowing anything more then where to go, and how to kill the zombies at any point during a zombie apocaplyse is worth a damn? wow, you might get an idea of what caused them to appear, but what is that going to do for you now. It's a question he may have in his head, but in the whole scheme of things, it's worth squat.

What intel could he find? Obviously time was an issue. I think going around, trying to find other survivors so he could ask them 21 questions was not relevant at the point. He had a heading, he had a vehicle, he had weapons, and he had some hope... at this point, that is all he needs. If he goes there, and finds that his fmaily is indead dead, or worse, then all the info on why this happened is even more irrelevant becuase he strikes me as the type of guy who wouldn't want to live without them.

The real question is, in the farm house where the husband and wife committed suicide and Rick got the horse, why was the note for forgiveness scrawled in blood? This basically sets up the situation where one of them dies first, the guy dips his hand or paint brush in the pool of blood from his loved one, writes it on the wall and then blows himself up?

If he cares about them, why use their blood as ink? Why not just use a Sharpie or something? It's a giant plot hole that kind of ruined the episode for me.

Morgan gives Rick the idea to go to Atlanta by mentioning that the CDC is there. I mean, if there's seemingly some kind of disease breaking out, wouldn't going to the city where the Center for DISEASE Control is seem like a good idea?

I took it as his wife was a zombie, and he killed her... he was probably to the point where he sanity was broken, and he wrote that on the wall with the blood that pooled on the floor. To blow your head off with a shotgun, obiously thinking rationaly, like "maybe using a sharpie looks a bit more normal" probably doesn't cross his mind.

Maybe he had recently banned sharpies from the house. My Dad did this once.

Just got back from voting and wanted to say that this series clearly has me by the throat. Loved everything about it. Also, as a former Atlanta resident, I am floored at all of the ATL scenery. I knew every street that Rick was on. Can't wait to see where this goes. I think that the last new series I sat down to watch was Lost.

No one is saying Rick should launch into hardcore investigation mode. It doesn't have to be a priority. But most people would at least say, "What the fuck is going on!?" Its almost like he's seen enough Zombie films to be content with the knowledge he has. He also seems to be in shock at certain points, so maybe this is why he was so quiet. Its barely a complaint, more of an observation I'd say. Nothing at all against the show, I can already tell I'm going to love it dearly. Its rather incredible how quickly AMC became this awesome. The four shows they have on air are all my favourite shows. That's assuming Rubicon gets a second season.

Good theory, but I have to ask. How do we know one of the dead people in the room scrawled the message on the wall before their untimely demise?

Perhaps there was a third person as yet unseen. The horse seemed to be well tended.

possibly, but who knows when dude blew his head off? Could have been mere hours before Rick found them?

All I know is I'm buying the Blu-ray of this series so when the zombie apocalypse does come, I can go back and re-watch all the things Rick does wrong.

True, but the info we saw Morgan and Daune give him, might have been enough for Rick. Everyone is gone, the dead have risen, you get bit, you will die and turn into one of them. That does basically answer the question of what the hell is going on, right?

On an extremely fundamental level. Maybe he's simple/straightforward enough for that to be an adequate answer. But since he's a deputy sherriff, I would expect a smidge of curiosity. Oh well, maybe we'll get a two hour explanation of something down the road in another episode. Something between a virus and "There's no more room in Hell" should suffice.

I keep looking for FEMA vehicles.

Maybe a trip to the CDC Headquarters would be fun. I'm sure that place is an abbatoir of delight by now.

What did you guys think of the cold open?

While I loved it as I appreciated the balls they showed in thrusting the viewers directly in front of the worst imaginable shit in a "that's what we do, take it or leave" way, I think that approach might have hurt the chances to lure in some casual viewers.

I know a handful of people - my parents included - that changed channel before the credits even rolled out of shock. They're pussies and everything, but I kinda understand where they're coming from. I know that in a zombie story the shit needs to hit the fan sooner rather than later, but for people without any horror background it can be hard to stomach a scene like that without having any investment on the character or the world of the show.

28 Days Later did this perfectly: the first infected attack comes early in the movie, but not before showing ten or something minutes of Cillian Murphy wandering around a deserted London as the interest in understanding what the hell is going on is building in the viewer.

What TWD did, instead, is more or less "WARNING; Contains graphic stuff" - BOOM, little girl with a mangled face gets one between the eyes. A lot of casual watchers are bound to say "fuck this!" and turn off the tv. If you put the scene after Rick hits the road - without touching anything else in the pilot - your random Joe has been already sucked in by the character and his quest so he might be more prone to endure some horrific stuff in order to see what will happen next. Considering also that TWD is more a drama with zombies than a brainless gorefest, this might've been a wiser approach to sell your show to the general public.


In any case, I can only add to the praise the other Chewers have already expressed. I didn't really see Andrew Lincoln as Rick when the casting was announced, but his work here is terrific. I loved the subtle, restrained terror and disgust he showed in a lot of the scenes, selling the shock without making a big show out of it. Also, the sparseness of the score and the sound design couldn't be more appropriate, setting the perfect tone for a slow apocalypse. Can't wait for next week.

A lot of those viewers would have simply tuned out a little later in the show. It wasn't going to win them over regardless.

And I'm not sure why we're concerned about ratings anyway. The show is a hit.

I think the cold opening was a great way to show people what they were in for. That's going to seem tame compared to what is likely to happen down the road.

It's not a ratings concern, I guess I explained myself clunkily. What I feel here is that by going with a cold open featuring an extremely disturbing piece of imagery the show might have turned off people that otherwise could have endured the gore when taken into the context of a compelling story like Rick's.

Screw them for not giving it a fair chance, I guess - it's their loss - but the show could've tried to make for an easier entrance into its world. You know, with kid death being the big no-no and that. I'm not criticizing the choice, to be clear, I doubt they could have picked a stronger mood-setter.

Could very well be, but it's a thought.

I don't think the opening was gory or disgusting enough to turn anybody off. Getting your head blown off, just isn't enough to shock anybody these days. Even if it is a little girl. I mean it's not like we're talking about anything on the level of Hostel. If anything it probably intrigued people.

I dunno... Rick sems to find them pretty effective...



Glen looks like he prefers a crowbar which is just asking for trouble.

Yeah, you comeback as a zombie no matter how you die. At least in the comic.

[COMIC SPOILERS] Tyrese's daughter kills herself and comes back. Later two of Hershell's daughters are murdered by this crazy guy and they also comeback. [/COMIC SPOILERS]

Another thing that I noticed that I missed, because I was caught up in the excitement of the premier:

In the clip of episode two the guy says,"Hey jerk, you lead all the zombies to us with all your crazy gun shootin'. Thanks, guy!"

Why is Rick's reaction, "Uh... I don't get it..." ?

Then they have to show him and Rick like "OooooohI get it now! Oopsies!"

It doesn't make sense. Morgan went to great lengths to explain to Rick that noise attracts zombies. The car alarm. Firing the gun. Rick knows the deal at this point. So why then does he literally say," I don't understand." when it's explained to him again.

It would make more sense if Rick just said something like, "Hey, I know. I'm sorry. I fucked up, but it was the only way for us to get out alive."

I dunno, I thought that was a little dumb. Hopefully it holds up though.

To be fair, Dr Viv said that he would go down to the local TV station, break in, and rummage through their recent news documents.

Everyone knows tv stations have great intel opportunities, along with much better comm equipment than a police cruiser. Who knows? They probably have a power generator to juice all that electronic gear. He might have been able to hook up with all kinds of survivors in the area that way. Maybe even reached survivors in Atlanta, or even his family. They're the ones monitoring the CB, right?

But this isn't the story being told, it's Rick's. The man isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he's not making obvious mistakes to get himself killed. Someone else? That's another story.

Someone wants a word with you:



Something else I appreciated about this was the lack of cheap jump scares. The fact that I was waiting for them and they never came only amped up the tension, especially in the aforementioned stairway scene.

Also interesting, not a single person was shown dying and coming back as a zombie in the episode.

Yeah my wife said the same thing. She's up for scary stuff, but an onslaught of jump scares/gross outs turns her off really quick.

So, the first season of this show is an abbreviated run? What's the rationale behind that? I remember reading something about Darabont being happy for the short run because they commissioned the 6 episodes right off the bat and it would kind of ease him into the TV game. But something like this seems like a more surefire hit then, say, Rubicon which got a full run.

I wouldn't be worried about that. heh


I thought the 6 episodes were just what AMC originally ordered, and if the show did well it would get a full first season (kind of like what Glee did)? Am I wrong?

I just thought it was an interesting hour of zombies that doesn't show a single person 'turn'. It gets back to the slow burn/room to breath niceness of the TV series format.

I don't know!

No, 6 episodes for season 1, full 12 or 13 for season 2.

Well that kind of sucks.

They did the same thing for Breaking Bad.

I hope they bring it back as a summer show, but I kind of don't think they will. Mad Men is their summer show. They'll probably do the same thing they did this year with the Fear Fest Halloween launch because it worked. The idea of waiting until next Halloween for season 2 really blows. I could be dead and a zombie by then!

At least they schedule it for 10 and don't compete with Dexter. Dexter and The Walking Dead make for a great night of TV if you're a horror guy.

Yeah, a 6 episode season isn't a season, it's a miniseries. Waiting another year for the story to move forward a day or two is really frustrating.

I can appreciate the way Mad Men does it with time passing during the hiatus as well but I doubt The Walking Dead will go that route. Seems like with a kid and younger actors involved it'll only end up weird.

It seems the perfect material for a fall half-season and a spring half-season though.

Start Season 2 on Easter Sunday!

It was bad enough that they killed off the horse after it was promised some friends, but then we had to see the blood and guts?

Yeah, I know, why do you care about a horse, etc, but my sister works with them and I wanted to see the horse kick some zombie ass before dying.

I would have loved to see a couple zombie heads caved in by the horse before it bit it. That's probably really hard to film though.

worked for Grindhouse when it came to releasing horror on Jesus's second birthday...

Yeah, I know it most likely would have been difficult to execute right. I'm a massive horse lover, though, and I was disappointed that it didn't crush some zombie heads before being mercilessly torn apart. Would have been a nice send-off for Rick's loyal mount, even though it was able to participate in those badass wide-shots with him.

always got to love the "poor animal posts"... lol
Nevermind the obvious indications that babies were eaten alive, but screw that right, that poor horse... lol
To bad Devin ain't on here, cause he'd respond "Well, those damn babies deserve it for crying on airplanes, feed them to zombies for all I care"


last season of Dexter, I'd be all with that. Season 5 Dexter is sucking pretty hard, and I for one am glad to swtich from Boardwalk, to the Walking Dead. Right now, I'm having trouble even wanting to DVR Dexter, season 5 is the worst yet for that show, and that's saying alot when you consider the crap that was season 3.

You have it completely wrong here, as is often the case with the "you only care about the animals, but what about the humans?" accusations (although I admit, I'm a massive animal lover and have worked with shelters for most of my life). What are the chances of Rick getting another horse throughout the course of the series? It could have at least had its moment, because we're bound to see more of the dead humans (and the living ones are more likely to have their respective badass moments).

I know, I know... I blame the animal reactions to mostly that being taboo in many films. Dogs, and chidlren are ussualy off limits for the most part. I guess that is somewhat refreshing in a series like this. I'm ussualy not offended by either, unless it's something so purposely shot to throw it in your face, like the hospital scene in AVP:R, which I still think is the most tasteless shit ever filmed...

on the same note though, I was suprised to see an animal get it. I always thought they ignored animals

I have no issues with the horse being killed. It just would have been fun if it went out in style, because it's likely that the humans will be getting the badass moments throughout the series. How many series can say, "Yeah, we have a horse go batshit crazy in its final moments and stamp some undead to death"?