About Last Night: The Walking Dead

Butler corrects his egregious error of not covering the premiere of AMC's The Walking Dead.  The second episode is almost as significant, right? More after the jump!

At first glance, many would be quick to write off The Walking Dead as simply another entry into the vastly overpopulated arena of zombie stuff.  Those who do, however, would be fools, and furthermore, should shut their stupid whore mouths.  The internet has been abuzz about AMC's adaptation of the successful graphic novel series of the same name ever since the trailer was debuted at Comicon earlier in the year, and last week's premiere demonstrated how rightfully earned the hype was.  Even while deviating somewhat significantly from the narrative of the comic books at times (particularly in last night's episode), their spirit is maintained and carefully manipulated to better suit a cable TV show.  But what about this show is it that makes it worth your time as opposed to something like Resident Evil 3D or some nonsense?  Well shut up for two seconds and I'll tell you.

Characters are aware that they are in a zombie apocalypse: It's funny that one of the biggest TV cliches is something that can make any zombie flick go from good to great.  I am speaking, of course, about the coma.  28 Days Later was the first to do it, with the protagonist awaking in a hospital room and emerging into a society that has already been devastated by the undead masses.  The Walking Dead utilizes pretty much the same trick, but it works just as well.  There is less forced tension of characters watching as a zombie shambles towards their tasty brains as they say "Bob?... Bob? What's wrong?" while the audience thinks to themselves "he's a zombie you stupid shit!"  With the month of elapsed time, we can assume most of the retards who failed to adapt have been picked off, and only the smart or lucky remain.  This actually lets me segue nicely into my next point...

The specifics of the setting are fleshed out in better detail: Look, everyone knows the zombie basics.  Don't let them bite or bleed on you, headshots or decapitation is the way to go, and take down anyone who is bitten to spare them the indignity of turning.  Watching people figure this out is boring.  With the one month time lapse, however, people's problems have become much more varied, providing many avenues of exploration in the theme of overall survival.  Is it safe to attempt to settle for the long term? What is the intelligence of the undead? As supplies become more and more scarce, how do the survivors adapt? What of old world problems like hygiene or food sanitation that we take for granted?

Have they gotten to Bill Murray yet?

No cheap scares to be found: The latest trend in the horror genre has been to make movies startling, rather than actually scary.  The Walking Dead is intense not necessarily because of what happens, but because of what you are expecting to happen in the build up.  There is a great scene from last night's episode where Rick and Glenn are walking through a crowd of zombies while covered in gore in order to mask their smell.  It works at first, until the rain comes and washed away the gore, forcing them to make a mad dash for it.  What works about the scene is how slowly it builds, keeping you guessing as to when things will go south.  When the rain actually comes, its almost a relief, since at least the waiting is done.  This is a show that is not afraid to take its time, and when your effectiveness is directly reliant on your suspense, this is not at all a bad thing.

As I mentioned earlier, the narrative has already departed fairly significantly from that of the comic series, but that just makes me all the more excited to see what's in store.  I'm a little afraid that there may be attempts to prolong the romantic tension love triangle between Rick, Shane, and Lauri, but I suppose we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

And clear out the 500 zombies in front of it.