The Walking Dead - Becky

A group of people try to survive zombies and each other in The Walking Dead.

Since the beginning of our journey with The Walking Dead, John and I have been impressed with the character development and the plot of Season One (I say that BUT that could be mainly my view). Unfortunately, Season Two has not lived up to my expectations. As an avid T.V. watcher, I understand and have witnessed the decline of a show in its second season. Viewers can’t seem to get enough of the novelty of a show’s first season; audiences are constantly tuning in to watch the development of characters and plot. In Season One, I loved tuning in weekly to watch a community of people thrown together during a zombie apocalypse, forced to survive “walkers” and each other. I will still watch this show to the very end because I want to know the fate of all the characters that I love (a number that has dwindled to 1 ½, maybe 2) and characters that I LOATHE with a burning passion (in the last episode even Carol pissed me off). How can you be pissed at Carol you ask? It’s possible.

My biggest problem with Season Two is they took two solid story lines—Sophia going missing and Rick’s ever-fluctuating authority within the group—and beat them to death. Granted, the cliffhanger during the break of Season Two with the walkers trapped in the barn was a great way to wrap up Sophia’s story line in a way that left everyone speechless. But in my opinion, they shouldn’t have to slow the pace of Season Two down to make this discovery as exciting. It took the new writers’ time to get their sea legs so to speak; the later episodes in Season Two are stronger than those in the beginning. Forgive me if I don’t care that Andrea is now an enlightened and empowered woman who wields a gun….the writers could have created stronger storylines that were more fast-paced and entertaining. Andrea’s storyline took up roughly four or five episodes and it consisted of just that, her and her gun! It’s a plot arc realistic to a zombie apocalypse, but NOT one worth being explored for half a season. Her character is balderdash and annoying.

Even though John and I complain about this show I still believe the writers are doing an authentic job of placing the audience in a semi-realistic version of what it would be like to survive in a zombie apocalypse in a small-knit group…..each member of said group you would hate at one point or another but they are vital to your stability and sanity. The writers’ ability to sustain those relationships and scenarios is why I will be faithful till the end of The Walking Dead…..I reserve the right to change my allegiances to each character depending on whether they upset me or not. My allegiance will always lie with Dale and the father and son from Season One. : )

-Becky

The Walking Dead - John

I am upset. I can’t tell you why, because to do so would spoil one of the most upsetting endings to an episode, but I’m not sure I can go on living (or at least enjoying The Walking Dead) because of it. I hate this show.

Okay, that’s not true. I’m obsessed with it, like a massive number of TV-watching Americans. We have the 80s to thank for the world’s obsession with zombies, but The Walking Dead marks the first successful iteration of them on the small screen. With exceptional visual effects and complex characters, the show has the quality of a film or miniseries rather than a weekly series. And with Frank Darabont as the creator of the show, who could expect less? That’s right, the same guy who gave us The Shawshank Redemption also gave us zombies. All hail King Frank!!

With a meager six episodes to work with, Season One was remarkable in reducing a global apocalypse to a stray few characters that we came to care about almost instantly. Characters are gained and lost after an episode or two, and yet we still feel their loss. What’s worse is the characters that are gone but not necessarily dead that we fret about. As if the threat of death and dismemberment weren’t serious enough, the various conflicts that erupt (as we know they must) among the community threaten to destroy the fabric of their humanity. Sometimes waiting for a conflict to come to a head is more suspenseful than preparing for the next zombie attack, and that’s what makes the show work so well.

HOWEVER…Season One is where The Walking Dead’s lauds end. Any affection I felt for the characters in Season One has given way to a surge of irritation, resentment, and (I’ll say it) actual malice. I almost now look forward to the next person to suffer the ole fatal zombie nibble. Maybe that’s the point, that I’m losing my humanity as the community does, but if Season One gave any indication of what was to come, somebody took a long and circuitous detour to get there.

Somewhere between escaping the CDC and trying to make it to a nearby fort, everybody suddenly decided to stop acting like themselves, except for those who were already dumb, who just got dumber. I have to agree with Becky on a couple of things.