The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead is a TV show set during the zombie apocalypse and follows Rick Grimes, a cop who wakes up in a hospital after being shot earlier before the zombie uprising began and sets off to find his wife and son in this new version of the world.
Themes: #zombies #survival #humanity #community #HopeVsDespair #power
First watch-through
Here are my notes from my first ever watch of this show. I will then look back at these notes after I have finished it to better organise my thoughts and opinions on it, then begin making an analysis of the characters, themes and writing (and maybe other filmmaking techniques) afterwards. I may even to a 2nd re-watch if I feel it is worth my time to do so.
If anything I says here offends, upsets or angers you, then please click away :). I am quite harsh on certain media.
Live Thoughts:
Season 2:
Last few episodes:
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I don't like what they did with Shane's final episodes. It felt way too rushed. I know the build up was slow for a long time but then was rushed to a tipping point for the season finale a little quickly for my liking. There was so much more they could have done with his character before killing him off. I also don't like how they killed Shane. I think there should have been a scene where Shane did something more controlling over the entire group than just trying to kill Rick- like what he had been saying and hinting at for a long time about locking everyone up in the house to take control of the group.
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I also think Dale's death was cheap, shit and more annoying than emotional. He was one of my favourite characters but his death didn't make me sad because of how stupid it was, it just annoyed me. They had already done the 'All hope is lost' thing when they killed Sophia off a few episodes ago, they didn't need to beat the same dead horse in a meaningless way by killing off the guy who had a conscious. If anything they should have kept Dale to keep the interesting moral conflict within the group. He was such a useful character for storytelling.
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I think the entire horde situation at the end was a bit silly and had little to no build up. The only purpose was to trim the group of useless characters and give them a reason to leave, despite all the things they could have done differently to have handled the horde (like driving the cars away by honking their horns and then losing them and looping back to the farm, or hiding in the basement of the house like Hershel had actually prepared for earlier. Nope, just abandon the entire property that had lots of food and resources and don't even pack anything into the cars despite having plenty of time and people to do something-) I feel it could have been done better or just with more built up at least. I think Hershel gave up his farm way too easily for a man who was adamant he would die on his property before abandoning it 2 mins before bailing and his character backflipped too fast for my liking. Some of the writing in the two finale episodes felt a bit rushed and it felt like they should have been given an extra episode or two to correctly build up the tension.
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I did like the re-grouping scene where they all met up on the highway again.
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I am also unsure about whether I like where Rick's character is going after that last episode. I do understand that he did just kill someone he held dear, but at the same time he is now spouting the same shit Shane was going on about and looks like he may become Shane 2.0.
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I do like that Rick finally stood up for himself though, everyone in that group takes him for granted and is so quick to turn on him over such small things that he would never hold against them were the roles reversed.
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I like what they did with Daryl. He spent so long looking for Sophia, holding out hope and then it was taken from him and he decided to shut himself off from feeling those emotions again for a little while, before beginning to open up again after realizing that people in the group still need him, and wanting to be a good man despite himself. I think I like Daryl best after this season. I hope it stays that way T-T
Season 3:
Ep 1 and 2
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We're really starting this season off with a giant time skip huh? I don't like it tbh, but whatever. I can see why they did it, but I think there was a lot they could have done in between, not to mention- not a single person died in those months they were walking around doing fuck all? With this groups track record so far I find that unusual lmao.
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I don't really like whatever this stupid character arc Rick is going through, if he was just going to turn out exactly like Shane, why did they even bother killing Shane? Now there's very little interesting conflict, just a broody guy who's treating his wife like shit and lowkey being a manipulative asshole, letting his wife try to fawn over him to even try and get him to talk to her a tiny bit, especially makes no sense when you think about the timeskip. You're telling me for 7-9 months they never worked things out or do anything at all to work out his trauma? He killed Shane to keep the group safe (and protect himself from getting killed), then became exactly like him. I get this is supposed to be a point where Rick's character changes, but something about it just feels really off to me in terms of writing? I need to mull over this some more because I can't quite put my finger on it right now.
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I really don't like 'horror' media where most of the main characters are idiots, and it feels like as the show goes on and the writers try to find more increasingly stupid ways to make it more dramatic, the characters will proceed to loose all their intelligence. Why are we letting the old doctor try and clear out a bunch of zombies when we need him to help deliver a child in a few days (despite the fact they didn't need him to go out and kill zombies earlier in the episode in almost the exact same situation)? Because we want some drama!!! It would be fine if they had had an actual reason or need to send him out, but they really didn't. They even stated as much in the actual episode lmao. It's so senseless. Drama for the sake of it pisses me off.
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Despite all my complaints an I am still enjoying it overall. I just think there are a ton of stupid writing decisions being made, and after being spoiled with great writing with Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul I think I am just being very picky now. I am hoping the writing gets better and not worse.
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I keep comparing the show to the The Walking Dead Game Season 1, which, in my opinion has much better writing than this. All the characters take every action FOR A REASON. Unlike in this show, where a lot of the characters sometimes make absolute nonsensical decisions like the writers are toddlers playing with dolls they don't quite care for.
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I do really love the idea of the prison setting though. It's such a cool idea, I hope they can do something interesting with it before they, (I assume) inevitably, have to leave because they (probably) do something unbelievably stupid and fuck it all up lol.
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Once again loving Daryl, one of the only people left with some sense in this group.
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I also kind of like that Carol is stepping up and seeming to take a more active role in the group, and I also really am liking that Glenn's girlfriend (forget her name right now) has gotten a bit more of a backbone and is getting in there and fighting the zombies with the men now. I assume she's taking a bit of Andrea's role now.
**Episode 3
- I am really liking the B plot with Andrea and Michonne, it's a nice change from the silly group dramas in the A plot at the moment. I am interested to see where it goes, I do think they are laying it all on a little thick though with this guy who is the 'governor' of this town.
- I've noticed that the writers go-to thing to write to make a character seem 'bad' is just to immediately make them kill someone. That's okay the first few times but it is getting a little boring now. It would be nice to have some other kind of character development in that respect.
Episode 4
Season 4:
I slacked off a bit for season 3, but here we are, season 4.
I don't quite know if I am enjoying this anyone tbh. I like Daryl and Carol and that's about it now. The ending of the last season felt disappointing, but I cannot put my finger on why.
I just really don't like some the decisions the writers made, some of the decisions just feel cheap or not well thought out enough for me.
Episode 1:
- I like this whole new vibe with Rick taking a bit of a step back from being leader and just trying to fix his shit. I also like that he's trying to force his son to do the same.
- I really liked the bit where Carl finally decided to give being a kid a try again and go to story time, only for story time to actually be a farce that Carol made up to train the kids in basic survival and for Carl to be disappointed. I think that was some nice writing and very quickly and easily showed us where his head is at.
- I didn't like the whole lady in the woods thing. I think it was a stupid way to get Rick to face his problems, it was too external imo
Random notes from across the season:
- I fucking loved the flu arc. That is how you write characters! This arc has brought back some hope that this season might not be so bad. Every single character got a moment and I really loved that. All their motives and reactions were clear and well written without beating you over the head with it. I loved every part of it. This was probably my favourite arc so far in the entire series! I'm gonna come back and re-watch it later, it was so good.
- The whole side arc with the governor made me feel sick, well done making a despicable man, I hate him.
- I felt so sick the entire time the prison fight was happening.
- I really liked the whole episode with Rick and Carl by themselves. It was a really nice character development episode and for it to have a relatively happy ending was nice for a change!
- I like that Glenn is getting some more time to shine now as well!
- I really loved everything with Beth and Daryl, it was really wholesome. I like that Daryl isn't letting his heart harden despite all the reasons he could let it happen.
- This 'save the world' guy is so fucking funny I love him
- Not 100% sure how I feel about the cannibal arc, it was so short and weirdly done. I'm not sure if I am happy or not about the fact it was only two episodes long and hardly did anything in terms of character development. It once again felt like something that was there only for shock factor and yet another reminder (as if we need more) that this world is full of bad people and not much else. It was a bit lacklustre if I'm being honest. I think the walking dead game did it better and handled it in a more interesting way.