The Walking Dead

This show and I have a love-hate relationship. The first season was overall really good. It was spearheaded by the great Frank Darabont, the man who brought us The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. The storytelling was strong, the acting was good, and it was an overall good show. So make a blog post off of a show I clearly have little to say? Well, season 2 ain't so good. And we're going to take a look. Please note: SPOILERS!

First off, there is some behind the scenes stuff to take care of. Immediately following the season finale, Darabont insisted on firing the entire writing staff. Why? No idea. The staff created six episodes of quality television. Frank Darabont is not known for his modesty, but even this was a weird play from left field. Even now, no explanation was given as to why this happened, but it was a factor working against the quality of season 2. Next up was a huge shock: the firing of Frank Darabont. It was originally thought Darabont had quit the show, but it was revealed that AMC had fired him. The budget was cut as well, even though this season was going to have 12 episodes instead of 6. Then it was reported that a cast member had asked to be written out of the show (the events of the season do not to contradict that report) Needless to say the odds were against this show to follow up with a good second season. But, with the highly competent Glen Mazzara hired to replace Darabont, there was hope. How did the show work?

To be honest, the season is largely very boring. But wait! How could a show about zombies possibly be boring? Even if the story is good, at least there will be some good zombie action, right? Well no. There were zombies, but they were often few and far between. Let me go on record and say no of this criticism applies to the last two episodes of season 2. They were great and restored my faith in the series. The rest of the season suffered from deadly slow pacing. In the first episode, Sofia, a little girl runs away from the group. Six episodes later, she is found (spoilers) as a zombie. The problem was that the search for her was so tedious and borderline non existent. Only one character really looked for her. A character which fell off a cliff looking for her and suffered hallucinations, only to come back to camp  later. What was the point of that episode? Good question. The next problem was the setting. The first season showed the group living somewhat of a nomadic existence. They went from camp to camp, and even went to the CDC building. This season puts them on a farm where zombies apparently don't like to go. I was bored of this farm three episodes in. Little did I know, I had thirteen more episodes to endure. I kept waiting for them to leave, and they refused. It was here you can see the behind the scenes trouble. There was just no direction and there was a clear emphasis on saving pennies rather than making good television with what they had. My TV broadcasting professor even used season 2 of The Walking Dead as an example of a TV show "doing it on the cheap." Finally, the characters. They get real annoying this time, especially Lori. The whole series featured a love triangle between Rick, Lori and Shane. In one episode, Lori tells Rick it may be best to kill Shane, because he poses a threat. And Rick does that, and tells Lori. And, in my one criticism of the season finale, Lori hits Rick and starts crying.

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...Did they actually READ that part before they filmed it? He does exactly what she says and she hates him for it. Lori is the worst character this season. Here is a scenario. Hershel takes off from the farm and Rick goes after him. Lori starts to worry and drives in pursuit of him. She hits a zombie, and her car flips 360 degrees in the air and crashes. Rick knows what's he doing. And if he was gone a while, he was probably dead. Looking for him will not bring him back and will only put you in danger. Oh, and drivers in cars which flip like that generally die. Just sayin'. Carl is also annoying. They could have picked a competent child actor but noooooo. They picked a kid who seems like Keanu Reeves' less talented baby brother. Hershel gets on my nerves, as does his family. At the very least, they could have had zombies, but as I said before, they were few and far between. Sometimes they were cool and threatening, but other times they were just filler. A zombies shows up, kill it, move on. There was no drama, and no stakes at all. But as I said, the last two episodes restored my faith, that above flaw aside. Season 3 premieres next month, and I will review every episode of it, warts and all. It will be fun, it will be painful. Let's just hope this season continues the tempo from the last two episodes. Don't let me down Glen Mazzara.