I’m calling it. The Walking Dead series kind of sucks. I don’t want to call it, but with the new major plot lines not taken from the book and word that Darabont has fired the writing staff things are not looking good.
I was nervous when they introduced brand new characters that seemed to be based entirely on stereo-types (I call them T-Bone and the Racist said in morning radio show voice). Then I became full on worried when five shows in they decided to delve into the source of the zombie outbreak by heading to the CDC, something the comic hasn’t attempted to explain in nearly 80 issues. Because there’s no point. I don’t need to know why it happened. The characters don’t need to know why it happened. The story is about survival and what happens to people when the world goes completely to shit. That is interesting enough and considering it’s an incredibly popular and long running comic book series, I think people agree. I feel like the show is completely underestimating it’s audience. I know that they want more than just fans of the comic to watch and I understand that television is a different medium than print. I was with Darabont when he explained that they were going to expand upon Kirkman’s work with his supervision. I was excited to see them explore things that were glossed over in the book. But at the end of the day, I’m a fan of Walking Dead for a reason and I expected to see a show that stayed true to the story. Now it looks as though “exploring things” has become the main and only focus.
The show looks great and I think the casting of the main characters remains spot on. I certainly hope I’m wrong about the direction it’s going. Hopefully, they’ll find a way to get back to the story and stop adding flat pointless characters. But I don’t think there’s any turning back from the CDC plotline. So until proven otherwise, I kind of think the show sucks.
4 Responses to “Walking Dead Series a Dead Show Walking?”
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Personally, I started reading the comic and thought it was boring as fuck. I kind of like the show on the other hand. Started shaky perhaps, but then it took me about 8 episodes to start liking Mad Men (which, yes, translates to 6 hours of faith in my friends opinions). So since I never got into the comic, it doesn’t matter much to me where they veer off. The problem with zombies is that it didn’t take much mainstream exposure before it began to feel like there’s not really much new ground to explore, and that was my biggest concern. Makes the whole thing feel pointless if it’s all the same stuff we’ve seen before. The one thing that the series actually can do that’s never been done is build an immerse, long range zombie world experience. It’s the one advantage that a TV series can have over a film. Having the time to meander, risk a weak story avenue, build more complex relationships, and develop a more organic exploration of the themes and ideas.
So as to the CDC sub-plot, it seems that perhaps they agreed it wasn’t the way to go because it’s clearly not the direction for season 2. For all we know it may have something to do with the change up in the writing staff. Either way, I didn’t feel any part of that damaged the series, just a little meandering bump and now they’re back on the road. I’m looking forward to season 2.
I wrote this before the season finale, so I was glad to see after watching it that they wrapped up the CDC plotline quickly. It’s funny that you thought the book was boring because the thing I loved about it is it moved on from everything so quickly. Main characters get killed off, plot lines are constantly changing. I was really impressed that they didn’t linger on anything too long. So with so many stories to draw on, I’m surprised that they essentially said “fuck it” and made up their own. Why buy a property if you’re not going to make use of it?
Anyway, I’m still looking forward to see what they do with new writers and a longer season.
I am a huge fan of the comic series and this post fully encapsulates how I feel about the AMC series. Episode 1 was quite strong. It followed the book close enough and only walked away from the general plot in a direction that made sense. The pacing of it was strong and visually it looked as I would expect the comic to translate to a show. I started to have my doubts during Episode 2. The introduction of one-note, stereo-typical characters and the editing of existing characters and their traits. A few moments that got to me in this episode were:
1. Rick pulling a gun on one character and pushing it to his forehead. This is completely out of character for Rick toward the beginning of his adventure. The books do a great job at breaking down Rick’s morals, it pushed him and pulls him in different directions to a point where he would threaten a living person eventually. This is definitely something you would see from him after *SPOILERS?* the prison and Lori’s death. To have him act this way in the SECOND EPISODE of the show allows no time for the viewer to watch him grow and really destroyed a great potential character arch.
2. Andrea pulling a handgun and threatening Rick when they first meet. This is not a part of her character at all in the book. She seemed sheepish around guns until it was finally discovered that *SPOILERS?* she is a bad-ass with a sniper rifle. Another great potential character growth moments in one quick flash by absolutely horrible writing. Seeing her tossing around another gun so easily makes her far less interesting, and not like the college-age girl she was suppose to be.
3. There was a moment in this episode where Glenn mentions that he ‘prefers going into the city alone’, which in the comic, is how it is done. This was a brilliant way to ease Rick into the potential of an outside colony. A group of survivors outside Atlanta. Have him meet one character. Many of the scenes felt to crowded. New character (ones not featured in the comics) had little room to shine, making them feel like they were one note, simple stereotypes.
4. Lori and Shane’s sexual romp was suppose to be a one time thing, which comes from emotions due to the loss of Rick. This episode made it feel like it was just your regular Saturday Woodland Sex Romp. In the book Lori seems likable because her sexual slip up with Shane feels almost accidental, forgivable. In the show I just want to see her gone. Watching her struggle over the love-triangle B.S. is less gripping. Though I could understand that this may make it more interesting for some and I am sure that is the reason that they kept Shane around.
5. My last main point on this episode. Glenn driving off didn’t feel “the Walking Dead” at all to me. It felt like someone who wanted to write an action movie didn’t get the job they wanted so they threw in some sports cars so people could drive them fast while honking.
That is where things went wrong. I’ll leave it there. My sign-off will be that the ‘Gangtas with a Heart o’ Gold’ in the 4th(?) episode was horrible side plot and I was really ashamed to hear that this was the episode that Kirkman wrote. That and the CDC building stuff was not 5th-6th episode material and should have been saved for a much later season. The comic has so much great source material and great character moments they are avoiding. I am just happy to see that this horrible writing of the AMC series has not effected the brilliant product it comes from.
Thank you for writing (and reading!). Very glad to see such a well thought out, awesome comment come through here. Good work!
Are you looking forward to the new season, seeing as how almost all the writers were fired?