‘Days Gone By,’ the first episode of AMC’s zombie apocalypse drama The Walking Dead, was one of the most captivating series premieres I’ve seen in years.
Like most genre fans, I love zombie movies. I love the scares, the chases, and especially the gory kill scenes that seem to get more creative and disturbing with every new release. Last night’s premiere was loaded with that stuff. The Walking Dead doesn’t shy away from gruesome zombie violence, but it has a lot more to offer than bloody kill shots and reanimated rotting flesh.
Unlike most zombie fare, The Walking Dead is more concerned with telling a story than with delivering cheap horror movie thrills. The series centers on regular people trying to survive and, more importantly, learning how to endure the horrors of a world with a monster on every corner.
Yes, the season opener was, at times, very gory and scary, but the focus was always on the characters, mainly Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), a small town Georgia Sheriff’s Deputy whose naiveté about the dangers of this new world almost got him killed more than once.
Will Rick survive the day? Will he find his missing family? Will his kind face and friendly demeanor serve him well or make him an easy target? Those were the questions I was asking myself as the story unfolded and Rick ventured out to find his wife and son.
Lincoln is solid as the stoic-but-brave leading man. Despite his few words, we know exactly who he is and why we should care about him – he told us everything with his sunken, sad eyes. That’s not to say that The Walking Dead was light on good dialogue. Unlike the first several pages of Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore’s graphic novel, on which the show is based, the premiere offered some poignant and memorable scenes featuring the characters talking about love, life and the differences between men and women.
I’ve only read the first volume of the Image graphic novel series, but the dialogue in the book’s first half was pure exposition. Most of it was awkward and unnatural, especially the frames featuring Rick talking to himself and narrating his own journey. For the TV series, writer-director Frank Darabont’s script fleshed out the characters a lot more at the onset of the story. He chose to reveal some very personal things about Rick, and his friend and partner, Shane (Jon Bernthal), in a funny, sad and well-written scene before setting him loose in this post-apocalyptic world.
We also got a few great scenes between Rick and Morgan (the always- awesome Lennie James), a man hiding out with his young son in Rick’s neighbor’s house. Morgan filled Rick in on what he missed while he was in a coma for several weeks after getting shot on the job – a fever that kills people and then turns them into flesh-eating deadheads spread across the country like wildfire. Morgan also explained the rules to Rick – whack or shoot the undead in the head, and don’t let them bite you – but he also served another purpose in the story.
While Rick wondered about the fate of his own family, he got a glimpse of one that had been torn apart by the zombie apocalypse: Life as he knew it was snatched away from Morgan after his wife caught the fever. He was stuck in limbo, sleeping in a zombie-filled neighborhood visited nightly by his wife’s undead body. He couldn’t kill her and he couldn’t leave her either. Trapped in a hole of indecision, he waited for things to improve, or, perhaps, just to join his wife on the other side. Morgan’s subplot was sad, stirring and haunting – the kind of stuff we’ve come to expect from AMC dramas.
We’ve also come to expect stories about love, infidelity and relationships complicated by extreme circumstances, feelings and hidden motives. We’re gonna get a lot of that here too, judging by the brief scenes in the survivor’s camp.
Kirkman wrote in the introduction to his graphic novel: “I hope you guys are looking forward to a sprawling epic, because that’s the idea with this one.” After watching the first 90 minutes of The Walking Dead, it’s clear that Darabont and crew were thinking that same thing.
The Walking Dead is poised to become cable TV’s next epic drama. It’s full of iconic and unforgettable images (Rick on the horse as he enters the city, the mob of zombies chasing the horse, the zombie lady dragging her ripped torso across the park), tense and thrilling moments (Rick scrambling away from the zombies on the street), and poignant drama rooted in human emotion.
Other thoughts:
- Jon Bernthal was also very good as Shane. I’m looking forward to seeing him play both sides of Shane’s personality – the lovable goof and the controlling jerk.
- I’m excited about the prospect of watching a mini zombie movie every week, but the same thing might not appeal to most viewers. I know a few fellow critics who are already turned off by the series’ gore factor. Sadly, the heavy horror elements could keep this from becoming a long-running hit.
- The lonely atmosphere and downbeat tone might also turn off a lot of viewers. Still, those are two more things that I really love about it.
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It’s a shame that Lennie James isn’t a regular cast member. He’s a much better actor than those people in the camp. They should bring him back but maybe not the kid.
Comment by Matilda — November 2, 2010 @ 1:08 am