The Walking Dead- review

A few folks have asked me what I have thought about this show.  First off I am a zombie genre nut.  So it’s got points on that end already since it’s like the only damn zombie show I can think of.  But the big trump card for it comes to the fact that it’s based off the comic series of the same name that I have been a follower for years.  Between “Fables” and “The Walking Dead” I don’t think I’ve found something that has gotten my attention so thoroughly and made me love characters more in a comic.

​So when I heard it was going to be made into a TV series I was pretty excited mostly because I think AMC has a good reputation for making decent shows.  “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” have kicked ass at the Emmy’s so I had faith in the production.  Then I heard that the director of “The Shawshank Redemption” was on to direct.  Hell YEAH that is a great choice!  The ads were clever not to split the audience and keep them curious.  It never mentioned it was based on a comic and never directly said anything about zombies.

​Halloween night I watched the premiere. I was not disappointed.  It followed the comic well.  Not exactly of course but damn close and with enough care that it showed that the writers obviously read the comic and gave a crap about it too. Episode too introduced more of the characters and I’m glad to say to the story is progressing nicely.  It really has a lot of potential especially if it follows the comic.  My main concern of course is that it will have to change too much for later seasons.

​The comic has things in it that are incredibly graphic as it deals with humans basically losing their humanity.  The entire title is a play on words because the living characters are doomed to roam from place to place with no real home. In that way they have become the walking dead. The graphic nature comes in horrific ways:  Kids are dismembered, there are suicides, cannibalism, violent rapes, limb dismemberment, and other fun stuff that I really wonder if basic cable will be able to handle.

​  I guess down the road we’ll see.  But so far I’ve been impressed.  I was happy enough that the horse getting eaten by zombies was actually much more minimal than it was in the comic.   I hate seeing animals hurt.  I know it’s fake and all but it really just makes me sad.  So anyway back to the show.  It’s a really good show.  Worth getting into if you might enjoy something a little darker on your TV palette.