Surviving Horror

the walking dead - ts-19 (1.6)

the season finale of the walking dead felt a lot like lost and that worries me. lost was so bogged down in superfluous plotlines, overarching themes and philosophical discussions that the writers backed themselves into a corner and gave us one of the most infuriating series finales ever. i found this hour of television almost as frustrating. and yet i still can't wait for next fall for the new season to begin.

so, the episode begins with jenner, the sole cdc survivor, letting them in, joking with carl and telling them there's hot water. they all get cleaned up, break bread and have a few drinks. they are all having a good time when shane demands some answers of jenner. and jenner doesn't really have any. later, rick tells jenner in confidence that he knows they're all eventually going to die, he's just trying to hold onto hope. shane confronts lori and attempts to rape her. andrea falls to pieces because she has lost all hope. the group once again confronts jenner and demands answers. the answers he gives are not good. he tells them what he knows, which isn't much. he shows them a mri of an infected woman's death. it was his wife and he was the one who killed her. he's lost hope as well and it seems he has let them in so he doesn't have to die alone. the cdc building has a self destruct mechanism and its been triggered. so, there is a choice to be made - stay and die or run and hold onto hope.

one stays and the rest make a break for it. but how long can they run? will morgan ever find them? and what exactly did jenner tell rick before they left?

its going to be a long ten months.

This entry was posted on Mon, 12/06/2010 - 02:38 and is filed under

• review
• television
• zombie

the walking dead - wildfire (1.5)

there's a long running conversation between my zombie loving loved ones and i. should one of us turn into a zombie, they have permission to kill us. in fact, its an order. we discuss this flippantly because although we are all paranoid enough to believe that someday there will be a zombie plague, really, what are the chances we're going to live to see it? two times in the past 6 months i've been presented with evidence that it wouldn't be quite so easy. a particular death scene in feed by mira grant and the scene above from tonight's episode of the walking dead.

andrea's grief is palpable. she knows what she needs to do. she does. and could she have made it easier on herself? yes. but she needed her sister to hear that she was sorry and that she loved her, regardless of whether or not amy could understand.

glenn understands the importance of burying your dead and insisted upon it. carol goes to town on her dead, abusive husband's body. shane continues to seem dangerous. daryl continues to be a loose cannon. jim reveals that he was bit and rick decides they can't just condemn him. he wants to go to the cdc because he's certain that they should be able to help. and so the majority of the group journeys back to atlanta, despite serious reservations, where they are "saved" by a doctor on the verge of a nervous breakdown played by noah emmerich.

as much as i love this show, and i really do, i have to admit that its uneven. the writing can be so clunky and the dialogue so bad in parts that i have to cling tight to scenes like the one with andrea sitting watch over her not-yet-reanimated sister. the departures from the comic books, while understandable, are disconcerting. and i'm just not sure about how this is all going to turn out.

but i really can't wait to find out.

This entry was posted on Mon, 11/29/2010 - 02:38 and is filed under

• review
• television
• zombies

the walking dead - tell it to the frogs (1.3)

ok, yes, i got a little choked up when carl went running toward his dad. fine. yes. the zombie tv show, based on a comic book that i've read, made me cry a little. fine. let's move on, shall we?

merle's having a nervous breakdown on the roof. rick and friends arrive back at camp, where there seems to be some unrest.  the kids, who are apparently allowed to play alone in the woods, happen upon a zombie feasting on a deer. merle's brother is back from his hunting trip and is PISSED that his brother has been left behind. the women aren't so happy with the "division of labor," they miss their coffee makers and vibrators. ed, true to abusive husband form, is not so happy that his wife seems to have made some friends.

the actor who plays shane gave his acting chops a workout last night, clearly conflicted that his girlfriend's husband, who happens to be his partner, is back. and wait, his partner is back, that's a good thing right? and oh wait, his girlfriend is PISSED as well because shane lied to her about rick being dead, and declares her family "off limits" to him. shane take this out on ed, who, let's face it, deserves it. 

and what seems like moments after rick, lori and carl are reunited, rick's planning to head back to atlanta. he wants to a) rescue merle, b) retrieve his duffel bag of guns and his walkie talkie, so that he can c) warn morgan and his son to stay away from atlanta. no one but merle's crazy brother at camp is thrilled with this plan. what they don't fully understand is that the new world order is still very new to rick. he just woke up to it. he is still operating with the same moral code that he worked with before his coma, and the rest of the world isn't. they don't understand why he would risk his life for a man like merle. to which rick says, "i can't let a man die of thirst." he hasn't lost hope for the world at large. people can still be saved. 

let's back up a minute though, the zombie feasting on the deer. first of all, this doesn't bode well. more will be coming. whoever said that they were running out of food in atlanta and would be leaving the city soon was right. and then they will need to leave their cozy camp. second, did they all need to jump on him like that? couldn't one man with an axe done the job much quicker? oh yeah, that's right, we humans, we're scary sometimes. 

is it next sunday yet?

This entry was posted on Mon, 11/15/2010 - 23:21 and is filed under

• review
• television
• zombies

the walking dead - guts (1.2)

the second episode of walking dead did not disappoint - from the long aerial shot of the tank, surrounded by zombies in the beginning to glenn's unadulterate joy, flying down the highway. if forced to complain about anything, i'd have to say that this episode was more action driven than character driven, and although i spent most of the episode on the edge of my seat, nothing packed the same sort of emotional wallop of morgan contemplating shooting his wife last week. last week i was emotionally drained. this week, i was a little wired but didn't really have trouble sleeping.

andrew lincoln's performance as rick just keeps getting better. he's heroic but still very human, making numerous mistakes. he's compassionate, reminding everyone that the person they are about the hack apart was human once too. and although he's a clear leader, he also deferred to glenn, who had a well thought out, although unsuccessful, plan. he is a good man and i, for one, cannot wait until they arrive at base camp.

because back at base camp, shane is proving himself to be a winner. jumping lori, his partner's WIFE, in the woods, forbidding amy to try to rescue her sister, he is rick's polar opposite. the conflict between them made for good reading, but will also make for great television, if these first two episodes are any indication.

there were some departures from the comic books - merle, t-bag, jacqui and morales were all new inventions. my suspicion is that other than merle, they are there to up the eventual body count, to dispatch with characters who aren't pivotal in the books. merle, however, i'm guessing we haven't seen the last of him. michael rooker was cast perfectly in the role and although he was a little over the top, he is a walking, breathing example of why its man that we really need to fear.

also worth fearing? a sudden thunderstorm that'll wash the zombie stink right off you. i say ew. and ew again. 

This entry was posted on Tue, 11/09/2010 - 15:20 and is filed under

• review
• television
• zombies