tv

The Walking Dead: Still Good?

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Most TV shows are lucky to last beyond 5 seasons, but even so, even great shows have stumbled and lost momentum after half a decade. Where does The Walking Dead fall?

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In just under a week, The Walking Dead will kick off its 6th season, following a very well received and almost universally praised 5th season that wrapped up this past March. Although I’ve watched several TV shows in their entirety, The Walking Dead is one of only a half dozen or so which I’ve actively kept up with from year to year. And as this horror-drama unfolds, I can’t help but wonder if the series’ best days are behind it, contrary to what critics would claim at present.

Netflix put the 5th season up for streaming a few days ago, and it’s given me the chance the rewatch the show from beginning to 5th season finale all in one dose. Following it for years on TV has been tough, and it doesn’t help that the seasons are only 16 episodes long, and it really doesn’t help that even those paltry 16 episodes are divided into all-too-short 8-episode halves flanking the Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year’s season. With all the waiting, it’s a show that can easily feel dragged out. Well, it turns out that it elicits much of that same drawn-out feeling even in the midst of binge-watching.

Honestly though, it’s really only the last couple of years that have bugged me. Before that I thought it was a great show that did a great job of exploring “the zombie apocalypse” beyond the 90 – 120 minutes allotted in a feature film. Very few films take place wholly during the apocalypse; most start before, cover the beginning of the event itself, and then end sometime thereafter. (Romero’s Dawn and Day of the Dead are 2 worthwhile exceptions.) One of the fresh things about the show was how it focused relatively little on the outbreak itself (which was a good move, because it’s a story we’ve all seen a hundred times) and instead chose to highlight what normal, everyday life would be like after the end of the world. We aren’t dealing with power outages, or traffic gridlock, or the dissolution of emergency services…all that already happened. It’s a fun place to jump in because we never really get this far in a zombie movie. Either the plague is cured or everyone dies.

Now I know the graphic novels are a huge source of plot and content for the show. No, I haven’t read them, and no, I probably never will. It’s not an appealing medium to me and even though I like The Walking Dead, I have no real desire to push through a medium I don’t enjoy in order to read an alternate version of events. I just wanted to put that out there in an attempt to quell any future, “the graphic novels are better!” comments.

So yeah, anyway, I liked the way the show moved in the early years. The first season was rocky (aren’t they all?) but had some suspenseful moments and better-than-average action scenes for a TV show. The second season let us get to know the characters a little better through multiple mini-arcs, though I will admit that I was getting realllllly tired of Shane and I remember breathing a sigh of relief when Rick squashed the beef once and for all. Then came the third season, where we got to see Rick without the constant chatter of Shane at every turn and a reduced presence of Lori as a result, while other characters are given equal weight and we meet some new ones as well. The third season also introduces the conflict involving Woodbury and The Governor, which I felt made for a good story in most respects. The back and forth narrative structure worked fairly well and we had an unambiguously “good vs. evil” story, which was kinda what the show needed at that point.

My only qualm about the first few years was the rampant mortality rate among the main cast. I understand that no one is safe and I understand that the writers aim to break convention by unceremoniously killing off main characters, but at some point the writers need to accept the limitations of TV as a form of entertainment and understand that if you keep killing everyone off, viewers will start disconnecting. Now for every character that dies it would seem that about 2 more pop up to replace him or her, but their are times where I feel sort of like I’m watching a soap opera and that the cast will fully rotate out at some point. I guess that if this happens at some point that’d be alright, though I do think it’s important to anchor a serialized television show with recognizable faces and characters that the viewers have been able to spend years with. In the first 3 years alone we lost Shane, Lori, Dale, T-Dog, Merle, and Andrea, along with a slew of secondary but potentially noteworthy characters like Sofia, Jim, Ed, Dr. Jenner, Jacqui, Milton, Axel, Amy, Jimmy, Patricia…and probably some others I’m leaving out.

Personally I was glad Shane died, I was kind of ok with Lori’s death (her whole character felt completely out of place to me, since Day One), and Andrea was pretty annoying. T-Dog never really developed into anyone despite being around for so long. Dale’s death was really the only one I felt was totally premature. I think he had a unique perspective on the whole end of the world scenario. Dollars to donuts I bet that Dale was cut to make room for Hershel in the coming 3rd season and the writers didn’t want 2 “old guys” hanging around with the survivors…personally it’s the conversations between Hershel and Dale that I would’ve looked forward to the most.

By the time the fourth season rolled around I was getting a little tired of Rick’s pained looks, Carl’s confusion over his dad’s actions, and Hershel’s guidance counselor-like monologues to an almost comatose Rick. All through the 3rd season he’d been at odds with both himself and others over his dictatorial nature and his burgeoning killer instinct, and by the fourth season he’s given up that side of himself and yet he’s derided for losing his edge and failing to maintain the toughness needed to survive this world. Back and forth. I get that Rick is the closest thing we have to main character, but they spent just a little too much time on how he was feeling when they could’ve been bringing some of these other characters – like Beth, Tyreese, or even Glenn – up to the forefront.

This type of honed in attention on the emotions of a single individual is part of what made the show start to feel “draggy” at this point. The 4th season does give us a fun snippet into the life of the Governor post-Woodbury. His attempt to do everything in his power not to become “The Governor” once again and his subsequent transformation into that very same individual despite his best efforts was really interesting to watch. It all culminated in the mid-season finale where the Governor stormed the prison (for real this time), and while it was an awesome event in and of itself, it felt a little recycled; it felt like this was the battle we should’ve gotten back at the end of Season 3.

Oh boy. After that clusterfuck we move into the doldrums of the series. It seems like the creators were intent on putting characterization at the forefront while the actual plot took a major backseat. With our core group splintered into several 2 to 4 person disparate bands of survivors, we were forced to endure an extremely slow-moving second half of Season 4. The little vignettes that pepper these 7 or 8 episodes are interesting enough, but they feel like supplemental material – something fit for a webisode or DVD extra – and not part of the show proper. For instance, we share some true quality time with both Daryl and Beth, and while we get to learn quite a bit more about who they are, the entire episode is pretty much pointless in the grander scheme of things. There’s also an episode where we wordlessly follow Carl around as he gets in and out of sticky situations with walkers and eats a giant can of chocolate pudding. And let’s not forget the incessant prattling of Glenn insisting to his group that he must find Maggie and Maggie insisting to her group that she must find Glenn.

It all eats up just a bit too much time and really brings the show to a screeching halt. Even important events such as Glenn meeting up with Team Abraham are needlessly stretched thin with trite arguments and lots of posturing from both sides. Was I not the only one driven insane by all the, “we have to get to Washington!” speeches (lasting well into Season 5)?

Now I will concede that there was one tangential chapter on the “road to Terminus” that caught my attention in a positive way: the plight of Tyreese, Carol, Lizzy, and Mika. We’ve seen how the zombie apocalypse brings out both the best and worst in people, but aside from (the remarkably well-adapted) Carl, we haven’t yet seen what effect this new world has on children. However, the harrowing story of the short life of Lizzy and Mika shows us a possible and plausible outcome. Lizzy empathizes with the zombies, preferring to view the “zombification” process as transformative, on par with puberty or growing up. So intent is she on proving her point of view to the adults, she murders her little sister Mika under the premise that Mika will return as a walker and prove Lizzy’s point. As if this weren’t tragic enough, Carol is forced to take her out back and put her down like a sick dog. The impact resonates deeply with Tyreese and Carol, and it’s one of the most powerful “what if…” scenarios put forth in the entire series.

The season concludes with all of our protagonists more or less alive and well in one place (a development I found a little far fetched – sure, maybe they all end up in Terminus, but so close in time to each other?): the fabled Terminus. I think most of us were prepared to hunker down with Terminus in the 5th season much like we did with the farm (Season 2) or the prison (Season 3), but once inside, it was plain to see that this would be a different animal altogether.

All that build up to Terminus…and then, what I felt, was a colossal letdown. There was some decent action and part of me was finally glad that pretty much everyone was back in the same place, but beyond that, what was the point of it all? I think the story of the cannibals would’ve been a good deal more terrifying had the horror element been played up instead of the orgiastic explosion of action that happened.

Still, this put us in a pretty good spot for the 5th season. Without Terminus (or Washington, for that matter) looming over the audience’s head, where was the show going to go next?? What can we expect? It is during Season 5 that the show begins to take on even more of an episodic feel, and I guess this loss of a concrete plot is what starts to rapidly disconnect me from the show. Without a goal or objective propelling the story forward, it feels very aimless. At one point we had the survivors looking for answers. At another point they were looking for somewhere to hunker down for the long haul. But now they’ve become nomadic and purposeless. Michonne’s frustration alludes to this around the halfway point and it definitely echos my frustration with the show in general at this point.

First there’s the whole hospital affair – yet another snippet of post-apocalyptic survival – another pocket of weirdos stashed away with their own rough collective philosophy that got them through the day. Yeah ok, cool, but these run-ins with other groups are starting to feel a little too routine. Here we have 2 groups of survivors who’ve lasted this long – a couple of years perhaps – and instead of being able to help and learn from each other, there’s always some sort of tussle that leads to tragedy. I mean really, at what point are they going to realize that they need to at least try to settle down, gather as many survivors as possible, and start rebuilding? And what about all the zombies that they just walk right on past? I understand that killing them isn’t always feasible, but hell, I’d damn sure be killing every freakin’ zombie I ran across. That’s one less dead thing roaming around looking to kill you or your crew. I know that killing every zombie ever is a tall order, but think about it. If you really made an effort to kill all of those in your immediate vicinity (and didn’t make it a point to travel hundreds and hundreds of miles for no apparent reason) it might actually make a difference. These shambling, rotten things are’t going to be able to cross rivers or climb mountains or trek hundreds of miles unimpeded. Get you shit together. Band together as thick as you can: warriors, poets, artists, thieves, laborers, and politicians alike. Start by wrapping some ropes around trees. And then build a wall of sticks outside of that. And then a wall of logs. And keep on building. Just do something.

Ok ok, ranting aside, Season 5 accentuates its own pointlessness by killing off a shit load of characters, including weirdo Bob (I was really looking forward to his backstory about being the only survivor of 2 groups), Beth (who’s death was totally unnecessary…then again she never really blossomed as a character), and Tyreese, who was given a bizarre, surreal send-off replete with hallucinations and Lynch-ian style editing that looked more like Mulholland Drive than The Walking Dead. I guess all this was to make room for Noah and Father Gabriel. Oh wait, that’s right, Noah barely lasts for half a season. (I remember a tweet came in on Talking Dead that night…”Everybody Ate Chris”…genius! (it has since become a rather common meme)) Comic book fans rejoiced over the appearance of Father Gabriel; personally, I’m unimpressed so far.

The last few episodes strongly allude to my previous rant – eventually the survivors have got to do something besides simply survive. Their entrance into Alexandria is all fine and well (though I thought that the devotion of an entire episode to dealing with the distrust towards Alexandria’s recruiter was a bit tedious) but just when things start feeling a little normal, Rick & Company turn into the damn bad guys. Rick and Carol in particular teeter on the verge of sheer predation under the guise of protection, while others like Michonne and Glenn remain uneasy about the actions of their fellow survivors.

There’s a good deal of drama during the this last bit of the season, though watching Rick say shit like, “I wonder how many of you I have to kill to save your lives” (or something to that effect) just makes my head spin. If you ask me, the mentality behind Rick’s takeover of Alexandria sounds a lot like the rhetoric used by the Governor during his reemergence in Season 4, not to mention Shane’s repeated “wake up” and “reality check” speeches to Rick during their days on the farm. Maybe Alexandria wasn’t perfect, but they had to have gotten something right to have survived so long despite being short of warriors. Is it really Rick’s place to storm in there, undermine their attempts at security and leadership, and start summarily executing domestic violence offenders? It feels a little off to me. The group is becoming much too morally ambiguous, and coupled with the slow advancement of plot and string of deaths over the past couple of years, it feels like the show’s better days could be behind them.

“The Wolves” have been bubbling under the surface for much of Season 5’s latter half, so I suspect that Season 6 will either build to or revolve around yet another conflict with yet another sect of survivors with radical ideals. Am I the only one who’s beginning to find this cycle just a little tiring? Plus it’s already been well-established that any time the group builds up a substantial number of anonymous friendlies, a “mass extinction” isn’t far behind: the Atlanta camp was decimated by a random attack in the middle of the night, the peripheral members of the farm were quickly culled, the large prison population comprised of ex-Woodbury residents and presumably other stragglers was thoroughly purged between the deadly flu and The Governor’s Pyrrhic victory, and even during the group’s short stint in Alexandria we’ve seen the deaths of multiple supporting characters (Noah, Aiden, Deanna’s husband, Pete).

And let’s not forget Morgan’s cryptic reappearance. I can’t imagine that he has any huge revelation to share, but it sure has been built up.

I like the dramatic element to The Walking Dead, and I thoroughly think that a show like this needs that dramatic element to survive, but I am wary of the horror taking a backseat. In some respects, I’d like to get back to the degradation of the world. What happens when employees of nuclear power plants just stop showing up? What new strains of illness are being bred in this filthier world? What happens when lightning starts a fire and there’s no fire department to put it out? And surely there are some high ranking military officials who have hunkered down and fended off the zombie hordes. Do we not have any Postman-eque warlords roaming the country? Or was the outbreak so slow that the military had long since disbanded? Aren’t there some rich CEO’s and former high ranking members of the government safely tucked away in some underground bunker? I guess I want to see just a little more of “the big picture” beyond the communities of weaklings and nomadic tribes of bandits that we’ve been exposed to thus far.

One fun possibility would be to fast forward a few years where a modern variant of the feudal system takes root.  “Manors” (highly defensible positions) will be controlled by a “lord” (someone rich in material wealth, i.e. manpower, food, weapons) who will in turn extend protection to the “peasants” (the regular Joe’s with no chance of surviving on their own) who will then form part of the lord’s military as well as provide the estate with essentials through farming, scavenging, and even rudimentary manufacturing.  Actually, the more I think about it, the more fun I think it would be to see a show set a generation or two after the zombie apocalypse, when most of the zombies themselves have died out.

Also, no matter what it truly is that’s causing the zombies to reanimate, they can’t reign forever. Yes, they “eat,” but I think it’s fair to assume that they’re not actually deriving sustenance in this manner (I wouldn’t mind the show running across some outlet to explain a bit more about the physiology behind the zombies). And even if they are, they aren’t strictly cannibals (zombies don’t eat other zombies) so at some point large numbers of them would start dying out. We’ve already established that they are in a state of active decay – the producers have made multiple comments about making the zombies look scarier and gorier and more disheveled since more and more time is passing. Pure dehydration would knock these creatures out a some point. Nevermind that they’re probably not taking in enough water or salt to maintain whatever low-level brain function that may be occuring. At some point though, their joints aren’t going to move. Their skin is going to dry up and crack and tear. The muscles and blood vessels and connective tissues are going to quickly degrade without water, and even if some part of the hind-brain is functional, the zombies won’t physically be able to move. And with their constant jaw movement and inability to heal or sustain nourishment, these muscles would probably wear out the fastest (or maybe their legs); in either case, the danger they pose is greatly lessened. Now I understand that new people are being turned virtually every day, but consider this: with the world in this shape, I think it’s safe to assume that most of the population is either dead or zombified and that the number of zombies peaked some time ago. Also consider that with so many zombies around, when a living person is bit, he or she is most likely devoured by the surrounding zombies and therefore lacks the opportunity to reanimate.

So, The Walking Dead, it’s about time you started getting back to the pseudoscience of reanimated corpses. I get that zombies themselves are already a product of fantasy, but it would behoove the show to lay out a few more “rules” and draw a line in the sand as to where “normal” science stops and “zombie science” begins. I mean if nothing else we’ve definitively established that the bodies of zombies decay, and at some point their brain will decay as well. Either way, unless we’re talking something that’s full-blown supernatural, these zombies have a finite lifespan, and if 2 or 3 years have passed already, it won’t be long before zombies are no longer a systemic threat to survival. (We already know that something like 8 months passed between Seasons 2 and 3, that the group spent at least a couple of months on the farm before Rick started farming and obviously a significant amount of time passed afterwards before they were forced to vacate…I’m not 100% clear on any other concrete mentions of how much time is passing but the aging of Judith will be a solid clue in the future.) Some scientific mumbo jumbo on the matter is warranted though, because a human body, left out in the elements, will be 100% skeletonized within 2 or 3 months at the most. And technically, the internal organs (that includes you, Mr. Brain!) will liquefy much sooner than the skin and connective tissues decay. And don’t forget that the eyes are one of the very first things to go! Plus we’ve got all that Georgia heat on top of it, speeding things up.

I could keep going on and on about rates of decomposition, but I think the point is obvious. The bottom line is that the writers need to address the zombies’ rate of decay and they need to do it soon. Clearly the zombies aren’t decomposing at a normal rate, but they’re not staying fresh either, so we need some solid intel on what’s going on. I don’t really care if they don’t ever explain how the zombies are staying fresh for so long, just so long as they do acknowledge that they’re rotting and, someday, will “finish rotting.” Surely with all the survivors out there someone has thought to capture a fresh zombie, lock it up, and wait for it to deteriorate completely. If our group had even the slightest inkling of how long this would take, they could focus on holding out and staying alive for X amount of time, after which they could rebuild in relative peace. Seems like a sound strategy to me…then again it also puts the end-game in sight, which might not be such a good move for a TV series. Still, it’s obvious that the writers and producers have endeavored to make The Walking Dead as realistic as possible, and if they wish to continue to do so, these are bridges that are going to need to be crossed.

Alright so I kind of got off topic a few times there, but the question(s) I pose remains the same: are the best days of The Walking Dead behind us? Has the episodic nature and lack of clear, viable, long-term goals lessened the dramatic impact? Are the writers taking too long to get from Point A to Point B? Have you read the graphic novels and if so, do they have any impact on how you watch the show? Are you excited about Season 6, and if so, what are you expecting/looking forward to/hoping to see?

Let me know your thoughts on The Walking Dead and then come back next week and tell me what you think of the Season 6 premiere!

Written by The Cubist