Many great shows have come, and yet most have known when to end. It’s hard to understand how a show like The Walking Dead could still be going, and with plans to continue in spin-offs. I’ve always been under the assumption that a zombie show would see survivors move from place to place looking for security until that security is inevitably breached. I mean how else could it go? Now that the mainline series is coming to an end I thought I would finally see what all the fuss was about. Three seasons in and I don’t understand how this show was a movement. It’s absolutely fine. Season one at least gave the characters an anchor to questions relating to a cure, or hope. With the CDC literally blown up in the finale of season 1 it’s hard to understand where the hope for the characters is in this world.
As I continue watching I’m waiting to be pulled in to a larger arc for the characters. Give me a reason to see them fighting this futile future. If it was me I would have ended my life. And I have to say that the most poignant moment thus far was them choosing to live or die at the CDC when it was to be blown up. If there is a reason for each character to be living I want to see what they are fighting for… because as far as we see it, this is the end of the world.
The show itself lost show creator Frank Darabont midway into season 2 over budget restraints. Understandable as the show did set up something that had a lot of potential at the end of season 1 to staying contained to a farmhouse setting for the entirety of season 2. Popularity grew by the end of season 2 to accommodate a much bigger budget in season 3. It seems as though if Frank Darabont had been given the full control he would have continued to steer the show in the stronger direction he cemented in season 1.
I have to say this is one of the ugliest looking shows on tv. I wish we saw more colour than the bleak saturation that is a constant of the show. The editing of the show itself is odd as they will jump cut from what could have been a more interesting scene than the one that followed. It feels like a budget issue and at times it takes away from the pacing of the show and feels jarring. In the future I may give Fear of the Walking Dead a look and see if it has the same shortcomings.
Overall, unless something changes I’m not sure how long I will continue to watch it for. Maybe the drama will strike me or I will find some characters endearing enough to see their journey play out.
Robert Ring
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