The Walking Dead: What Lies Ahead

Directed by Ernest Dickerson and Gwyneth Horder-Payton

Written by Robert Kirkman and "Ardeth Bay" (a.k.a. Frank Darabont)

Season 2, Episode 1

Original Air date: October 16th, 2011

Picking up after Season 1's finale "TS-19", we see the remainder of Rick's group deciding to leave Atlanta behind for Fort Benning. Soon enough, there are new troubles for the group as they stumble across a church......

Some people I have noticed do not favor Rick using the walkie-talkie as a means for getting across exposition or vocalizing his inner thoughts, as this is awkward or monotonous to them: I have to disagree. I find that this means of relaying information to the audience is a good way to tie-back to Morgan and Duane (even if, as of this review, they have yet to reappear in their own separate plot lines), a way to make internal monologues work for the televised adaptation of The Walking Dead and to catch-up anyone who may have missed out on Season 1. That being said, let's take a look at the season opener.

* WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW*



For the most part, the episode has 3 major locations: an cluttered highway, a church, and a forest. Thankfully, the episode's directors  use the highway to his advantage, making it into a dangerous maze our group must dodge and overcome after being attacked by a pack of Zombies. There is a great deal of tension as the group hides under cars and in the motor homes rather than take a flashy and ill-fated battle against the zombies. That is what works about TDW as a comic: the group learns how to better avoid the zombies by using their minds rather than take a 'John Rambo' approach to the situation. Also, there is a great deal of discussion about the topic of faith in the episode, which I assume will be a major theme this season.


Rating: * * * * of 5 

Highschool of the Dead, Season 1

Original Title - 学園黙示録 Gakuen Mokushiroku?, "Academy Apocalypse"
Produced by MadHouse Animation

Original Airdates: July 5th- September 20th, 2010
(Involves heavy amounts of violence, gore, sensuality, and partial nudity)

…in other words, Not for those under 17 yrs of age

Since I’m a fan of anime and zombies, High School of the Dead seemed like a perfect fit for me. However, there are a few problems to address later on.


In modern Japan, zombies have begun to attack a high school. Takashi Komoro takes action and decides to save childhood sweetheart Rei Miyamoto from the hoards of living dead and escape from the madness. Soon enough, Takashi and Rei meet other survivors: Saeko Busujima, a kendo master; Saya Takagi, a self-proclaimed genius and resident loud-mouth; Kohta Hirano, skilled marksman and gun fanatic, and Shizuka Marikawa, the school nurse and the group’s only proficient driver. Will this rag-tag group of survivors make it to find their families, or to survive to the next day? Will the undead be their worst enemies, or the other people that survive this apocalypse?

The Walking Dead, Dead Rising, Dead Space, 28 Days Later…. The list goes on and on for how much Zombies have infected the imaginations and interest of audiences these days (the less said about the CW “drama” with zombies, the better). HOTD certainly wears its inspirations on its sleeve, from musical cues from 28 Days Later to the title brining up memories of George A. Romero movies (Night, Dawn, Day, Land, Diary, and Survival of the Dead). Since this is a show about Zombies, it would be apropos to have zombie gore, and plenty of it; there’s tons of great action sequences, and I applaud MadHouse Animation for their fantastic fluidity and style in bringing the manga to its’ animated form. One of the first season’s best episodes, The Sword and the Dead, features Saeko Busujima facing off against zombies with a katana.

Now on to the only reason HOTD gets a 4 out of 5 stars…

There is WAY too much fan service going on in this show. Now, I’m no prude, but seriously it gets really annoying when you’re trying to enjoy an anime about zombies, and you’re being blocked by fan service. I'm not unfamiliar with the practice, as seen in other anime like Code Geass, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Hellsing, but unlike those anime, HOTD pushed the fan service until you go crazy.   (If you don’t know what fan service is, look it up). I watched the first six episodes with my buddies, and we were all exasperated by how much gratuitous sexism and ogling of the female characters there were in the FIRST episode.

If you cannot wait until October 2011 for The Walking Dead Season 2, give HOTD a chance if you also enjoy anime.


Rating: * * * * of 5

Click Here  to buy First Manga Volume of Highschool of the Dead, Vol. 1

EVERY ZOMBIE DEATH ON THE WALKING DEAD

yeah.....this is just awesome. So, here's a link for a video of every zombie death on Season 1 of The Walking Dead.

http://www.comicvine.com/news/every-zombie-death-from-amcs-the-walking-dead-season-1/142657/

The Walking Dead: "TS-19"

The Walking Dead

"TS-19"

Season 1, Episode 6

Original Airdate: December 5, 2010

So it has come to the end of the season, and what a ride it has been for Rick Grimes. In 3 Weeks, he's been introduced to a zombie apocalypse, dealt with ethical and moral dilemmas, turned to acts of desperation and rage, and has always looked for 3 things: his wife, his son, and hope. Last week, Grimes and his small band of survivors drove out to the CDC in Atlanta, hoping they were looking for someone working on a cure. This week, they found out that the center has only one resident, Dr. Edmond Jenner. The group thinks their prayers have been answered: someone working on a cure, food, shelter, and running water are available to them after weeks of no answers and searching. But, somethings is amiss with the good doctor, and several members of the group are lost in a sea of remorse and despair. Has Shane finally cracked, trying too hard to make Lori love him again? Will Lori ever tell Rick of her affair with his best friend? Finally, moments before the CDC blew up, Dr. Jenner whispered something into Rick's ear moments before his death: What was this horrifying secret shared between the scientist and the law man?

This was a great ending episode to the season, although I felt like Jacqui's death was unnecessary due to the character being pushed too far in the background we hardly got to know her or felt sympathy for her actions in the episode's final moments. However, there is a stunning back and forth dialogue between Andrea and Dale that displays the gripping moments of the show and the outstanding talents of the show's cast. Let's just hope that the "new" writing staff knows how to write for the characters as Season 1's writing staff.

Rating: * * * * 1/2 of 5

The Walking Dead writers...fired?

Okay, if you haven't heard by now, Frank Darabont has fired the writing staff for The Walking Dead and will hire freelance writers for Season 2. Um, okay, that's pretty stupid. I have a bad feeling about this.

Plus, that's pretty crappy to fire people so close to the holidays. Merry Christmas Frank Darabont....ya jerk.

The Walking Dead: "Wild Fire"

The Walking Dead

"Wild Fire"

Season 1, Episode 5

Original Airdate: November 28, 2010

"Do not enter Atlanta, it's not what we thought it would be. The City...It belongs to The Dead now", Rick mournfully relays into a walkie-talkie hoping that Morgan is listening on the other end. Soon, Rick hears that Jim has been bitten and is trying to convince the small group of survivors left after the geek attack at the end of "Vatos". Initally, the party is trying to find the right words to get through to Andrea, still broken up after losing her sister Amy.

While Daryl, Glen, and Dale are burying the dead and burning the geeks, everyone else is trying to talk to Andrea, who hasn't moved from the spot where Amy died. While Lori tries her best to get through to Andrea, the best part was when Rick tried to talk to her, and she just pointed a gun at him saying "the safety is off". After Dale gives a heartfelt monologue about losing his wife and how Amy and Andrea were the first people that Dale cared about after his years of mistrust toward others, Rick and Shane have a disagreement about where to go now: Rick wants to go to the Center for Disease Control to find a cure, while Shane wants to an army base 100 miles away to better protect the survivors. Soon, it becomes clear that Shane wants to kill Rick to regain his position as group survivor and the only man in Lori and Carl (Rick's son)'s lives.

After the group loses Jim to wanting to turn as a zombie than endure the roadtrip to the CDC (you'll have to see why the group decides to follow Rick's plan rather than Shane's), we meet a new character at the CDC. Is this man friend or foe? We'll have to wait and see at the Season Finale next week.

Rating: * * * * * of 5

The Walking Dead: Vatos

"Vatos"

Season 1, Episode 4
Original Airdate: November 21, 2010

Some of you may have noticed a character in the past few episodes hanging around Dale at the compund and wondered who he is. Now, if you didn't already know, this is Jim; the reason why it's important to note this character's name is because it's the first episode where we get to explore this character and how he fits into the survivors' camp. Initally, we begin the episode with Amy and Andrea discussing the different ways they were taught fishing by their father during their respective childhoods. The scene works very well exploring the dynamic between the two sisters and also subtly explores their remorse and fear over what had happened to their parents in Florida without spelling it out for the audience. After that, we get to see jim on a hill above them digging into the ground, the mood of the scene getting darker and darker before the credits sequence begins.

When I wrote my review of the pilot episode, I talked about my opinon of how the developers of The Walking Dead should follow some familiar ground while also venturing into unfamilar territory in terms of both the story adn the characters, both from the comic and TV created. That being said, SPOILERS AHEAD (don't say I didn't give you fair warning): As the episode winds down, we see the survivors' camp attacked by "geeks", and several survivors are killed such as Ed and Amy. However, we find out that the reason that Jim was digging in the ground that day was to prepare graves for the dead survivors. Some may call it ESP, I'd prefer to thinking of it as Jim's assumption that they are all just one more day toward either becoming "walkers" or just dead. In between this, we saw Rick and his group journeying through Atlanta to find Merle Dixon (no such luck). However, the foursome did stumble upon another group of survivors and met another new interesting character, Guillermo.

"Vatos" brought up alot of new character development, but also saw the departure of a few characters viewers maybe wanted to see stick around just longer. Just as well, because you're either quick or you're dead, and those survivors are gone.

Rating: * * * * of 5

The Walking Dead: "Tell that to the Frogs"

"Tell that to the Frogs"

Season 1, episode 3

Original Airdate: November 14th, 2010

Continuing on from last week's episode, we see that things with the Grimes family are far from perfect. This episode, Rick is dedicated into going back for Merle Dixon and to retrieve his bag of weapons he lost in "Days Go Bye". Lori, on the other hand, is trying her best to deal with the revelation of Rick being the mysterious stranger the group located in "Guts", but that Shane had lied to her by saying that Rick had died in the hospital. While Rick and Lori try to rekindle their relationship (in the brief time he's at the survivor camp), we see that Shane may be harboring some pent up rage and aggression, as seen when he bullied Ed into dousing his campfire. "Tell that to the frogs" is a great chapter in the "Walking Dead" storyline: we get to discover more characters in the camp, further explore the characters of Shane and Dale, and see how Rick will eventually become the reluctant leader of the surviors. While I think that the cliffhanger of Merle Dixon's status is somewhat odd, it does fit into what type of character he is and cannot wait to see where he next pops up in Atlanta. Perhaps he'll just return to the survivor camp to await his aggressors.

Rating: * * * * * of 5

The Walking Dead: "Guts"

THE WALKING DEAD

"GUTS"

Season 1, Episode 2

Air date: November 7th, 2010

A whole lot went down in this episode and yet the one thing I wanted to see never happened: A scene with Morgan and Duane. Oh well, maybe we'll see them down the line later this season. Still, we did get the onscreen first appearance of Glenn, Amy, Andrea, and some TV created characters like Merle Dixon and T-Dog. While Rick meets some new survivors in a department store, we get to see a glimpse of life at the survivor camp. First, we get to see that Laurie and Shane's little affair has become more than a "one-time" event as previously seen in the comic: It's a little touch, but Darabont and creator Robert Kirkland knew that it would be best to shake up the story for familiar fans and I for one am glad they are doing it. Next, we get to see that not only do the survivors have to deal with the zombies (or "geeks" and "walkers" as they are called in this episode), but also Merle Dixon's racism and uncontrollable urge to kill. Perhaps we will see more of this character? Only time will tell. For now, you should be on board with The Walking Dead. If not, do your self a favor and watch the pilot and "Guts". Otherwise, you'll be missing out on one of the best new shows of 2010.

Rating: * * * * 1/2 of 5

The Walking Dead: "Days Go Bye"

"Days Go Bye"

Season 1, Episode 1

I'm a big fan of the comic. In fact, I love The Walking Dead so much I tend to think of this as a legitimate heir to George A. Romero's Zombie-lore throne. Therefore, when I found out about the TV adaptation, I was both excited and scared. I realized that just because I was a big fan of the comic did not mean it would be successful (see the box office gross for "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World"); then I found out that the entire series would be developed by Frank Darabont, director of "The Shawshank Redemption". So, how did the first episode fare in my opinion?

Honestly, the next episode can't get here soon enough. The actors are dead-ringers (no pun intended) for their comic counterparts; hopefully, the actors playing Morgan and Duane Jones will get a subplot about their zombie encounters in the suburbs in addition to the main story. It's too soon to start talking about the other characters so I'll get to the heart of the matter, the zombies. In short, the zombies look great! The make-up effects are fantastic, the prostetics look great, and the zombie crowds are awesome!

If there's one thing I hope the writing staff and Darabont will keep in mind is how to walk the line between being faithful to the comic and finding the series own voice by making unique choices. I know it seems hard, but hear me out: the TV should keep all the themes and mood of the comic while taking risks so that even fans of the comic will be shocked by familiar characters dying sooner or new story arcs in place of treading familiar ground.

Rating: * * * * * of 5

TV reviews?

I've decided I will occasionally review some of my favorite TV shows, as well as new shows, like "The Walking Dead". Such TV shows include:

-Dexter
-How I met your Mother
-Community
-The Office
-Caprica (until it gets cancelled)

So if you've been enjoying my movie reviews, I'll also review TV from time to time.