Contrary to what these actors believe, accents do not equal acting. |
This Sunday marks the return of the second season of The
Walking Dead, arguably one of the several shows AMC has to offer. It’s
currently the best show featuring survivors of a zombie apocalypse on AMC right
now. Possibly ever. It’s a bit of a bittersweet return, coming back after a
brief midseason holiday hiatus. Fans of the show, this writer included, spend
much of their time trying to either defend it, denounce it, or both. Its fan
base could be considered one of the more loyal fan bases around, because the
thing about the Walking Dead is not that it is necessarily good. Calling it
that would be a bit of a stretch. Its fans stick around because they really,
really want it to be good, and a couple pinpoints of shimmering hope show that
it really does have the potential to be good, but it’s got a lot of work to do
get there, and it’s very quickly running out of time.
Accurate representation of the show's current status. |
The debut episode of The Walking Dead was an incredible
cinematic debut. It was something that almost could have worked as its own
movie. It threw the main character and the viewers head first into the
zombie-plagued world of the show with great moments, breathtaking cinematic
views, and one of the most impressive displays of television make-up and
special effects wizardry in the groaning, shambling undead themselves. It also
focused almost solely on the protagonist, sheriff Rick Grimes, as he awakes
from a coma into a whole new nightmare altogether. Fans of the comic book
series who had been worried the show would not do the comics justice rejoiced,
as they saw their beloved series come to life on a channel known for its
reputation of high quality television series like Breaking Bad and Mad Men.
Then the series continued, and as it did so, more characters
were introduced. And herein lies one of The Walking Dead’s biggest problems,
both in the book and the television show. There are so many characters. When
the first season of the show is only six episodes, characters need to be
introduced slowly. All the characters converged by the third episode, and were
barely given screen time to do anything that could be remotely considered
character development. With such little time, it’s hard to pull that off. Lost
had tons of characters, but also started out with 24-episode seasons back when
serialized dramas could get away with that. The second season was picked up for
a much longer season, but the first half of it was wasted on a plot that really
should have lasted only two or three episodes.
However, all of this could have been fixed or improved if
the writing had been better. Fans of the show probably know about the troubles
plaguing the writing staff, with show runner Frank Darabont firing the entire
writing staff after the first season and hiring freelance writers in their
place, then ultimately leaving the show after creative and financial disputes
with AMC. The results of this are evident in the show, due to the fact that
virtually none of the characters are likeable, save for maybe two or three
characters, and plots that stretch out far too long to maintain interest. The
first half of season two would be the prime example of this, especially the
latter. Even though the twist at the end of the last episode shows that the
writers at least have an idea of what they’re doing, they’ve still got quite a
few kinks to figure out.
This. |
There is one thing the writers do have going for themselves.
From the outset, Darabont and Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman have stated
they’re interested in straying from the comics plot-wise in order to explore
some new possible plot lines in the show, but this hasn’t completely worked in
their favor. Since the show has been picked up for a third season, it’s not too
late to go back and stick to the source material. The books have some of their
own flaws, but they’re never afraid to take risks with the plots and do some
insane and dark stuff to prove that absolutely nobody in the comics is truly
safe, which combined with decent character development, makes the comic book
series that much more devastating. One setting in particular (and those who
have read the books know what I’m taking about when I say “Bring on the prison
and The Mayor”), could give the show writers more than enough awesome moments
for an entire season. The third season has the potential to be great. All the
writers need to do is just stick to the source material. But until then, only
time and the rest of this second season will be able to tell if The Walking
Dead can become the show its fans know it can be.