‘The Walking Dead’ breathes life into genre

 

 

Steele’s Reels: “The Walking Dead” breathes life into genre

By Dave Steele

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Sheriff’s Deputy Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) has awoken from a gunshot related coma to find himself in the middle of a post-apocalyptic world, completely overrun by the walking dead.

These zombies that were once productive citizens of Rick’s town now have one single burning desire: to eat human flesh.

Separated from his family, Rick must set out on his own in hopes of being reunited with wife Lori and son Carl. Armed by the scraps of ammunition left at the raided police station, Rick begins his search in Atlanta where there have been rumors of quarantined survival camps at the Center for Disease Control.

Finding nothing but massive hoards of the walking dead, Rick considers taking his own life. Before he pulls the trigger, help arrives in the form of a young man named Glenn (Steven Yeun) searching Atlanta with similar hopes of salvation.

After crossing stories about their previous encounters, the two realize the Rick’s family is alive and camping out in the forest with Glenn and some other survivors. After being reunited with Carl (Chandler Riggs) and Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) as well as his old partner Shane (Jon Bernthal), Rick is now challenged with keeping them safe while searching for hope in the now zombie infested world.

Like most 21-year-old males, I was excited to indulge in some mindless violence with AMC’s “The Walking Dead”. Expecting nothing more than a gory mess without much substance, I was blown away by depth in character development and quality storytelling. Now that there is a film-quality TV series about zombies (I know right?), fans of the post-apocalyptic genre can now get a weekly fix of intense brain eating action.

I had a very hard time finding any flaws with this series. My only complaint is that the acting of Andrew Lincoln can be inconsistent and even laughable at times. However, I am confident that he will improve his character’s personality and really convince audiences of his role in the series.

But that’s not enough to keep me from strongly recommending this series to anyone. In terms of ratings, “The Walking Dead” had enormous shoes to fill with taking the former time slot of “Breaking Bad” (the best show on television in my opinion).

Without skipping a beat “The Walking Dead” shattered all expectations and now has the highest ratings of any show on cable. This Emmy nominated masterpiece can only get better with it’s talented producers, directors and cast. If you decide to pick this show up don’t skip out on the first season, its brilliant.

Steele’s Reels: 4/5 stars