The Walking Dead

I started watching TWD last November after I broke an ankle and I didn't have anything to fill the nights when I couldn't really sleep. It's not the best choice :)... Leaving aside the obvious aspect of bloody horror movie (where the obvious part is deceiving, but we'll come to that), we have enough characters who struggle to survive without an arm, leg, or something else. So, it's not very cheering up if you're in crutches, even if it's temporary, but on the other hand you learn you can survive it ;)

I don't write much about TV shows, 1 - because I'm not watching TV shows (there are exceptions, e.g., the current one) and 2 - you never know how bad would be the next season even if the previous was exceptional (e.g., GoT). But again I don't have another better topic, and also recently I got to the ending of TWD's eighth season - out of the nine released & still upcoming. It's complicated to summarize eight seasons in one post, but I'm not really planning to do that. Still, we need a bit of it...

The setting: The classic zombies story - sometime in a near future a virus wakes the dead to life. After coming back "the walkers" (to use the show's terminology) don't have much in common with their ex-self. The new main parameters: an acute need of meat, a great sense of hearing, being vulnerable just by hurting their head/brains and possessing a lethal bite that spreads the virus. Well, there's an additional detail here, essential for the new ecosystem, on how the number of "walkers" tends to overcome the number of people, but being the revelation you get at the end of the first season let's not spoil it. In all this context we have Rick Grimes, a sherrif's deputy in some little town close to Atlanta, who before the epidemics was badly injured in a shooting and brought to a hospital. Where he wakes up from a come after many days, alone in the abandoned building, and starts searching for his wife and kid in the surroundings. That's the beginning...

After 8 seasons I can firmly say that "The Walking Dead" is not a horror. It's just bloody :) In essence, the series follow the path of a survivors community which forms in season 1, in their trials of establishing a settlement and in their interactions with other communities. Actually what we have here is more of a life drama, even getting some slight soap opera touches, where the zombies are just the context, a sort of continuous natural calamity. Predictable, the main problem for the humans is typically brought by other humans. I guess that a synthetic description of TWD would be an ample stufy of the human behavior in a crisis context. Which might work well in a psychology course. Even a philosophy one, we have plenty of that too.

It's hard to compare TWD with something else. Sometimes it's quite grim and hard to watch ( be warned of S7E1 :) ), but also in some parts is very humane. If I would compare it to GoT, which is I think the only other series that I've watched during latest year, there's also the possibility here to set a betting list on what main character will die in the next episode. The main difference comes though on how the dissappearance is handled = if in GoT this is simplified up to the level of a certain "normality" over which we move quite fast, in TWD, besides having something like a full episode dedicated to it, there's also some following impact in the community that's visible in what episodes come after - including flashbacks and other stuff. Again, it's hard to compare, and it might sound like a negative torment - but it's not, it's just different & more humane.

The production has cinema level. Actually, I would say it surpasses many other zombie movies. It's pointless to discuss much on the craft quality on VFX and makeup. I imagine that is hard to have a noticeable soundtrack on long running series, including enough variation. Here the score is signed by Bear McCreary, who I'd say is at least at the same level with Ramin Djawadi and his work in GoT, even though there are some obvious external influences here and there. But probably the part that deserves the most appreciation in TWD is the cast and the actors' versatility, which gets a strong support from the script that brings up an excellent character construction. And it's not about only the main characters who were present since the first seasons. For instance King Ezekiel and Jadis/Anne are some of the most interesting parts in the cast. You can't say it's at least that's not something original to have a former zookeeper, having a tiger as a pet, talking in a Shakespearean English, and getting a "king" position :).

I believe that TWD is among the series that has the most consistent quality over its length - at least until now - for what I watched, although there seems to be plenty of criticism on how bad are the latest seasons starting from the 6th onward. I disagree. The 2nd season seemed a bit too "soap"-ish, and indeed there are some eye-rolling scenes in season 8, but the rest is ok. As a general description, the first seasons are more tense, and the last have a development that's more... gentle let's say = you don't really feel anymore a constant pressure that somebody's going to die in the following episode ( still... be warned of S7E1 :) ). And besides that, in particular the end of season 7 is among the best series closures that I've ever watched. I don't know about season 9 (it's apparently getting more praise than the previous), but I'd say that the ending of the eighth was perfect for a closure. So, I think the only current issue with TWD is that's getting "overused". Anyway, to conclude, if you're able to move over the violent side, you'll be left with plenty of other stuff - including lots of food for thought ;).