Walking with the Dead?

(Image is a still from the Walking Dead, Season 2, "Bloodletting" episode)


I have to admit (and maybe you will hate me for it or in the very least wish a snarling zombie would feast on my rotting flesh) I did not like the first season of the Walking Dead as much as I hoped. Perhaps because I had not heard of the graphic novel, I did not have as much invested in the series as other, better fans did. I mean, I was super grateful/excited that any series involving the undead would be airing; however, I found I could not validate staying up that late to watch a show that kind of failed to interest me in the beginning (I usually get up at 4:30am, so a show that went until 10pm was a little difficult). 

I think if I had given it more time and more effort, I would have come to enjoy it. It seems like the episodes following the first two really intensified the story and developed the characters I originally felt lukewarm about. At least I am honest about my feelings.

This pseudo-disclaimer being said, I have now watched the first two episodes of the new season and am finding it much more engaging. I loved the zombie hoard trudging through the abandoned vehicles and our protagonists sweatily and fearfully hiding under said cars, trucks, and campers. What an exhilarating way to begin a show!!!! The characters have shredded their masks of altruism--we are seeing who these people really are which is something I heart about zombie stories. The good deputy never fails to think of others before himself--ever willing to sacrifice his own safety to help others. His wife, so beautifully strong and in some ways too cold, finds her center again even though an errant bullet is threatening to destroy their revived loved/foundation. The Lancelot, the deputy's partner and adulterer, attempts (weakly) at disengaging himself from this band of  un-undead because he cannot stand to be around his former lover and her husband. And this is just a pittance of the fascinating internal conflicts infesting the characters. Alliances are crumbling, shifting, and forging. Tension is crackling--the world is shattering for these (unfortunate) survivors in more ways than one. Okay, Walking Dead, maybe I see your point.

For me personally, it took until the beginning of this new season to see this kind of transformation. Again, I'm pretty sure this started to happen in season 1, I just fell asleep before I was lucky enough to witness it. Without the build up of even the pretense of the mundane, you cannot have these spectacular crashes into despair, loss, and ultimately redemption and recovery. Without experiencing the inchoate gathering of the survivors, one cannot fully appreciate the demise of their bindings.

Maybe give me another chance, like I did for this show, before you foist my remains into a pile of clawing, gnawing zombies. Maybe?