TV Review - The Walking Dead Season 1

Last week, I watched The Walking Dead for the first time. I'd heard a lot mixed things about it, and the negatives seemed to stick in my mind more. I've heard people say the characters were annoying or unpleasant, that the quality of the show fluctuates constantly, and the pacing slows down, sometimes to a stop. All this I'm sure I'll get to as I continue to watch.

To date, I've only seen the first season, and I've enjoyed what I've seen so far. The show opens with Georgia Deputy Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), who's shot and coma-bound within the first ten minutes of the pilot. Rick awakens after some time to find the hospital and town disturbingly empty. Then Rick realises he's not alone, and soon learns the world has been overtaken by some unexplained phenomenon that reanimates the dead, turning them into ravenous zombies.

The balance between action and drama is always a fine one, but I feel like season 1 of The Walking Dead strikes it very well. My favourite parts of the season had to be the Atlanta segments. They give the programme a great sense of scale and underline the extent of the catastrophe by showing how a former metropolis can become a silent, claustrophobic hellhole.

Atlanta also gave the season its best set-pieces, such as Rick hiding out in a tank, Merle Dixon (Michael Rooker) trying to escape his handcuffs, and Glen (Steven Yeun) shooting down the motorway in a Challenger. The Atlanta segments were the most dynamic and memorable, giving every character something to do while showing the zombie hoarde at its most powerful.

This part of the show also excels on a technical level. I felt the erratic Georgian weather added a lot to the atmosphere. The sunny sky makes the city look bleached and rotting, instead of vibrant. The use of thunder also works in this respect; not only does it obviously make the show feel more apocalyptic, it jars with the sunshine and creates a dissonance, making it seem like this isn't happening on Earth, but in some sort of limbo. This nicely parallels the contradiction of the dead rising and walking.

Backing all this up is Bear McCready's eerie score. The highlight for me was the accompaniment to Rick and Glen lurching through a hoarde of zombies, covered in rotting corpse-matter, to reach a construction site and their getaway vehicle.

The Atlanta segments contrast with the scenes at the group's camp. Isolated from the rest of the world, it's almost easy to forget that civilization is falling apart. These scenes obviously serve to flesh out the characters more, which I felt worked as a whole. Rick clashes with Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), a hard-bitten redneck who feels the zombies should be killed indiscriminately, along with anyone else who might be infected. I felt the dynamic between these two characters was very well-handled and I'm keen to see how it progresses from here.

Rick is also at odds with his friend, Shane(Jon Bernthal), the designated “best-friend-turned-asshole”. As such, the show goes to some lengths to make Shane unlikeable, such as nearly shooting Rick, and drunkenly trying to rape his wife, Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies). I didn't warm too much to the three-way tension between Rick, Shane and Lori, but I didn't hate it. I just felt there were more interesting things going on.

Another pair I felt had a good relationship were Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn), the “heart” of the group, and Andrea (Laurie Holden), who sinks into a depression after her sister is killed. I felt theirs' was the most genuine relationship, and it was nice to have one based on something positive, rather than secrecy and lies.

Merle Dixon was another character I was fascinated by, even though the show makes him as repellent as possible. Despite his violence and racism, it was hard not to sympathise with him as he struggled to escape his cuffs on the roof. It's also hard not to admire his toughness when he not only saws off his arm, but kills a few zombies on the way before finally cauterizing his stump. Doubtless he'll catch up with the group in the future to mete out some vengeance.

A final character I want to mention is Dr Edwin Jenner (Noah Emmerich). Like Andrea, he's become a shell after months of isolation in a bunker. He finally loses all hope when a valuable tray of samples is incinerated, and lets the group in, not to save them, but so he doesn't have to die alone. Emmerich does a fine job of making his character both compassionate and chilling. His calm monotone when explaining the decontamination, and confusion at the group's horror, underscore how the apocalypse has truly broken his humanity.

The finale also works well on a technical level, providing a third environment to contrast with Atlanta or the woods. The cold clinicalness of the environment reflect Jenner's own temperament. It's an unexpected turn for a show which has until now focused on the filth and chaos of the apocalypse outside. The final shot of the CDC laboratory going up in flames symbolizes how the remnant's of humanity's control of the world are being destroyed one by one, just like how Atlanta is slowly falling apart.

So that was season 1 of The Walking Dead. It's a solidly made run of episodes with occasional sparks of genuine ingenuity. However the rest of the show pans out, this right here was a fine piece of television.