It’s been a good while since we had an episode of AMC’s The Walking Dead, which meant one of two things would happen: it’d lose a decent portion of its audience, or it’d blow up.
It did the latter when Sunday’s episode “Seed” premiered and it made it rain GRP’s.
But with previews once again getting me excited even though I haven’t liked the show, does it start doing the comic justice, or do the same problems continue to rear their ugly heads? Let’s find out.
1. “This show is just so slow.”
I was watching the premiere with my girlfriend and, as Herschel’s daughter began to torture us with her singing a song for some sort of assuredly metaphorical reason tied to the lyrics, she blurted out that line. And she’s right. The biggest problem with the show is it is just so damn slow. Not only that, but the things that make the cut are so damn boring and not necessary that the show drags all the more. Which is a shame, because besides the slow parts – of which there are many – this episode was pretty damn interesting.
2. Silence is Golden
Is it weird that some of the stronger points of the episode were when the characters just stopped talking? Probably the best part of the episode was the completely silent pre-credits sequence. No talking. Just killing. It’s a freaking zombie show, not some Off Broadway drama. Having badasses like Daryl taking out zombies is why we tune in, not Herschel’s child who is somewhere between 12 and 47 singing a gospel song.
3. Time has done Team Rick wonders
When we last saw Rick and his band of not so merry men and women, they were a bunch of scared, harried barely survivors. Now? They’re hardened veterans of zombie war, as even Carl gets in the mix and destroys some brains and removes some heads. Months have clearly passed (I mean, Herschel has a beard now!), and while I am still a little frustrated that everyone is a sniper level shot (even Daryl can take people out from insane distances with his crossbow), the time passing made the characters a little less weak and a little more fun to watch.
4. Unanswered questions harm the flow
With time passing, it’s to be understood that we missed some things. The problem is, Rick and Lori are now getting along…not well, and apparently Andrea is near death, and we have no idea why at all. It’s one thing to slow burn story points, but to do two of them simultaneously, especially when they just feel like bad choices, is painful.
5. Brains are gone
Honestly, this show is dead to me in a lot of ways. This first episode reaffirms many of its problems while continuing to demean the characters’ intelligence in the process, as the team of Rick, Glenn, Maggie, Daryl and T-Dog combined took an insane amount of time to figure out that maybe, just maybe they should remove the SWAT uniform wearing gents helmets if they want to kill them. Instead, they flounder for a few minutes as we get frustrated wanting them to remove the helmets, and then Maggie realizes what’s up and tells the others. It’s not just that the characters are unlikeable – they’re just plain dumb, often. Alas.
