When I first feasted my eyes on the promotional clip for ‘The Walking Dead’, I couldn’t help but be a little intrigued about Andrew Lincoln’s new role. Not only has he hopped ship to the States - but it appears that he has branched out from his usual laidback, blend in with the wallpaper type of roles. Lincoln’s character Rick Grimes plays the part of a sheriff’s deputy in a small Georgia town, who arises from his coma to discover that his once peaceful abode has been bombarded by zombies.
In theory the concept of flesh eating zombies invading villages and towns, and longing to infect innocent humans with their vicious bite, is far from original (28 Days Later springs to mind) – yet last night’s pilot airing of ‘TWD’ had just enough grit to make me sit up and pay attention. I was dubious at how the script-writing and series of events would unfold when minimized to the small screen and set to a 60 minute timer, but surprisingly it made for an effective impact.
From the get-go Frank Darbont (the man who brought the comics to TV), threw some gruesome, graphic, and boot quaking scenes at us – and almost had me reaching for the remote control prematurely. Although, I managed to stay strong for the duration of the episode, I don’t think I could mentally cope with watching such chilling scenes on a weekly basis. From the demented blonde child that we were first greeted with (even Emily Rose would be hiding under her bed), to the blood drenched disheveled woman who scrambled along the grass next to her bike - the first ten minutes of the show alone were enough to make me turn on every light in the house.
Lincoln plays the part of the confused and frightened survivor to perfection, and at times I almost felt like I should be making some sort of escape plan just incase an unforeseen invasion should occur (clearly you can never be too safe). I soon found myself asking some preposterous questions in my terror filled mind, and debating whether I would make the same decisions as the heroine Rick.
There were enough twists and turns within the show to keep me on the edge of my seat, with two scenes in particular standing to be the highpoint for shock value in the first episode. (1) When Morgan (the man who essentially saves Lincoln) is faced with the reality that he must shoot his son’s mother as she has been infected, but fails to follow through. (2) When it is discovered that Rick’s wife Lori and son Carl are still alive, but she is having a rendezvous with her husband’s good friend and colleague (scandalous).
Episode one was beautifully shot with visually captivating scenes scattered at short intervals throughout the show. However, the part where Rick hops up on the horse, and takes off to find his family and shoot some more ‘walkers’, only to turn the corner and see a mob (literally thousands) of zombies running at him from every angle was sensational. As he ducked under the army tank my heart was racing like a sprinter. Even though I knew they obviously weren’t going to kill off the lead character, I couldn’t help but peer out through my clasped hands, and just hope that he was alive by the time I fully opened them.
However, it one of the early scenes when Rick was leaving the hospital that I found to be the most dramatic. As he strolled out of the building bare foot and bandaged (and in some serious need of answers), he soon discovered a mass mound of bodies piled up on the ground – it instantly sent shivers up my spine.
There were however a few parts of ‘TWD’ that didn’t ring through for me. Morgan saved Rick too fast, and the whole situation was far too convenient for my liking. Duane (Morgan’s son) should have been made out to be even slightly traumatized, perhaps unable to talk for the first few episodes to achieve maximum effect. I found his outgoing personality and chattiness took from the severity of the situation they were all in. Realistically, if flesh eating monsters were waiting at the foot of their house (and one of them was your mother), no kid is going to be as blasé as Duane was. Hopefully he will become more vulnerable as the series progresses.
Furthermore, was there really a need to honk the car horns on numerous occasions when he all knew that the noise from the gun shot attracted the zombies? (Now that was just plain silly).
I also couldn’t make sense of why the house that Morgan and his child were staying in was deemed to be ‘the safe house’, yet all the other houses were infested with zombies (just a good find? I think not). When Rick arrived they all sat around the dining room table with oil light and candles, yet the flickering light didn’t attract the zombies – it was all just a bit too casual.
I have a feeling we won’t discover who the person in the helicopter was for a long time (this could be another ‘Lost’ situation). I wonder how long it will take for Rick to find out that his family is alive. I reckon in the coming weeks he will find something, like his kids toy etc and the penny will drop. More importantly how will he get out of the tank?
All I know for certain is that I can’t get the thoughts of last night’s debut episode of ‘The Walking Dead’ out of my head, and all of the different theories being formed in the office this morning, aren’t making it easy for me to put it to the back of my mind. There are so many unanswered questions that I need to know! It looks like the vampire obsessed genre could be coming to a close – move over R Patt, there is a new sheriff in town!
Hopefully, I can pluck up the courage to tune in next week – but somehow I doubt it will be easy.
Laura Delaney
