By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Thoughts From the Season Premiere of The Walking Dead:

- Coming away from the season premiere of AMC’s The Walking Dead, the one thing I kept thinking about was the sheer volume of blood, guts and gore we saw. It really spoke volumes to me in terms of how far television has come, and the kinds of things we can get away with in the 21st century. Just the savage, human on human violence inspired the sort of cringe-inducing awe that horror cinema often goes for. I found myself wondering if this was the show’s way of making up for the first half of last season, which many complained was too boring. This episode was many things, but boring wasn’t one of them.

- I watched this episode with our own Lora Van Marel. When we got to the point where Rick had to chop Herschel’s leg off, and this man is screaming in terror, and Rick is struggling with whether he can bring himself to disfigure this man, all she could say was: “What an unfortunate hacksaw job.” An extremely intense ending. It was right up there with Dale’s death from last season.

- Anybody else get goosebumps when Lori said the line about the baby being stillborn, and then turning into a zombie in her stomach? Good lord, can you just….good lord. Incidentally, Lora indicated that Lori’s pregnant belly looked completely fake, and that she didn’t appear to be carrying any weight. I suppose she would know better than I would…

- Andrew Lincoln did an amazing job of making Rick Grimes seem like a man who has both the weight of the world on his shoulders and a broken heart. I’m very interested to see how his character evolves as this season progresses.

- Speaking of character evolution, I’m interested to see what happens with Carl as this series ages. The comic book is almost a decade old, and yet the characters have only been on their journey for about a year and a half. I’m not quite sure how much time has passed on the show, but obviously Chandler Riggs is going to age. If the show remains as popular as it is (and we should assume it will), he could be as tall as his on-screen dad at some point. Ergo, we have another way that the TV show is different from the comics, and I like it that way. Different media, different rules.

- I have a question about the prison: Did the survivors know the prison was there? Or are they seeing it for the first time at the beginning of the episode? Obviously they saw the inside for the first time. But had they been waiting for the right time to strike? The episode seems to indicate that they were seeing it for the first time, but I’m not sure.

- That opening shot of the zombie eye was fantastic, as was the silent opening sequence. Use the language of cinema to tell the story the way words can’t. Love it.

- Early in the episode, Rick says they don’t have a lot of ammo to waste, and yet he has them all fire away on the walkers. Granted, they have no choice in the matter, but still.

- RIOT GEAR ZOMBIES!!!!! Hot damn is that clever!

- I had a minor fanboy geek out when we finally got to see Michonne swing that sword. She only had a few lines in this episode, but it’s already clear that they chose a great actress for her in Danai Gurira. Sometimes the casting choice they make doesn’t match up at all with what you picture in your head as a reader. In this case it was almost perfect, at least from where I sit.

- We’re in for a ride this season, folks. You’d best strap in. The Governor’s coming…

All images courtesy of AMCTV.com.
For more of The Walking Dead, check out Primary Ignition‘s reviews of Season One and Season Two. 
For a look at Image’s best selling The Walking Dead comic book, check out No Way Out, We Find Ourselves, A Larger World, and The Walking Dead #100.
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