Now that this series of Mad Men is winding down to a close, and that the next one of Doctor Who is still pretty far off, I thought I’d turn my attention to what has been, in some circles at least, one of the most eagerly anticipated TV shows of the year – Shawshank Redemption/Green Mile director Frank Darabont’s adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s ongoing zombie comic, The Walking Dead. Like with the Mad Men and Doctor Who episode reviews, I’m going to attempt to provide a review and plot recap as close to the UK transmission as possible, and then the comments section is there for you to discuss the plot/raise theories about what’s going to happen next (no actual spoilers though please)/correct me where I’ve got it wrong/pretty much anything goes as long as it’s related to the episode and not offensive or illegal (for a start I still haven’t gotten around to reading the comics, so I expect that fans will be able to offer plenty of insight there – even if the TV series is supposedly going to follow its own course as it develops).

Has anybody actually come up with a satisfactory explanation as to why zombies are all over the place at the moment? I like a good bit of undead gore as much as the next person, but it does strike me as strange that they feature in so many recent books, video games, films and now TV shows. There’s of course the social satire element – as George A. Romero used horror to explore racial politics, consumer culture and Vietnam (his more recent attempts haven’t been quite as successful unfortunately), it can now be used to investigate post-9/11 terrorism culture (post-disaster images of urban centres seem to be a fairly common theme in zombie movies). There’s also the matter that vampires – the other great undead monster – have been sanitised and romanticised, which zombies, despite some people’s best efforts, are immune to. Anyway, better minds than me have already discussed this issue at length so I won’t go into it any further here, it just seemed like a relevant issue to discuss briefly as their appeal has managed to draw an Oscar nominated film-maker to a relatively small cable channel (well, that and the channel’s current Mad Men and Breaking Bad wave of success), and that the abundance of zombie movies does raise the unfortunate issue of plot familiarity. The problem with zombie movies is that they tend to feature the same plot points, and The Walking Dead episode one being no exception, although it does make this week’s plot recap a bit easier to write at least.

Opening with a pre-title sequence in which we see sheriff’s deputy, Rick Grimes, wander through a deserted settlement in search of gas before foolishly attracting the attention of a ‘little girl’ who wasn’t such a little girl after all, (I did like that the undead child stopped to pick up a teddy bear – the idea of zombies following habits and routines they had when still living is an interesting one, and although it’s been featured elsewhere – Shaun of the Dead for example – it still seems unusual) resulting in him shooting her in the head. Following the credits the action then turned back to some time before the zombie incident, where Grimes and his partner Shane were sat in their squad car bitching about their wives until they were interrupted by a call about a high speed chase nearby. One laying of a spike stripe, a fantastically overdone car flip and a shoot out later, and Grimes was heavily bleeding and on his way to the hospital, where he conveniently missed the start of the zombie outbreak as he was unconscious. I think every article about the series has mentioned that 28 Days Later also started with the protagonist awaking from a coma in a deserted hospital, and despite some initial stumblings, managing to get back on his feet surprisingly quickly, so that’s the last mention of the similarity between the two here (well, I would also point out that apocalyptic graffiti and the discovery of the rotting bodies of an elderly couple who had committed suicide also feature in both), after all I don’t think we need to have another discussion as to whether 28 Days Later is a zombie movie at all, what with the ‘zombies’ not technically being dead, and their ability to run (there was a little bit of running zombies at the end of this episode, but for the most part they were of the more traditional shambling variety).

Stealing a bike while avoiding a crawling zombie torso (the special effects were excellent, better than most movies in fact – I noticed that make-up legend Greg Nicotero was credited as being a producer on the series), Rick made it back to his house to find that his wife and son had packed up and left, as had the rest of the neighbourhood. The only people left were a father and son who, despite an incident involving Rick getting whacked round the head with a shovel and then handcuffed to a bed, filled him in on what had happened and helped him out. I found this section a little distracting for a couple of reasons, one being that the father was played by Lennie James, another British actor who had found his way into an American series (I’ll get onto Andrew Lincoln later), the other being that they did stray a little uncomfortably close to racial caricatures, especially when the boy got carried away with excitement on having a shower at the Sheriff’s office. At least we didn’t see the dad die heroically, even if he may well have done off screen – I liked the fact that we left them with the dad unable to shoot his undead wife (and that, like the little girl at the start, she was, to an extent, following habits of her still-living days as she continued to hang around and try to get back into her old house), as it ultimately turned it into a small, moving vignette. Hopefully they won’t spoil things by bringing those characters back later on.

Leaving the father and son to make their way to a refugee camp in Atlanta (that was bound to turn out to be a bust – in the case of zombie outbreaks, it’s always best to avoid urban areas and large groups of people), on the road Rick managed to make contact with a group of survivors (who it turned out included his family and Shane – the fact that his wife and Shane are now having an affair is going to raise issues when they finally meet up), although the radio died before they had the chance to warn him against going into the city, and ‘borrowed’ a horse from the aforementioned deceased elderly couple when his car ran out of petrol. Ending the episode on a bloody climax (a horse’s innards go a surprisingly long way), Rick taking refuge in a tank that had conveniently left the hatch on its underside open and hearing the reassuringly mocking tones of a nearby survivor address him over the tank’s radio.

The plot may have been for the most part slow and uneventful (following Mad Men’s success it seems that AMC may be applying its glacial pace to this show as well), this actually turned out to be a major strength of the show, with so few characters around to interact with and it taking such a long time to get to a big action scene, there was a chance to really appreciate the eerie stillness of the world following the outbreak – most of the episode’s soundtrack was composed of the chirping of crickets and it was almost a shame that there was any dialogue at all. It also provided an opportunity to just sit back and admire the scenery – despite the visibly stifling heat, Georgia looked incredibly green and lush, (the proud display of the state’s logo in the end credits may have seemed strange following so much gore and chaos, but actually the show was a pretty good tourist advertisement for the state).

Considering all the blood and guts that were spilled, The Walking Dead was also surprisingly tender – as best exemplified by Rick returning to the torso (which hadn’t moved far since he left it) to put it out of its misery. The images of the severely decomposed and ravaged body that were released as publicity images were absolutely terrifying, but in motion it was more tragic than anything. Add in a surprisingly convincing performance from Andrew Lincoln as Rick, who was pretty much as far away from the happy-go-lucky characters that made his name in This Life and Teachers as it was possible to get and, despite its predictability, The Walking Dead turned out to be a very satisfying hour of telly. Hopefully Darabont will be able to use the time frame of the series to really broaden the scope and add something new to zombie cinema. As it is, I’m already tempted to say that it’s the best thing he’s ever done (although my opinion on this matter probably doesn’t count as I never really got Shawshank, and hated The Green Mile).

Anyway, that’s enough from me, now it’s over to you.