AMC zombie series from Frank 'Majestic' Darabont - The Walking Dead

I figured it was a "Mad Max" rip. The zombies were banging at the door and he panicked. "The chain in those handcuffs is high-tensile steel. It'd take you ten minutes to hack through it with this. Now, if you're lucky, you could hack through your ankle in five minutes." Etc.

Anyway, I'll watch this show, but this was my least favorite episode. The redneck color is grating on me a lot -Atlanta's not exactly hillbilly country, so I hope they diversify a bit - and when I mentioned the rampant sexism to my wife her reply was "good, I thought it was just me - is this show set in the '40s or something?" This is the first ep that at least alludes to the "woman, get me a beer" vibe, what with Laurie Holden's college educated character and all, and I know the comic quickly evolves into a more equitable division of labor situation, but still.

crucial to remember the areas around Atlanta, but yeah, it's still got a hillbilly vibe.

the show is hardly great television, but it works well enough that I'm happy to run with it, especially as there's not much else on at the moment.

I think there is plenty of hillbillies in some parts around Atlanta... it's just that I'm accustomed to not living in those parts and the main metro areas aren't redneck at all. However, I remember being at I-Hop in the past year and overhearing some older ladies talking about how one of them got physically abused by her husband - I guess it happens

are* plenty

feel like i should be loving this show, but i'm barely even liking it. i think i'm done with TWD. first episode was underwhelming, and the deviations from the cast and plot of the graphic novel aren't adding up to something strong enough in its own right to sustain my interest. pacing in the third episode was incredibly indulgent for a season with a six-episode run; wall to wall on-the-nose dialog was even less forgivable. okay, i'll admit that i was happy when Norman Reedus showed up. but his character (and his brother's) can hardly be considered inspired additions to Kirkman's stock ensemble.

when do we get to the prison? do we ever?

isn't it pretty plausible that in the zombie apocalypse people have been migrating around, grouping together with people from different areas? and maybe that more of the survivors are from the rural areas than the big cities? (xpost)

good point. and rural folk have guns

much more plausible that kirkman and kirkman-ite writing team just paint with broad brushes

that too. but all the OH JEEZ ATLANTA IS NOT REDNECKY stuff is a little weird to argue about.

tru

the "redneck"/"hillbilly" stuff, period, is a little weird tbh

one thing's for sure, they barely had to change Atlanta at all for the show!

This was the first episode I ff'd through part of -- there was SO MUCH "people conversing intensely at the camp" I couldn't take it all in.

Think they did the family reunion too early on, sets up a lot of crappy melodrama and muddles the main character's motivation. Best part was them slaughtering the lone zombie.

Agree that finding the wife and kid came way too quickly, but they only have 6 episodes so the pacing is bound to be a little off. They introduced all those characters from the department store in the 2nd ep because they wanted to establish a cast as soon as possible. Apparently the pacing will be a lot different in the second season.

show's got a good atmosphere and sense of place. when they're in the camp, in a tent, at the quarry, etc., it feels like it. i guess i'm comparing it to something like LOST where everything felt phony.

Think they did the family reunion too early on, sets up a lot of crappy melodrama and muddles the main character's motivation. Best part was them slaughtering the lone zombie.

― reckon you should stfu (bnw), Wednesday, November 17, 2010 2:01 AM (42 minutes ago) Bookmark

Yeah, for some reason when the series began I thought 'guy looking for his wife and kid' would be like this never-ending quest, like looking for the one-armed man. Whatever, I'm on board with wherever they're going.

I've got no problem with the rednecks and hillbillies. I'm just a bit bugged that so far it's (more or less) only rednecks and hillbillies, or at least the rednecks and hillbillies are in charge in the most broad "I'm gonna teach y'all how to catch frogs and eat squirrel" way. I'd reckon that more than just the working class folks in and around Atlanta have and know how to use guns, so I'm not sure that's it. I do seem to recall that this batch of survivors is more from the sticks and went to Atlanta in search of help. Why they're still camped out a mile or two from downtown is another matter, but I assume they'll be moving soon enough.

Anyway, I was impressed by how little class had to do with the comic, as if everyone knew that this far along there was no point in snobbery, racism, etc. It didn't feel right that only three episodes into a six ep arc I was all "get on with it!" but then, reading 70+ issues of the comic in more or less one swoop probably spoiled me.

Oh, and I don't think we have to worry too much about Shane as villain, because somewhere out there is a pissed off, one-handed, coke-sniffing, er, racist redneck. Because the one-hand thing makes him more subtle, you see? Eventually I hope he gets an eye-patch, too.

(Come to think of it, it's Holden's college edumacated woman that didn't know how to take the safety off the handgun, so maybe they taught the shootin' right out of her at that fancy school of hers!)

the atlanta stuff upthread is kinda stupid, isn't it made explicitly clear in episode 1 that there was supposed to be a refugee centre or some sort of refuge in atlanta, people could have come from anywhere...

an episode ago ricks wife was taking it deep in the woods from shane, now she doesn't want to talk to him or want him around?

also are we gonna get an explanation on how this zombie apocalypse came to be?

did you guys WANT a suspense-filled season finale with the guy finding his family at the end of the episode, cue orchestral score? it was totally a good thing that they got it out of the way early and without too much ado.

Don't y'all see, though? Rick's wife is female and therefore weak, and needed a man ASAP not just to care for her and her kid in the zombie apocalypse but to give her a little action. I mean, what, it'd been a couple of weeks, right? And he did say her husband was dead and all. Plus, the prospect of everyone you know being torn apart and eaten is a little sexy, isn't it? /sarcasm

The chronology of this show is still pretty vague. I assume a few days at least pass between eps. When Rick wakes up in the hospital obviously it'd only been a few days with him unattended (otherwise he would have died of dehydration), and perhaps up to a week or so since the zombies first appeared. But how long has it been since he woke up? Weeks? At least in the comic you could gauge by length of beard, but these dudes are staying pretty trimmed and tidy so far.

Having lived in urban Atlanta for about 25 years, lemme just say that you don't have to go too far to find guys like Merle.

also are we gonna get an explanation on how this zombie apocalypse came to be?

― Mark Chmuras Hot Tub Crime Machine (chrisv2010), Wednesday, November 17, 2010 9:23 AM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark

Probably not. You never do in the comic.

an episode ago ricks wife was taking it deep in the woods from shane, now she doesn't want to talk to him or want him around?

Dude, he told her that her husband was 100% absolutely dead when he was in a position to know he wasn't.

I assume a few days at least pass between eps.

????? Second and third eps clearly take place on consecutive days. Glenn hauls ass out of downtown Atlanta in the muscle car at the end of episode 2, shows up at camp in it at beginning of episode 3. Rick shows up, reunites with family, the next morning he decides to go back into town and rescue Merle.

When Rick wakes up in the hospital obviously it'd only been a few days with him unattended (otherwise he would have died of dehydration), and perhaps up to a week or so since the zombies first appeared

Clearly a lot longer than that. When he takes Morgan and his kid to the police station to take a hot shower in the first episode, Morgan says the gas lines have been out everywhere for more than a month. Presumably the hospital was relatively secure for some time after the initial outbreak -- they had the time and security to lock a bunch of zombies in the cafeteria and paint a warning on the door -- and was eventually just overrun, at which point Rick was no longer actively being taken care of.

I mean I suppose maybe the show isn't making this stuff clear enough, but I'm not that bright and I can suss it out.

Actually, from the time Rick rides into downtown Atlanta on the horse at the end of the pilot, and hides in the tank, the total amount of time that has passed over 2.5 episodes is obviously two (2) days.

ah thats right phil, that skipped my mind that he told her that.

i've been watching this and have been enjoying it for the most part, but i really wish they had used this "oops i thought you were dead so i started fucking this other guy" thing as an opportunity to make the story more, i dunno, garishly sexy/pagan/who the fuck cares about monogamy in the zombie apocalypse THAN using it as an opportunity for a female character to feel bad/get shamed.

more real batshit crazy, less moralizing pls!

I'm sorry that your sick polygamist lifestyle isn't reflected in the show. Maybe you should be watching Caligula instead.

whoa hold on there -- we're talking about a tv show about zombies
i don't expect realism

did you guys WANT a suspense-filled season finale with the guy finding his family at the end of the episode, cue orchestral score? it was totally a good thing that they got it out of the way early and without too much ado.

― some dude, Wednesday, November 17, 2010 8:31 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

whereas a season finale of "omg he knows his wife slept with his best friend now!" is so much more appealing.

i want everyone to be more disgusting, not just one guy, the woman who slept with him, and the rednecks

Having lived in urban Atlanta America for about 35 years, lemme just say that you don't have to go too far to find guys like Merle.

OK so maybe this is all super obvious to all you observational geniuses, but just how long was Rick in the hospital unattended? Like I said, could not have been too long - he'd have died of dehydration. So he was (inexplicably?) in the hospital for a month, more or less unconscious? Or at least so totally out of it the last thing he remembers is Shane bringing him flowers? Which we can presume happened before the outbreak? This is all minor stuff, and inessential to the story, but still sort of sloppy. Esp. given that much of the suspense is (or will be, or should be) driven by running out of food and ammo, that sort of thing, which are both linked to a firm timeline. It takes a lot of cans of beans to feed, what, over a dozen people? Just sayin'. This isn't nit-picking, either. It's a show about survival, but right now it seems like, I dunno, "Red Dawn" or something. "Red Dawn of the Dead?" Shouldn't matter, but we're already halfway through this initial run.

"WOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLVERRRRRRRRRRZOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMBBBBBBBBIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEESSSSSS!!!!!!!!

Red Dawn rules bro

AVENGE MEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

one of swayze's best roles.

I love the scene where he screams at everyone not to cry

Red Dawn of the Dead needs to be a video game

Everything this show does is clumsy, it's more like a bad SyFy series than any of the good cable dramas we've gotten used.

still liking this, but hoping theres more subtlety to shanes character than what is sitting there on the surface - i can certainly see dude making the decision to say "yer husband is totes dead" if he watched the hospital overrun knowing dude was in a coma. in fact it would be kinda cruel not to do so, right? false hopes and all of that. as for the boning, well, crisis makes for strange emotional decisions in the interest of comfort so eh i dont see it as a damning moral error or anything

Don't y'all see, though? Rick's wife is female and therefore weak, and needed a man ASAP not just to care for her and her kid in the zombie apocalypse but to give her a little action. I mean, what, it'd been a couple of weeks, right? And he did say her husband was dead and all. Plus, the prospect of everyone you know being torn apart and eaten is a little sexy, isn't it? /sarcasm

this interpretation is more sexist than anything on the show. maybe she was having an affair, and if she did want a little action why would that be weak? people having an affair or being sexually promiscuous is hardly an indictment of their character or a gender specific issue.

seriously can't stand when people overstate their "liberal" case and end up sounding worse than whatever they're criticising.

still liking this, but hoping theres more subtlety to shanes character than what is sitting there on the surface - i can certainly see dude making the decision to say "yer husband is totes dead" if he watched the hospital overrun knowing dude was in a coma. in fact it would be kinda cruel not to do so, right? false hopes and all of that. as for the boning, well, crisis makes for strange emotional decisions in the interest of comfort so eh i dont see it as a damning moral error or anything

― O_o-O_0-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, November 17, 2010 11:29 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

Yeah, I can think of a lot of justifiable reasons for telling someone their husband is dead in the middle of a zombie crisis, so there's plenty of room for nuance there if they want to go that route. As for how long Rick was left unattended in the hospital, common sense provides you with an answer - how long can you survive without water? A week to ten days, at most? ~*~*well there you go*~*~

I agree, Local Garda.

Who am I to judge whether having sex in the woods while zombies run amuck is a good idea or not? I'm just a big liberal sexist.

Seriously, though, in any other horror film or show or whatever, doing so would be grounds for instant death, mostly for being stupid but also for waving the big red flag of horror movie morality. (In this case, if it keeps to the comic, it's also a set up for an obvious major plot development). And anyway, it'd be one thing if this were a one-off sort of thing, but this thread has already pointed out this show's dubious view of gender equality, perhaps disguised as "characterization," but perhaps not, given its consistency. Frankly, we don't know enough about any of these people to judge fairly, and they did hint that Rick and his wife (what is her name?) did not have the best marriage. I can't remember, but I think TV Shane has already lasted longer than comic book Shane, so who knows what is going on.

just how long was Rick in the hospital unattended? Like I said, could not have been too long - he'd have died of dehydration.
He had an IV in so maybe the RNs hung a coupla bags of normal saline, set the drip rate to run over a few days.

I think that could be it. IV to the rescue (though beard gauge says it's been about a week).

And by way, my earlier "interpretation" of the wife in the woods was no such thing, hence the "sarcasm" tag. Just taken in context with the rest of the show it portrays the wife as submissive and not necessarily strong, but again that's largely due to lazy stereotypes and lack of development thus far.

Just taken in context with the rest of the show it portrays the wife as submissive and not necessarily strong, but again that's largely due to lazy stereotypes and lack of development thus far.
Seriously, this is otm. Also Rick has this obvious macho thing going on and that kid is always like DADDY and you cannot tell me that they are doing anything out of the ordinary wrt gender stereotypes here

i'm not saying it's offensive, it's just boring

the kid = Carl, which is a hilarious name for a kid and the only thing i consistently lol at during this show

yeah who the hell names anyone Carl.