As Daryl and Glen found out in the shopping center, it's hard to care about an eye-patch wielding sociopath once you're caught in a literal hailstorm of zombies. Speaking of missed opportunities, the show's namesakes -The Walkers-are finally relevant again: After spending the second half of last season as tools for the Governor and his goon squad, the Zombies feel like the hair-raising threats they should be. It would have felt more on-point to explore their cooperation (or clashes) with Rick after living under the Governor's rule, but sadly that hasn't yet happened.
But now that we've gone through the obligatory whittling, hopefully the show can capitalize on the extended cast's potential. If The Walking Dead truly wants to shed its former skin, it needs to stop offing people twenty minutes after we learn their first names. (Besides, keeping a loved one in a state of un-death stopped being sentimental the moment Rick put a bullet between Sophia's eyes a season and a half ago.) Though at worst, these new survivors are zombie bait, keeping that revolving door of characters spinning as strong as ever. And sure, that delusional Irish woman still clinging to her zombified husband proved that Rick wasn't as bonkers as we suspected last season, but surely there could have been a more efficient way to show that. At best, they'll become catalysts for the developing core characters, as Tyreese experiences puppy love and Beth adopts a hardened approach to relationships. But that solid footing just feels a bit behind schedule now that we're suddenly faced with a bloated cast of new Woodbury refugees. Though everyone still bares the wounds that the past three seasons inflicted on them, they just no longer parade them with speeches as gratuitous as a baseball bat to a zombie's face.
The show finally feels like a funhouse mirror reflection of humanity actually dealing with a worst-case scenario, not flailing in it. Children still trade their ABCs for zombie taunting knife-wielding lessons while adults flirt to the moans of clawing zombies. The spinning wheels and longing glances in humanity's rearview of mirror have finally stopped for The Walking Dead-at least for now.īut this is still the zombie apocalypse. Carl, the series' resident whiner, no longer broods while popping humans in the head he reads comic books. Daryl and Carol end their longstanding flirtation and settle into a steady romance, pet name names and all. Rick, finally back from his extended sabbatical to a hallucinatory crazy town, opens the latest season gardening to country music twanging from his mp3 players. After three glacial seasons of simply surviving, Rick Grimes and company finally have begun to actually live.
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