WARNING: This review contains spoilers.
The Walking Dead premiered its fourth season, and there are a lot of changes. The show has a new showrunner (third one in four years) in Scott Gimple, and he has brought the show a bunch of new characters. The prison is now populated with the folks from Woodbury and strays that the Ricktatorship has taken in, and there has been a time jump (at least 30 days, likely longer, since the "Prison-ers" (I'll use this term to affectionately refer to Rick's peops) are now gardening, hunting, and gathering.
Rick seems to be sane again. And he's compensating heavily for his past
paranoia of strangers. You know, since he discovered that his mistrust of folks has likely contributed to his son becoming a sociopath. So he's much more trusting now than he was last season. Maybe too trusting. While he's out checking traps, he comes across a very dirty Irish woman (Kerry Condon), who claims she's looking for food for her husband. You know something's not quite right, and by the time Rick follows her back to her camp, you know that the reason he was asked to join them for dinner is that ... well, he's the dinner. Apparently, Mr. Crazy Creepy Woman's Husband is zombified, and wiggling under a burlap sheet. Mrs. Crazy Creepy Woman tries to stab Rick, then decides that she wants to join her undead husband. So she kills herself. Kind of a bummer, I was hoping Kerry Condon was going to join the cast.
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| Where the boy, Rick? |
And there's a new character named Bob The Medic (Larry Dilliard, of D'Angelo Barksdale fame from The Wire). He's going along on a supply run, with Darryl, Glen, Sasha, Michonne, and a guy named Zack, who is the new boyfriend of Beth and totally unknown to the audience. Beth, for veteran viewers, is the mute daughter of Herschel that has learned to talk in the off-season. Miracles can and do happen in this post-apocalyptic world.
While on the supply run, the team runs into zombies falling through the ceiling at the local Wal-Mart. I don't know how they begin to fall through the ceiling (maybe roofs at Wal-Mart require regular maintenance, I dunno), but it makes for some good B-movie horror scenes. Anybody want to guess who's going to end up as Zombie Chow? That's right, the Zack kid that's sweet on Beth (who, once again for veteran viewers, is Herschel's daughter). When Darryl tells Beth (its OK if you didn't remember her name, I didn't either) that Zack is dead, she's indifferent. Apparently, Beth has learned not to get too emotionally invested in folks she meets, and that everybody's doomed in this world. And she asks how Darryl is doing with Zack's passing, which is a nice touch.
Speaking of Darryl 'M-F-ing' Dixon, he's a celebrity in the prison community. Everyone speaks to him as he comes to dinner, and one of the younger boys has a man-crush on Big D. Also, there's a hint of a Darryl/Carol (hey, that rhymes!) relationship, but we'll have to see how that story develops.
Also, Rick has undeclared martial law, stepped down as Ricktator, and a Council (made up of the original Prison-ers) runs the show. Herschel even has to ask Rick to carry a gun whenever he leaves the prison. I don't know if Herschel's worried about the zombies or the Governor getting to Rick, but that's a serious change from last season's Rickster.
The cliffhanger of the week is that Patrick, the kid with the man-crush on Big D, has died and undied from a mysterious disease. And one of the pigs (yes, the survivors now have pigs, so its BLT time!) has died as well.
The Walking Dead is back, and its new and improved. This hour of TV was good, quality drama, and I hope the show continues with deeper character development. The new characters were the life the show needed. I can't wait to see where our new showrunner and the writers take us.
Random Thoughts:
- Did Darryl pass along the virus to the young kid when he ate the pig, licked his hand, then shook hands with the kid? Curious to see where that storyline is going.
- Patrick (the kid who died) was cooking for everyone. I hope whatever killed him isn't in the food source.
- I like Carol's "storytime."
- Why was there a gun buried in the prison yard? That was odd.
- Has everyone but Rick had a bath? Maybe that's why Mrs. Crazy Creepy Woman approached him, he was as dirty as she was.
What did you think?
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