"The Walking Dead" continuously surprises me. I used to think that any story in a zombie apocalypse could never be extended into a series because the monsters are one-dimensional. Boy was I wrong. The way in which Kirkman and his team of writers have developed this world for AMC is nothing short of genius. With the mid-season finale looming just a week away, season 3 has made me understand through subtlety so many things about a zombie apocalypse that truly make it an "end of the world" scenario. Here's my analysis of high points we have witnessed thus far and what they mean to me:
1) The introduction of Michonne and the Governor, Rick losing his mind, the psychopath Merle, and the sociopath in Carl (Rick's son). My analysis: If you are normal like you and me, you cannot survive the apocalypse. Only people who are insane survive the end of the world, because insanity is the only psychological trait that is capable of dealing with legions of the undead. If you live for any length of time...if you are not insane, you will become insane. You can't escape it.
2) The death of Lori in childbirth. This was more horrific than T-Dog's death, and it showed how far society has fallen. Women have not had to worry about death from childbirth for nearly a century. But throughout human history, it was a problem. Well with the episode that featured Lori's death, it's back and it's here to stay. Welcome to the stone ages again. The message to all women in the zombie apocalypse: getting pregnant just may be a death sentence.
3) The reanimation. In season one, the CDC showed us through sophisticated computer technology that the reanimation occurred shortly after death, and that nothing of the former person remained. Yet, we also saw in season one that Morgan's wife turned the knob to their door as if she remembered her home even though she was one of the walking dead. Then in last night's episode, a scientist was trying to discover if a newly reanimated zombie would remember either its name or recall a picture of his family. These kinds of questions, though unanswered to this point, seem to beg of a greater existential one: why is this happening and what exactly is a zombie? Is it a new form of life? Or is it truly an undead creation with no memory of its past life? I also think it may have to do with religion. More appropriately...do humans have souls? And if they do and something is left behind, then what does that say about an afterlife? Maybe it says there is no afterlife at all for any of us and that a person's soul could remain earthbound in a rotting corpse forever.
It's been a fascinating series. I'll be sorry to see it go on hiatus for a few weeks until it starts up again in either January or February 2013.
In other news, did you purchase your PowerBall ticket? I happened to be in Idaho over Thanksgiving weekend and since they (unlike Utah) sell PowerBall, I bought a ticket. Biggest jackpot ever. May the best ticket win. Boy, would $425 million be a real life changer or what!
Have a great Monday.
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| In "When The Dead Come Knocking", Michonne finally meets Rick because she walks up to the chain link gate carrying baby formula in a shopping basket in the midst of a herd of zombies who can't see her because she is dressed in zombie blood and gore. It's a chilling scene to see a woman so calmly approach the gate and to be so comfortable around the reanimated dead. Verdict: Michonne may be the most insane person the zombie apocalypse has ever produced and thus, the most suited to survive. |
2) The death of Lori in childbirth. This was more horrific than T-Dog's death, and it showed how far society has fallen. Women have not had to worry about death from childbirth for nearly a century. But throughout human history, it was a problem. Well with the episode that featured Lori's death, it's back and it's here to stay. Welcome to the stone ages again. The message to all women in the zombie apocalypse: getting pregnant just may be a death sentence.
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| In season one, this group didn't handle zombies well at all. There was lots of panicking, screaming, and running. Now they don't even kill zombies if the zombies are moving too slow. They don't even bother. They're treated with the same indifference as a fly buzzing around. The ability to see such things as merely a part of the scenery is disturbing because it's like they no longer care or are shocked by anything. |
It's been a fascinating series. I'll be sorry to see it go on hiatus for a few weeks until it starts up again in either January or February 2013.
In other news, did you purchase your PowerBall ticket? I happened to be in Idaho over Thanksgiving weekend and since they (unlike Utah) sell PowerBall, I bought a ticket. Biggest jackpot ever. May the best ticket win. Boy, would $425 million be a real life changer or what!
Have a great Monday.
Well, I've always thought the very idea of a soul was rather silly, but I know I'm in the minority. I haven't been able to watch any of season 3 yet, but I look forward to it.
ReplyDeleteGreat analysis though I think simply saying that survivors have to be insane is too dismissive and general. We're all a little crazy after all. You either find that something inside you or you don't. Insanity doesn't give you an edge necessarily. You could be a schizophrenic with no sense of survival and be killed as easily as Andrea's sister.
ReplyDeletePregnancy, while modern science has even the odds, has always been a horrific danger for women. The fetus is essentially a parasite that rips its way out of our bodies. On a side note I think it was unbelievably selfish of Lori to not take that pill. She has placed a burden on that group that will almost assuredly get more of them killed.
I must admit that I do not care for the "are zombies still human" tact. I don't want to think, I don't want reason, I just want brain eating monsters and I sincerely hope that they quit with this line. The human conflicts are far more interesting. And Milton needs to go. I wanted that zombie to kill him before Andrea could stop it.
And yes, 425 million would be an amazing life changer. LOL
Between you and Melissa, I never need to watch the show! (Though I will at some point on NetFlix.)
ReplyDeleteAbout a month ago I watched a Walking Dead marathon and was able to see several shows. I thought it was very good. I also watched part of it last night, but I still feel I've missed a lot. I can see why it's so popular.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the show - I would think the plot would be limited too.
ReplyDelete$425 million? Wow. I think I'd get me a house with bigger closets and someone to clean, set some aside for the kids, then do something charitable with the rest. But I didn't buy a ticket, so whatever.
That saves me from having to waste time watching the show. I just don't find zombies that interesting.
ReplyDeleteIf you do win that PowerBall there will probably be like 500 other winners you'll have to share with.
Yes, I think insanity would help the cause of surviving a zombie apocalypse. Wow, that would rock your reality.
ReplyDeleteAnd you aren't going to win $425 million dollars, because I already bought the winning ticket. :P
I haven't seen the show - don't like zombies - but your analysis is making me rethink my decision. Maybe it's worth a try on Netflix.
ReplyDeleteI think having an insane streak would definitely help during a zombie apocalypse. And you're right, if you're not messed up before, if you're a survivor, the post trauma will definitely make you mad.
ReplyDeleteBut the human brain is capable of incredible adaptation. You'd be just insane enough to survive the zombies.
Sorry, but I'm not into zombies. Maybe we chubby people worry we can't outrun the walking dead and are too likely to end up on the menu.
ReplyDeleteI skipped most of what you said just in case I get around to watching the show some day.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as far as women dying during childbirth goes, there was just that deal in Ireland where they wouldn't give the woman an abortion, and she dies from a miscarriage.
I have been completely riveted by Walking Dead and I agree, only the insane or those prepared to accept insanity will survive. I realized that in another show- a BBC production called Survivors (they didn't complete the series but the first series was quite good). The world will be a pretty dismal place when global warming takes it's full toll- and yes, pregnant women and the mentally soft will not survive. People like Newt Gingrich and Dick Cheney will eat them ALIVE.
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those viewers who can take or leave the series, but I've found it quite interesting lately. I do look away when they chop up zombies, though, because it still feels like human-on-human violence to me, and I feel depressed after watching the show if I see a lot of that.
ReplyDeleteDamn. Had to skip this whole thing. Still 2 episodes behind.
ReplyDeleteOooo... my fingers are crossed for you, Michael! I wouldn't mind you winning $425 mill---too bad the jackpot isn't something people vote for. You'd have my vote! ;-)
ReplyDeletei only skimmed this post because we're behind an episode, but yeah, season 3 is a huge step up from season 2. I still have issues now and then, but they're not huge issues and most of them i can put aside because the season has been so good.
ReplyDeleteMan, I'll be so happy when GOT starts back up so we can put zombies in a dark black box, deadbolt it shut and nail it to the bottom of the ocean or maybe drop kick the whole mess into a volcano, or something.
ReplyDelete:P
Didn't buy a PowerBall ticket for obvious reasons. But, it would be so awesome if you won! :D
One of these days I'm going to sit down and write an analysis of my favorite shows. I'll use your posts as a template.
ReplyDeleteGood luck. I hope you win the lottery.
My husband and son haven't watched the last episode yet. I know it's supposed to be good, but zombies freak me out, man. (When they watch it, I hide in the kitchen.)
ReplyDeleteMy sister is really trying to get me to watch this show. I just am not a zombie person. I suppose we all must have flaws. Ha!
ReplyDeleteI don't know why, but I cannot take zombies seriously. They always made me giggle.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why, but I cannot take zombies seriously. They always made me giggle.
ReplyDeleteI hate those mid-season breaks. OTOH, season 3 of Downton Abbey's due to start in January, I think, and it airs on PBS Sunday nights, so I guess I should be grateful I don't have to choose. (Zombies or Edwardian era Brits? Decisions, decisions...)
ReplyDeleteAlso - I hope against hope that whatever takes the governor down will do irreparable, shredding-like damage to his general crotch-vicinity and that he'll live long enough to feel the full horror of what's happened to him. (She said daintily.)
ALSO - I'm super worried about Michonne after seeing that preview on "The Talking Dead."
Some Dark Romantic
I'm really impressed with the way some TV shows are giving some serious depth and thought to their storylines and characters and how they're not afraid to go very dark.
ReplyDeleteAs for women dying in childbirth -- sorry, Michael, but I've known a few obstetric nurses who can talk about healthy young women who've done everything right, received prenatal care, show up at the hospital with husbands in tow, deliver their babies, and die right afterwards or within a few days. Though maternal mortality has plummeted drastically in this country, it still happens. Childbirth is not for wusses.
Good luck to you in the Powerball drawing. And to me.
I need to start watching this show! Everyone's talking about it.
ReplyDeletewww.modernworld4.blogspot.com
The Walking Dead is a series I hope to watch one of these days. :)
ReplyDeleteYou absolutely kill me with these reviews that make me regret not watching more TV. Yeah. I need to go buy a lottery ticket. :)
ReplyDeleteI can't read this post until after December 2. I'll be catching up on the episodes then. :)
ReplyDeleteI love zombie anything, so I'm definitely going to get around to watching this series.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that part with Morgan's wife and the doorknob in the first season really disturbed me.
ReplyDeleteI think the third season's been pretty great so far. Even if I am such a chicken that I've had to watch a lot of with my eyes closed...
We discuss it every Monday morning at work. At first I didn't like the new group with The Governor, but they're growing me now as the two groups are finally crossing paths. Glenn is my new hero. He has really developed as a character and has become quite the bad-ass. I'm so upset about the hiatus because you know there's going to be a huge cliffhanger next week!
ReplyDeleteI would check out the series, but then I wouldn't sleep for a week. I'd ask if that's L.L. Cool J in that picture, but then you'd think I have the hots for him. ;)
ReplyDeleteEven though I wasn't fond of her, Lori's death shook me, terribly. Every time I see Carl, I cry. I cry for the child he is now, and the one he'll never get the chance to be.
ReplyDeleteThis season has definitely taken a turn for wild!
Finally caught up. So. Friggin. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteWe also must not forget the little girl with the teddy bear in the very first episode.
ReplyDeleteWhat am I going to do during the hiatus? TT-TT What am I going to obsess over every week instead? Not like I have a novel to write or anything...
Oh, and Michael, I'm not this close to catching up on all your blog posts. I just started November. I saw this post though and had to come read it. Obsession, like I said. ;)