I can enjoy a slow build up but this had several problems:
Being a prequel, essentially, we already know where it’s going which makes things tougher for the audience.
The build needs to be engaging and this struggled with that.
I liked it enough to keep watching though.
Seemed more like an homage to me. The “empty church” scene was also reminiscent of 28 Days Later.
Well, maybe. “Homage” seems generous to me, but then sometimes it’s good to err on the side of generosity.
It was still stilling by the car - when the junkie came back with his mom and step dad. They showed the ground where Cal died. The gun was there - he was not.
Not if they wear dentures!
Funny, I thought Frank Dillane (Nick Clark a.k.a. Junkie Kid) was great and was a highlight for me.
Overall, I liked it. I felt that they perhaps they stretched out the opening a bit too long. Especially since they do know that the audience knows where this is going. I would have liked to have seen the opening episode to be about 45 minutes a prelude to the beginning of the end, and 45 minutes of the start of the beginning of the end (which it appears the next episode will be). I felt near the end of the episode that it was like “Yes, I get it let’s get on with it.”
Meh. 28 Days Later was chock full of references to earlier apocalyptic films and books.
I believe that the actor did well, too, despite resembling Keneau Reeves.
I have having trouble parsing the rest of you post, however. 
Uhh… yeah, that’s pretty badly written.
Replace “beginning of the end” with “zombie apocalypse”.
It seemed to me that this entire episode was a prelude to the zombie apocalypse. I would have preferred 45 minutes as a prelude to the zombie apocalypse and then 45 minutes of the zombie apocalypse itself.
Hopefully that makes more sense.
90 minute episode total. BeepKillBeep wanted the first 45 minutes to be the “prelude to the end,” i.e. bad shit starting to happen but people not really aware of it. Then the second 45 minutes would be the “start of the beginning of the end,” i.e. people start to notice all the bad shit.
ETA: oh well, BeepKillBeep already explained it.
Gold star for TroutMan!
This reminds me that one of the earliest deaths in TWD – Andrea’s sister Amy back in season 1 – happened at night but she didn’t turn until morning, with Andrea holding her in her arms all night long waiting for her to turn.
Also, “first you have the flu” is exactly how it went for people who got bit in the first season. That stopped happening because they stopped letting bitten people live.
Plodding pace, bad writing, bad acting… yeah, this is on par for a Walking Dead spinoff.
And zombies fiction doesn’t exist in the TWD universe so nobody has a clue what exactly they’re dealing with.
I’m picturing the hospital putting all the “the infected patients” in restraints and trying to warehouse them somewhere while frantically seeking guidance from the CDC, which won’t give them a straight answer. Isn’t that what happened in The Oath?
I agree the idea of a government cover-up lasting more than a few days is harder to believe than dead bodies reanimating. Maybe the Chinese could pull this off, but even that it wouldn’t be long before hospitals became non functional because of staff calling off (though the local authorities could force workers to remain at there post at gunpoint).
He was painting a mural as part of his senior project. Presumably the administration vetted his design, which is why he was so eager to graffiti it with what he really wanted.
Well, I guess we know now what’s eating Gilbert Grape.
Sure enough, they killed the black dude first.
And then killed him again.
And then again.
And he was still twitchin’!
In other news, that scene with the daughter and her artsy boyfriend: did anyone ELSE get the vibe that HE was doing his best to act, whereas daughter was doing her best to broadcast, “I have neither energy nor enthusiasm for this scene, and would rather be doing a Clairol commercial?” I wasn’t wildly impressed with whiny junkie, but his sister made him look like Olivier.
I think you’re misremembering. Andrea’s sister didn’t turn right away, but there was no “it seems as though she has the flu” dialogue (or visuals).
Who, in season one, seemed to “have the flu” before turning?
Though I believe you’re wrong about the “have the flu” claim, it’s true that the show has never been completely consistent with ‘turning,’ whether the character had been bitten or not. Certainly Shane, in season two, changed pretty much instantly after having been shot. Some characters who were bitten, changed immediately (or close to that); others lived for quite a while, unchanged. I suppose the rule was ‘whatever makes for a more wrenching or exciting development’…there has never seemed to be much of a rulebook.
Yes, thanks.
That was pretty much it, although they spent time establishing various relationships.
I heard the Walking Dead theme when I went into my pharmacy a year ago. “Somebody is watching the Walking Dead” I remarked. A young woman assistant had turned the Grumpy Pharmacist[sub]1[/sub] onto it. We discuss it when I buy drugs.
[sup]1[/sup] When he complained to Mrs. Plant (v.3.0) about refilling my blood pressure medicine, she remarked, “What am I going to do, let him die? His shit isn’t paid for yet.”
One imagines that they will figure it out rather quickly.
I think the rules have been pretty consistent, with the exception of Amy. If you get bitten, you will eventually die of the flu/fever if something else doesn’t kill you first. You will turn no matter how you die (except for a head shot). And when you die, you will turn fairly quickly. I think that’s been pretty consistent through all seasons.
In the first season, Amy, Jim, and Carol’s husband were bitten in the attack on the camp. Carol’s husband and Amy died quickly from blood loss. Jim had a bite on his stomach but no other significant injuries, and it took him a few days to (presumably) die from the fever. The CDC guy’s wife also took a while to die from the fever (you see it in his videos of her brain).
Amy did take a long time after death to turn. I’ve seen fan-wanks that she wasn’t really dead yet, or that it depends on physiology and adrenaline levels (Amy was calm so it took her longer). You might be right that this one was for dramatic effect, but I don’t think that’s true in general.