The mother walking around looking blank and moving her lips made me wonder if she had previously played the crack addict in a Tyler Perry movie. Same basic performance and they did use some of his Atlanta studios.
I like the notion of a community of survivors instead of just the usual handful. Winnebagos would seem ideal as you could actually do the “round 'em in a circle” thing if you could somehow keep them gased. (Perhaps you could find a gas truck somewhere for the caravan.)
I wonder if the producers know about the abandoned Georgia Lunatic Asylum in Milledgeville. It would be a perfect setting as it already looks like a college campus after a zombie outbreak.
In the comics, roughly a whopping 70 issues later, Rick is back in their area again and decides to take a side trip to collect them if they’re still alive. The father is, but his son has been bitten and turned. The father has let himself become completely disheveled and shell shocked, and he’s keeping his zombie son in captivity, as he’s unable to kill him. Rick tells him that he knows what he needs to do, and gives him a gun. He walks inside, shoots, and leaves with Rick. It is then revealed that he merely shot the chain that was restraining his zombie boy, so instead of killing him he has set him free. So if the show lasts and roughly follows the story and timeline, I wouldn’t expect to see this until somewhere between season four and six.
There will likely be another black male character that we meet in the interim that will be a fan favorite. Unless they’ll make the two men an amalgamation - which wouldn’t be too easy.
For those complaining about the “melodrama” of the love triangle, without going into spoilers, I have to say that the resolution of that triangle is one of the cooler things I’ve seen in a comic in a while.
For those curious about where the series may go if it hews close to the comic, here’s a general overview I found of the comic’s storyline progression. Since the series has seemed to stay close to the comic so far, it’s fair to say that the site has spoilers for at least the rest of the first season.
Liked it for the storyline and production design; didn’t love it due to relative predictability of some of the plot elements. If one has seen previous zombie flicks, and post -Apoc flicks like The Road, a lot of this looks awfully familiar.
Also, most of the actors, including the lead, seem a bit too, well, Hollywood; so far at least.
Gotta admit as well, I’m not much for the splatter and gore. Yeah, I know, it’s hard to avoid as it’s all about FLESH EATING ZOMBIES, fer cryin’ out loud, but still.
OTOH, I personally didn’t find the pacing too slow; I like that the producers are taking the time to introduce us to the details of that world.
Thought the tank sequence was the best thing in the first ep. The cop waking up in the hospital was pretty good too.
Anybody know how long the main character was unconscious in the hospital? I kept trying to figure it out in the beginning, but none of my explanations made sense. His beard was short enough that it didn’t seem like it would be a long time, but everything looked like it had been a while since everything had started. His muscles were reasonably intact, so it couldn’t be that long, but the way that everything was falling apart (including a lot of buildings) implies a long time. And it seemed strange that the hospital would have gone through a siege that would have torn it apart like that without anyone bothering to come into his room.
Generally, I liked the show but, like others, I thought it seemed pretty familiar throughout.
This show did bring up a discussion with my wife and I on what we would do if the other turned into a zombie. It was quickly decided that neither of us would have a problem putting a bullet in the other’s head.
She just made me promise first that I was sure it was a zombie first.
Me: I’m sorry baby, I have to do this.
Her: It’s only a scratch I got from the table.
Me: We can’t risk it.
Her: You were there when it happened, we were in my room.
Me: Oh God, you’re already turning!
Her: There aren’t even zombies out, you jackass.
Do the survivors have to worry about blood spatter? I guess what I’m asking is, does the graphic novel address this? I noticed the sheriff was wearing a face shield during the Lousiville Slugger scene, but I wonder if it’ll be addressed later too?
I liked it more than I thought I would, but wouldn’t go so far as “I loved it.” I was struck by how much better I found it than the comics, and I think it’s down to atmosphere. Drawings just can’t do what they did with that trip through the hospital. Shiver So I like the cinematography, set design, and acting. It brings the story to a new level.
See, this is why I stopped reading the comic books with volume II. There’s the triangle, and then there’s another plot that annoyed me even more, in a similar way.
BUT, am I the only one who thought that the show implied she’s with the partner somewhat under duress? The show added that scene with the two deputies talking in the car, and it really made him seem like a misogynistic asshole. Then his interactions with the survivors had an undertone that they were intimidated, if not scared, by him.
I guess I’m trying to say, in the comics, he seemed like a good guy carrying a torch for his friend’s wife, who had a one-nighter with her under extreme circumstances, then simply has trouble coping with the zompocalypse. In the show, he seems to be more of an aggressive bully even during civilization, who may be taking advantage of the breakdown of society to throw his weight around and get what he wants.
Anyway, I think we’ll buy the season and keep up with it, if only for moments like the hospital and the tank (I was worried that would give me nightmares!). Even if I have to fast forward through the personal drama if it gets too soapy.
It’s never directly addressed. Later on they do find some riot helmets that have a similar face shield, but not much is made of it, and they’re constantly offing zombies with hatchets and other close-in tools. They also briefly rub zombie guts on themselves in an attempt to blend in, and no one turns or gets feverish. That was one of the details I really liked about 28 Days Later - one drop in your eye, and you’re toast.
So 28 DL and this both begin with a guy waking up from a coma to find the world has gone zombie while they were sleeping. Any idea which was written first?
Put me in as a “Like” – I thought it was very well done but had some pacing issues.
What I think it did very well was give empathy for the zombies. A good zombie movie makes you feel sorry for the dead as well as the living. The characters and audience are made to feel that these aren’t monsters, but victims that used to be friends, neighbors and family.
The scene with the dad trying to summon the strength to shoot his wife intercut with the deputy following the trail of the legless woman was executed perfectly. While the dad looked into the wife of the eyes of the woman he loved (big mistake putting her picture up next to the window from where he was shooting), the deputy knew nothing of the poor woman crawling through the park. The father couldn’t pull the trigger.
The deputy followed the poor half-woman clawing her way across the grass until he caught up with it, and then knelt down next to her. When it became aware of him, it reached out to him like someone begging for help, even though she was obviously looking for a meal. He looked her in her cloudy, decaying eyes and said, “I’m sorry this happened to you” before putting her out of her misery.
If the show can keep up this kind of emotional intensity instead of turning into Left 4 Dead*, it’ll be a winner.
*Left 4 Dead is a freakin’ awesome game and this comment was in no way meant to disparage it. It just wouldn’t make for a good TV series.
I kind of hope they do this only because I really like the actor (he was also in Jericho) and would like to see him become a regular.
Regarding the love triangle: I have a feeling that will take a bigger role in the show than it did in the comic. I expect it to be the engine that drives these first six episodes.
Regarding blood splatter: I am pretty sure the comic just worries about bites spreading the disease but it could also be scratches and I am just forgetting. I don’t recall anyone worrying about Zombie blood.
One little thing, well, two things, about the world a month after the zombie plague.
Sure, buildings would still be there, one could still siphon gas they found, get canned food, and so on. But when the deputy got back to his house after being gone all the lawns still looked like they’d been mowed. The park grass was still smooth. Shouldn’t it be shaggy by then?
And although the horse got messily eaten, it never voiced it’s distress. Show blood and guts, but no sound? If I was being pulled apart while alive I’d be screaming.
All in all though I liked the show very much. I hope they find a way to extend it past the six episode mini-series length.
This scene was ruined for me by my friend who was watching it with me. It got to the point that the black guy had a bead on his wife, and we could see her through the sight with her hair all disheveled, my friend shouted out “Look it’s Whitney Houston!” and we both fell over giggling. Too bad, I’m sure it was a powerfully emotional scene - of Whitney Houston nearly getting shot.
I’ll go on record as saying that I hope they go the “True Blood” route and NOT follow the comic book series too closely - perhaps cherry pick a few fan favorite bits, but go their own route. Stories have to be changed when they get adapted into different media. What looks visually interesting in a comic book isn’t always going to translate well into a live-action medium. And conversely, the production team shouldn’t be prevented from creating novel new ideas because “it didn’t happen that way in the comic!”
And all apologies to previous posters, but I don’t think I want to have to read thread after thread of fans of the comic gushing “Wait till THIS happens!” or “So-and-so is gonna get it soon!” or “The BIG MOMENT is coming up!” Or “this is how it happened in the comic book!”