Welcome to the 1000th blog of themusicaddict blog.
Last Sunday was Season 2, Episode 3 of "The Walking Dead". This episode was "Save The Last One". It certainly is better than the previous episode, but still not great. This show has grounded to a screeching halt. I find myself starting to not care about the characters. One by one the characters are losing their likability. Starting with Deputy Rick Grimes let's evaluate why I'm losing interest in each character and as a result the show itself. Rick is really starting to wear on me. His accent is horrendous. Like the rest of the show he's seems to be more focused on talking than doing. I know that he's given a lot of blood to his son, Carl. But can't he start planning for the future? Anything else besides this boring introspection.
Then his lovely (not) wife Lori Grimes, who's played by Sarah Wayne Cailles, is very annoying. I can't tell if she's a terrible actress? Or is that she's such a great actress and her job is to play Lori as a whiny, one dimensional character. I'm leaning towards she's just a bad actress. (She reminds me of the equally terrible bad actress in "The Killing", Michelle Forbes.) All the whining and complaining has got to end. Her whole speech Sunday night about whether it's best to be alive or not? Yawn. That scene represents the increasing mediocrity of this show. Why do these characters have to over talk everything? Also the more they whine and jabber the less I'm interested in them and the less I'm interested in the show.
Next up is Shane, he was starting to grow on me. That is until Sunday night when he shot Otis and left him behind. Now his excuse, if found out, was he was doing it to save Carl's life. Let's be honest though Shane's actions were all about saving Shane. The military believes in no man left behind. Well Shane seems to believe in Shane not being left behind. Otis's carcass should have sated quite a few zombies. Don't even start me on how the character of Rick took off his shirt, obviously meant for the ladies. This episode had some good moments. I enjoyed that Rick was handed Otis' clothes for after his shower. In "The Walking Dead" comic books Shane is killed off pretty quickly. Why was he kept around in the show?
Side note: The world is dead but the house has electricity and hot water still? Why is it that I never hear a generator? I mean didn't the producers think that out? Or did they think we just wouldn't care or notice? The showers at the CDC were explained, but Rick being able to take a shower never is. It's these inconsistencies in story telling that drives me crazy. What's with the zombies now moving at a half-run? I don't remember them being that fast last season. What are the zombies eating if no one is going near the school? The wildlife is only going to last so long. If the zombies aren't eating shouldn't they be getting weaker? Another random question, why didn't Rick and Otis bring more bullets to the school? Weren't either one Boy Scouts? Aren't they survivors of the Zombie Apocalypse and haven't they learned you can't ever have too much ammo?
I read that this past Sunday's episode is the last with Frank Darabont as show runner. Are these less than exciting past couple of episodes the reason why he's no longer the show runner? Will Glenn Mazarra do better as show runner? Let's hope so and that Season 2's last 10 episodes will be better. Glenn please drop the long, boring speeches and focus more on action. It's "The Walking Dead", not "The Walking Bored".
My favorite character is everyone else's favorite character, Daryl Dixon. He's having the time of his life and feels right at home in the zombie apocalypse. He's the only one who brings humor to this show. He would be the perfect cover for ZQ, you know Zombie Quarterly. Daryl gives no long winded speeches. He just kicks zombie ass as he's a man of action. This show desperately needs to take on his persona more. I keep on hoping Woody Harrelson's character from "Zombieland" shows up wanting a twinkie. This show desperately needs more of a sense-of-humor.
I also like the character Glenn, his inventiveness and his ability to get in and out of various buildings. He's clever and resourceful. Although it feels like the show doesn't know what to do with him. What was with him being caught praying? He acted like he felt ashamed, why? This show seems to have an uncomfortable relationship with religion. I can't tell if the producers behind this show are religious or hate religion. The show seems confused about what it's stance is on religion. It's important because the show talks a lot about religion. I thought the zombies were pretty much mindless, so why were they communing in a church? Is that suppose to be symbolic of church goers?
The lameness of T-Dog is driving me crazy. Isn't he about to be zombie food? Please. T-Dog had so much potential. His whole paranoid rant when he was hanging out with Dale on the highway was one of the many boring scenes in episode 2. Can we just change his name to T bone and he can become zombie food? Joining him as potential zombie food is another lame character, Dale Horvath. Is he suppose to be playing the wise old philosopher? If he is, he's doing a terrible job. He whines more than dispenses wisdom. He also seems to be the most codependent character on the show. One reason I hate Horvath is because he talked Andrea out of killing herself at the CDC. Why does he still care about her? Metaphorically she's the willful daughter to his out of touch father. What is her purpose on the show anyways? To drive down the ratings? This is a critique of the character not the actress. You can't blame the actress for the crap she's given. The three characters who've survived the zombie apocalypse, sure are wimpy. I just want to slap all 3 of them.
It's been alluded to that Hershel is going to be sending Rick and his fellow survivors from the farm. I like that because the action has suffered mightily ever sense they found Hershel's farm. "The Walking Dead" would be so much more exciting if the zombies found his farm. Other than a gate briefly alluded to, it seems his farm has no defense system. No one is scared of the zombies there. The zombies find the people who go out into the wilderness, why don't they find a house that's not exactly hidden and constantly has lights on? The zombies were sure able to find that high school WHERE THERE ARE NO PEOPLE! Aargh! I realize many of those zombies became zombies at the high school, but still....
Again it drives me crazy that the survivors don't lure a large group of zombies and kill a whole bunch of them. The survivors in Stephen King's "The Cell" do that. With Lori Grimes whining about what kind of life they are living, it seems to me they'd be more proactive in killing as many zombies as possible. Either that or building some kind of protective fortification. Once the zombies find Hershel's house, it's all over for them. The zombie free oasis of Hershel's farm is so unbelievable.
There are two story lines that are going on that have overstayed their welcome. The first is will Carl survive or not? The second is the lost Sophia. The longer she's gone, the more unlikely it will be when they miraculously discover her alive. (Either find her soon or let her die.) Who cares about either? They only lead to long winded, boring speeches and terrible acting. The actress playing Sophia's Mom was doing some of the fakest crying in this last Sunday's episode. I wanted to slap her. I was hoping Daryl would shoot her right there in the RV and put her out of our misery. Hopefully both of these story lines will be resolved in Sunday's episode.
I haven't read "The Walking Dead" comic books yet but they've got to be better than this show right?The 15th "Walking Dead" comic book collection is about to be released. What's about the comic book that makes it so popular? Other than brief flashes why hasn't that translated to the TV show?
I think that quality original series on AMC may be ending. AMC's original programming started off with the great "Mad Men". Next up was the much loved "Breaking Bad" which was followed by the too smart for TV audiences "Rubicon". Also somewhere was the awful looking "The Prisoner", that was probably the sign that AMC original programming isn't perfect.
After that came a half-decent first season of "The Walking Dead", which is looking all the better after this so far terrible second season. That was followed by "The Killing" which started out well. But as the season progressed the show got a lot less interesting. It eventually slowed down so much and then completely stopped on that horrific 13th episode. One of the worst episodes of TV ever!
Obviously in the mean time "Breaking Bad" and "Mad Men" continued being excellent according to most. Starting next week is "Hell On Wheels". A western about the transcontinental railroad. At first I was excited for this show but after some mediocre TV of late my expectations have been tempered. For AMC to continue it's winning streak "The Walking Dead" needs to improve very quickly. "Hell on Wheels" has to have the story telling that made "Breaking Bad" so successful. Last and it better not be least is the fifth season of "Mad Men" coming in January. I expect amazing things from their fifth season.
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