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I'm sorry that so many of my TV reviews this year have been critical, but it seems we are perhaps seeing the end of what was an incredible run of high quality American television drama. It started with The West Wing and The Sopranos, and I think is ending with Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad. I would argue that the drift into shitness coincides with an ideological drift to the right. Survival fantasies have always been the buried fascist of a liberal imagination. There's an 'I told you so' arrogance to the disaster, and there a good excuse to enjoy firearms guilt free. Falling Skies does this and so does The Walking Dead. With a fantastic pilot now a distant memory and Frank Darabont out of the picture, The Walking Dead resembles the post-mortem pedestrians of its title, stumbling from one episode to the next, gaining no momentum and shedding credibility like scraps of rotting flesh. Just as its characters get themselves trapped again and again and again, so does the narrative, which overly relies on people tripping up, accidentally shooting each other and just being plain stupid. I suppose they have to be stupid because our heroes are after all fighting the brainless, but just how stupid they are almost beggars belief. When a doctor admits that he's actually a vet, Lori Grimes (played by the pop eyed Sarah Wayne Calles) says 'What do you mean you're a veteran?' And this is not supposed to be funny.
Add to this the constant weeping. Lori Grimes and husband (Brit actor Andrew Lincoln) are the main culprits. Showing us people moved is not the same as moving us. I understand that you care about the children, but there's very little given to us for us to care about. It is one of those awkward paradoxes that TV children tend to be so irritating that far from evoking sympathy when they are put in danger, I am always tempted towards the opposite go get 'em feeling. Remember Jurassic Park, and how annoying it was that the children and Laura Dern survived. There's time for this season to save itself but I'm not sure I can be bothered any more. Perhaps one in the head would be the kindest move. What do you think?
22 Comments
James
18/3/2012 11:28:52 am
You have a terrible opinion
John
18/3/2012 03:27:00 pm
I know. I'm sorry. Help me to improve it with arguments.
Joe
23/3/2012 08:09:18 am
You are absolutely right. "Showing people moved is not the same as moving us" is a disease that bad writers suffer from. Watching people argue doesn't make for instant drama, it just makes noise. It is literally like hearing your neighbours arguing through the wall in your apartment but WORSE because it's in HD with the volume turned up and punctuated with a random convenient zombie attack.
Random Zombie
20/12/2012 01:19:08 am
I couldn't agree more.
Jack
18/6/2012 08:59:21 am
What are you talking about? Waking the Dead is brilliant.
mickey mouse
22/3/2014 10:54:26 am
Sean
27/3/2014 09:36:15 pm
You clearly have not seen enough good TV or film drama if you think this tired, unoriginal, hackneyed drivel is brilliant. It's passable at best. One-dimentional characters, weird pacing, dull plotting, not a single character to care about, and some of the most laughable dialogue ever written. 3/7/2012 09:33:18 pm
As soon as Frank Darabont left/was pushed the budget was slashed and we were then left with our intrepid heroes stagnating on a farm with a 'vet', so someone with a good knowledge of how animals/people work, who thought people who died and came back to life were 'sick' and could be cured. I think in normal times a few farmers just shot their livestock rather than take it to this idiot.
Stasma
28/10/2012 02:18:06 pm
I think the show sucks. I haven't really fallen for ANY of the actors. In fact I don't like any of them. Not that I am supposed to like TV characters in a drama, in fact hating a character can be one reason to stick around and watch (ie. Cersei Lanister, Jamie Lanister). I just don't get any sort of emotional feelings from this cast. I kinda hope they all die by Zombie bites. Then the show ends. I'd be satisfied and wouldn't miss the program one bit.
Rob
30/11/2012 11:37:19 am
Absolutely spot on 22/12/2012 08:06:57 pm
I series The Walking Dead watch via satellite and the picture is very good.
Paft
2/9/2013 05:02:05 am
The first few eps were great but quickly turned stale. Garbage. I pitty fans of this crap. The Talking Dead.
Ted_kazynski
27/9/2013 05:24:40 pm
I fucking hate the walking dead. Poor character development, annoyingly indecisive characters. Weak antagonists, zombie gore is great but the plot holes and typical TV garbage writing ruin it and make it empty. Nothing changes in the scope of the actual zombie epidemic, only the vapid drama between shitty characters. The Governor is a horrible anime enemy brought to life, Andrea is(was) a semi retarded indecisive woman who only fell for the bad guys and shunned all reason while doing so. She watches the Governor force two brothers to fight to the death but still never really grasps the fact that he might be a bit of a bad guy. Then when actually making a move, she pusses out from killing him, all the while the show was trying to build her as a strong female character. It's a soap opera with zombies sprinkled in at either the first or last 5 minutes of the episodes. Television at its finest, cashing in on a zombie trend.
tim
17/11/2013 02:56:27 am
What has actually happened in 3 series ? Nothing !!
mickey mouse
22/3/2014 10:57:35 am
Wat a shit series
Anthony
4/1/2014 12:47:34 am
Worst program i have watched. I have laughed at the bad acting more than anything. Everything Rick says sounds like he is about to die, and that they are his last words. The best acting i have seen are from a certain few zombies. The plots are stupid, the decisions that they make are stupid, the emotion from the actors is just not convincing, and I have never wanted a whole cast to die so much. Even the children. People who enjoy this show are people who enjoy shows such as the vampire diaries, twilight, x factor , the voice, soap operas, greys anatomy. Sheep. Clones, Todos son clones, y ovejas , el programe mas estupido que he visto en mi vida, y me gustaria quemarlo hasta que nadie lo vea.
kackhans
29/3/2014 11:40:27 pm
I also think that Norman Reedus is the only good actor in this pile of whiny, uninspired and boring crap. The first good talk was in S2E1 when andrea told off dale for not giving back her pistol. The dialouges otherwise and are just plain boring and predictable. People are desperate to consume, so when there is no good show the just watch crap like this.
Big Al
3/5/2014 05:15:54 pm
I really cant understand why on earth the zombies are moving, its like they are migrating. Although with no brain thought functions its just sound, movement and hot flesh(of course).
notinh
26/8/2014 06:10:22 pm
its a seriously shit series. after s01e04, it all went downhill. there is no common sense in writers. i dont know how they even got to be writers in frist place. i watch this series only because of its first season. second season dint make any sense from the starting. TOTAL SHIT. Season finale will be even worse. writers themselves dont know where this is heading. this is problem with us series. they have shit writers.
Jack
15/2/2015 10:07:12 am
The only thing worse is talking about it
colin
5/12/2016 03:55:53 pm
I agree. Its the same shite every year. The opener with the skull crushing bat left me feeling sick. Enough Leave a Reply. |
AuthorJohn Bleasdale is a writer. His work has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, Il Manifesto, as well as CineVue.Com and theStudioExec.com. He has also written a number of plays, screenplays and novels. Archives
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