Everyone has planned out their survival strategy for the zombie apocalypse. No? Well, at least I have. Maybe I’m crazy, but don’t start screeching for help when your friendly neighbors come to the door trying to bite you. For the two socially estranged people now saying “well Erik, your right like always. What should I do now?,” I have a solution. It is a show called the Walking Dead.
The Walking Dead, just having finished its second season, is an ambivalent collage of drama, horror, and action documenting the zombie apocalypse. The AMC show, based on a comic series, focuses on a former policeman named Rick, who struggles to maintain leadership and order within a group of fifteen people.
The series premiered this season with inordinate expectations; the first episode attracted 4.8 million views in ages 18- 49, and 4.2 million for 25- 54 year olds. At the time, these ratings were the greatest for any basic- cable drama in television history.
Fast forward two months, and the show has obliterated its own records with a finale that expanded its viewership over 50 percent from the first season’s. Despite the slight drops in ratings before this episode, the question now remains, was this season’s finale worth the grandeur?
And for everyone reading, I sing out from my pulpit with a resounding “yes.” For many former viewers, this response will rightfully come as a surprise; since the midseason break ended in February, numerous media sources like Entertainment Weekly asserted the show had become “needlessly slow, if not outright boring” (http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/11/07/walking-dead-moving-too-slowly/).
The Walking Dead, midseason until the Finale, had repeatedly stabbed itself with a dirty needle. The writers felt that injecting emotional conflict into the show would make it more unique, and more powerful. But over time, it seemed as if the characters were weaned off any physical danger, instead repetitively dealing with more abstract, philosophical questions. At times, the show seemed more like Real World, and less like a zombie show- for two months, the greatest conflicts involved character relationships on a way-too-safe Midwestern farm.
Although it was initially interesting to watch the group decide whether zombies were people, question the meaning of such a barren life, and hopelessly search for a little girl, it did get a bit redundant after a couple episodes. But fear not, because the writers did what any good capitalist should, and listened to their customers; the finale delivered the type of change politicians only talk about.
In the finale, we saw a relieving blend of physical and emotional strife(Spoiler Alert for next sentence). Finally, the acrimonious battle for power between Rick and his former best friend Shane (who coveted Rick’s wife) materialized into a Mexican standoff. Furthermore, the writers decided to overrun that boring farm with redneck zombies and cannibalize boring characters (don’t lie to yourself, you watch TV to enjoy other people’s pain- how do you think Dr. Phil makes a living?).
Alas, it is fair to say the show is back on its feet again- the group will now have to simultaneously deal with each other and kill zombies. With this in mind, the Walking Dead has taught us all a valuable lesson regarding the televised, and theoretical, zombie apocalypse. It is imperative to keep moving. Even if the zombies don’t instantly destroy your sanctuary, they eventually will come. And I can assure you of something more immediate; the audience will change the channel. At least they hit each other on the Jersey Shore.
