When 4 years ago today, the pilot episode of The Walking Dead, a show about a group of survivors in a zombie-infested world, premiered on AMC, nobody could have predicted its huge impact or how it would lead to the revival of the zombie pop culture, with every episode and every season viewed as a mega television event.
Based on the 2003 released, comic book series of Robert Kirkman and created by Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) who wrote and directed the pilot episode and co-wrote most of season 1, the story of deputy sheriff Rick Grimes who wakes up in a deserted hospital after having been in a coma, in a newly ravaged nightmarish world, where the dead walk and the living barely survive, captured our attention from the very first minutes of the unprecedented first -only 6 episode- season that felt more like a 6-hour movie.
Darabont who had been a fan of the 1968 George A. Romero archetypal film, Night
of the Living Dead, and the comic
book series of Kirkman, remained faithful to the original source
material, enriching it with an exceptional cast, a masterful narration and an exciting frenzy-paced direction, not forgetting
to leave room
to the actors to build their characters and let them grow, season after
season, with a consistency that amazes.
With Darabont having been fired during pre-production (!), came the out of place and time 13-episode 2nd season, in Herschel's farm, which disappointed, still managing to compensate with the addition of three important characters (Hershel, Maggie and Beth) and a dramatic finale.
Season 3 (16 episodes) finds some of the heroes on the road, Rick and his team in a prison/asylum, while at the same time others are eventually led to a utopian town, ruled by a charismatic leader, the Governor.
Two new characters are introduced and immediately win us over, the enigmatic Governor and the impressive ‘Samurai’ Michonne, while older heroes transform from fearful fatalistic and repressed housewives into future action heroes or from undisputed leaders into half-crazy .... failed farmers.
After the explosive end of season 3 with the foreseeable
still long awaited confrontation and the few unexpected but necessary deaths, the survivors are on the road again, separated into smaller groups, in some of my most favorite episodes.
It is a great opportunity for the characters to form bonds and evolve.
We learn how they came to be who they are (Daryl), we watch them coming of age (Carl) or making excruciating decisions that will haunt them (Carol).
There are so many emotions here, an ongoing suspense and at the same time, we expect to see Joel and Ellie, the heroes of ‘The Last of Us’ joining Daryl and Beth on their way to Terminus.
The season ends with a triumphant reunion (Glenn and
Maggie), the introduction of other prominent comic book characters (Sgt. Abraham
Ford, Dr. Eugene Porter), a tormenting event (‘Look at the Flowers’) and the
quest for a final destination with the promise of salvation (Terminus).
Hence comes season 5, whose premiere on October 12, became
the highest rated show in cable television history, with 17.3 million
viewers and at the same time broke all time piracy record with the premiere
episode being downloaded by approximately 1.27 million unique IP addresses
worldwide in the first 24 hours since its U.S. TV debut.
And what a debut it was !
With pure terror overwhelming us from the start and catharsis coming from a grey hair underdog, a dea ex machina !
Again we are introduced to notable comic villains known as 'The Hunters' and 'Father Gabriel Stokes', some of our favorite heroes go missing while old friends from the past reappear.
For the first time the group has a specific goal -going to Washington.
Oh and Michonne gets her Katana back.
