I waited a long time to talk about this show because I felt that it wasn’t easy to summarize all of my thoughts on it in a couple of paragraphs. However, today is the day, though I might end up writing about it again in the future since I’m one season behind. Plenty of things might change.
Faithful to the Source
I started watching this show with my husband, who is a fan of the comics on which it was based. The first season was interesting enough to get me to start watching the second one.
Six episodes weren’t enough to make me know precisely what I thought of it, but it was more of a general feeling of “Oh, I quite enjoyed this, let’s watch a bit more”.
The years passed, and we had season after season. Somewhere along the way, my husband stopped watching it, but I just couldn’t. I always wanted one more episode, one more season. It was so much more than just the mere Humanity vs. Zombies. Actually, over time, zombies become some sort of weird backyard decor.
The show is about people, about humanity itself
The dead rising and starting to eat the living was a very good excuse for humans to reveal their true colors —the darker side of themselves. This show can often tell us a great deal about ourselves and the human race in general.
The consecutive seasons offer some perspective. You follow Rick’s (you can also watch Andrew Lincoln in an episode of Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities) group since the beginning, so they’re obviously the good guys. But as soon as you start observing the other groups they come across, it’s impossible not to question yourself about a few things. Are they actually that different?
There are no innocents.
I remember one season when they took some prisoners from another group who had attacked them. And the arguing between characters made us think, “Wait, who actually started all of this after all?” That pretty much sums up how the world works.
Rick’s group is, after all, as bad as most others, and the other people they meet are just as good as they are (most of them at least). We just tend to be biased and have a greater affinity with Rick and his group of survivors, so we’ll understand their point of view more than others, usually ending up rooting for them, regardless of whether they’re actually doing the right thing.
You're With Them
We´re talking about a more profound sense of belonging, and the outsiders are mere enemies, obstacles, and threats to their survival, even though we just don’t really know them.
This is the end of the world after all. Who can really risk doing ‘the right thing’ anymore? Does that even matter anymore?
If you start watching the show expecting just another shallow zombie show, you’ll probably have quite a few surprises in store.
If you like zombie apocalypse themes, in all sorts of ways, consider checking out Rezort and Quarantine 2: Terminal.
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