So I've mentioned more than once that The Walking Dead is one of the best comics of the past decade.
And if the first episode is any indication, it could be one of the best TV shows, too.
Quick thread rules: I'm approaching this as somebody who's read all 78 issues of the comic, but I know there are bound to be people here who haven't. As such, I'm going to spoilertag anything that's happened in the comic but hasn't happened in the show yet, even if it happened 5 years ago. (You know, like real spoilers. If I were to say something like "I wonder if Michonne will show up before they get to the prison in this version?" I don't think that's very spoilery.) So yeah there'll be some minor spoilers of both the comic and the show coming up (like how far along in the story the first episode goes, which characters show up, that kinda thing), but I'm going to keep it pretty general.
Anyhow. An overview: the show nails the atmosphere. It's not afraid to be quiet -- the music gets a little overbearing in a couple places, but for the most part (and for what seemed like entire minutes at the very beginning) it's perfectly comfortable with silence. Well, "comfortable" isn't really the right word as the silence is hair-raisingly foreboding, but at any rate it shuts the hell up when it needs to. The very first scene has Rick talking about how his wife wishes he wasn't the silent type, and he bears it out for most of the episode. The pace of the show is deliberate but it never feels slow.
And then there are the visuals. The Walking Dead is a character-centric enough book that it might succeed even if the zombies sucked and there were no sense of desolation, but fortunately the zombies are awesome and the world feels empty. The zombies never take you out of the scene; the makeup is superb and the way they move is creepy. And the violence -- yeah, if you were worried about that, don't be; there's blood and entrails and you've probably seen the shot by now of the zombie who's missing the bottom half of her body. And as for the desolation, well, there's a wonderful shot when Rick gets to Atlanta.
Of course, what the show's ultimately going to live or die on is the cast. Andrew Lincoln is going to have to carry a lot of the burden, and he's excellent so far. There's one moment in the show -- where he looks at one of the zombies with pity -- that I think nails Rick as a character (and, for those of us who have watched him become a harder person in the comic, a contrast between who he is in the beginning and who he becomes).
But really, Morgan stole the show in this episode. We get a lot more of his character here than in the comic, and it's very effective. He's not just the guy who handles the exposition, he's the strongest character in the piece even though he's only in 20 or so minutes of it. And it occurs to me we haven't seen him in the comic in awhile [spoiler]and I hope he gets a bigger role in the coming issues. And those of you who've been reading -- man, there's a whole lot of foreshadowing there, isn't there?[/spoiler] This shows some potential for even minor characters to really shine in this show. Which is good, considering most characters' tendency to die after a few issues.
We catch a glimpse of a few other folks -- Dale and Andrea don't get much to say but my God their few seconds onscreen are DELIGHTFUL. Straight off the page.
Lori and Shane aren't immediately easy to like, though, and that could be a real problem.
Oh, and [spoiler]just a little bit of Glenn at the end.[/spoiler] Nicely done.
There's still the question of how far into the story the season's going to go. I suspect it'll end in the same place as the first trade, as that's a natural climax, but it could go a bit farther -- I'd have expected this episode to end in the same place the opening scene occurs, and I expect it would have if it had been an hour instead of 90 minutes.
Regardless, I'm along for the ride. There haven't been any major deviations from the comic yet, but there are bound to be a few -- I hear there are some new characters next week. And I doubt they'll spend as much time at the prison once they get there -- but that strikes me as probably the middle of season 2. Still, while there were no major surprises, there were plenty of little ones, and they were pleasing. It's nice to have the show keep me on my toes even though I've read the comic.
I'm very pleased with the first episode, and looking forward to next week's. Highly recommended. And I'm interested in hearing what people who haven't read the comic think.
