The Walking Dead returned this week from its traditional mid-season break, and while this could have been the opportunity for a stellar, welcome back episode, it failed to live up to its potential promise and only left me shaking my head numerous times throughout the episode.
First off - Michonne and the walkers. I thought we established in the very second episode that you had to smell like a zombie in order to blend in. How is Michonne walking nonchalant through a horde of zombies? Yes, she has the two zombies with her, but what should that matter? Just because she is in a close proximity to two zombies does not mean she herself smells or behaves like one. How did those zombies ignore her? Speaking of which, why did those two zombies not try and attack her?
Second,Carl's God damn falling. How many cheap ploys does this show have when it comes to zombie attacks? Not many, as apparent by this episode. Not once, but twice this episode Carl fell down when a zombie was attacking, only to have to attempt to shoot it (and fail several times). We know Carl will not die, and this ploy only serves to add artificial tension. And WHY did they have to do it twice?
Third, regarding another stupid scare tactic, was Rick's potential zombification and Carl's attempted shooting. Again, we know Rick is not going to die, so again the show added only an artificial tension. Also, why did Rick not attempt to stop Carl? A simple waving of his hand or the universal "stop" motion could have sufficed. It simply makes no sense and left me scratching my head as to why the show would attempt such a false scare.
Yes, the Michonne development was done well, and the episode has a McCarthy-ian feel to it similar to his "The Road" which is always a plus, but the numerous stupid and false scares and head-scratchingly bad predicaments these characters got into simply took too much away from the episode and made me very aware that I was watching an episode of television and critiquing its silly conventions and presence of a writing team.
First off - Michonne and the walkers. I thought we established in the very second episode that you had to smell like a zombie in order to blend in. How is Michonne walking nonchalant through a horde of zombies? Yes, she has the two zombies with her, but what should that matter? Just because she is in a close proximity to two zombies does not mean she herself smells or behaves like one. How did those zombies ignore her? Speaking of which, why did those two zombies not try and attack her?
Second,Carl's God damn falling. How many cheap ploys does this show have when it comes to zombie attacks? Not many, as apparent by this episode. Not once, but twice this episode Carl fell down when a zombie was attacking, only to have to attempt to shoot it (and fail several times). We know Carl will not die, and this ploy only serves to add artificial tension. And WHY did they have to do it twice?
Third, regarding another stupid scare tactic, was Rick's potential zombification and Carl's attempted shooting. Again, we know Rick is not going to die, so again the show added only an artificial tension. Also, why did Rick not attempt to stop Carl? A simple waving of his hand or the universal "stop" motion could have sufficed. It simply makes no sense and left me scratching my head as to why the show would attempt such a false scare.
Yes, the Michonne development was done well, and the episode has a McCarthy-ian feel to it similar to his "The Road" which is always a plus, but the numerous stupid and false scares and head-scratchingly bad predicaments these characters got into simply took too much away from the episode and made me very aware that I was watching an episode of television and critiquing its silly conventions and presence of a writing team.