It continues...

"The Walking Dead", Episodes 2 and 3: Well it continues to be good, and I see where it's going - suffice it to say you should never sleep with your partner/best friend's wife, even if you think he died in a zombie apocalypse. Oh, there will be a reckoning.

Something else I keep noticing is that all the episodes seem really short but that's probably because I've been watching a lot of HBO and the BBC of late (the episodes are the standard 40-some minutes long). I guess it's also because, for all intents and purposes, "The Walking Dead" feels like an HBO show (or even a Showtime show), just shorter. It's got the look and the feel - though no gratuitous swearing (as yet) - and violence aplenty.

They also continue to add characters, and it seems like there's no way I'm gonna learn all of their names. But, then again, every time I say that, it never turns out to be true. After all, I made it through LOST didn't I? In my experience the key is to find someone else to talk about the show with and then you have to learn the names, otherwise no one knows what you're talking about. On your own, you simply get by on the characters' appearances.

Whenever we don't know a character's name, though, it's always fun to see what my friends and I come up with to describe them (I think my favorite is still 'Japanese James May'). Though sometimes we'll just stick to actor's names (i.e. Michael Rooker and his brother, the guy from the "Boondock Saints").

I often find the same is true in scifi/fantasy books; there's usually a name or two I have no idea how to pronounce and I unconsciously get by on word recognition alone. It's only when I try to talk about it with someone else that I realize I've never thought about it before.

But back to things such as plots: I'll admit that I'm a little disappointed to see the same old horror-archetype characters emerging (we've already got the racist guy and the wife-abusing sexist!) but I guess it's to be expected. They've also flirted around a couple themes I could care less about, such as the gender roles the survivors have fallen into. Given the right circumstances, this could be an interesting topic, but just hasn't been handled well so far:

For example, the women question why they're the ones doing the men's laundry. In my opinion, the only reason they're doing the laundry is because they decided to do the laundry. No one made them, to our knowledge, and yet they're acting like it's forced labor or something. If you don't want to do it, feel free to stop any time. Instead, they just stand around and complain about it. Plus, I remain a little dubious about the amount of laundry they're doing. From the way they're acting, doing the laundry is a fairly frequent occurrence (at least every other day) and yet it appears they're doing a week's worth of laundry. I can see where they're going with this but these plot threads feel a little forced.

However, I am always amused when a show really plays up some plot element - through music or editing - and then acts like it's some huge revelation - except it's something we've all been expecting forever.

*spoiler* Take for example, the end of episode 3: We're provided with the 'shocking' revelation that Michael Rooker has cut off his hand in order to get out of the handcuffs! Except... we all knew that was coming since we first saw there was a hacksaw nearby. But 'A' for effort! *end spoiler*
I also find it funny that apparently the guy that does the "previously on AMC's 'the Walking Dead'," voice-over is the same guy that does it for "Mad Man" and the programs couldn't be more dissimilar. Every time I hear him, I can't help but think of "Mad Men" - that is, right until someone's eaten.


So far, though, the show's definitely staying strong. However, for the most part, they've primarily been running from the zombies, only taking down a few when they have to. I remain interested to see how they handle things when shit really starts going down.


Rating: Maintains a solid 3.5 out of 5.