Hospitals: the last refuge of the unconscious

So I just finished the first episode of AMC's "The Walking Dead" and it seems pretty good so far. I've been meaning to watch it for a bit but held off so I could watch a couple episodes at once. Consequently, I've got four saved up so far. I never read the original graphic novel but it seems the show is good enough to keep me watching.

The effects are good, as is the acting it seems, and they definitely do a good job of creating suspense. Also, since it (well, the graphic novel at least) has a reputation for its willingness to kill characters, as an audience member I can never feel completely safe. Multiple times already, I was positive characters were going to die only to be proven wrong. However, there's no "he's a main character so of course he's not gonna die" in the back of my mind to keep these thoughts away - which is good in this type of series.

The main thing I wanted to bring up, though, is this whole notion of people in hospitals surviving zombie apocalypses. In this, "The Walking Dead" is certainly no pioneer. Indeed we've seen it before, be it "28 Days Later" or the end of the first "Resident Evil" movie. You'd think, in the event of a zombie attack, that hospitals, being full of the injured and infirm would be the first to go. And, yet it always seems that these places somehow protect the lone survivor - who, I might add, is always unconscious and entirely defenseless. But time and time again, these people are the ones that survive, against all odds, only to wake up and wonder what the hell's going on.

Well, Chris, you'll say, really it's just a convenient plot device so the character isn't aware of what's transpired and so we, as the audience, form a connection to them as we both learn what's happening together (not to mention the fact that having someone wake up after the fact is much cheaper than having to show the end of the world).

Yes, it's quite an effective introduction and can be used in a variety of different ways: Look at the beginning of "Harry Potter;" our introduction to the wizarding world is the same as Harry's and so it makes sense dramatically without feeling forced. In this case it works really well.

But this whole unconscious thing?

In the "The Hobbit," Bilbo wakes up to find he's missed the epic Battle of the Five Armies, as have we, the audience. You can bet, though, the whole battle's gonna be in the second movie. That's because film is a visual medium and is works best when it's showing people cool stuff. This is not to say that this approach isn't effective, you just can't use it all the time. And, at this point (at least in the zombie genre) we've already used it so many times, can't we find a new way to accomplish the same goal?

Thus far I give it a 3.5 out 5; it's interesting but I don't feel that it's treading new ground in the genre as yet (aside from being a TV series instead of a movie), nor do I feel compelled to keep watching. However, I will keep watching because it's still interesting. We'll see what develops.