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So, that’s it ... The first season of The Walking Dead has come to its conclusion after just six episodes (don’t worry though, season 2 will be a more normal 13). Of course, there are both positives and negatives to a downscaled season, but the story unfortunately ended up feeling more incomplete than it should’ve done. Still, a big part of what makes The Walking Dead a huge success is the way that it’s able to achieve such a fantastically captivating atmosphere of tension that it’ll undoubtedly leave us all eagerly anticipating the second season for the next 10 months.
For those of you that didn’t watch, The Walking Dead tells the story of Rick Grimes, a police officer who wakes up from a coma to a world ruled by zombies. In the finale (‘TS-19’), Rick and the other survivors found themselves trapped inside the CDC (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) in Atlanta as the building runs out of power and prepares to automatically decontaminate all those left within (with an incredibly huge explosion, naturally).
There’s something that stories about zombies can do that those featuring other supernatural creatures simply can’t. Yes, beings such as vampires and werewolves are perfect for posing questions about individuals and interpersonal relationships. But zombies provide the possibility for addressing wider concerns about society and the survivalist instinct (this is displayed really well in something like 28 Days Later). In essence, The Walking Dead is less about the dead themselves and more about humanity (one of the key considerations of this episode is whether there is even any remaining hope left in this world).
In ‘TS-19’, the issues surrounding these ideas of the group need for survival become more and more important (particularly when time is running out). Like all of the episodes in the first season have, it really keeps you on the edge of your seat - I actually don’t think I watch any other show that has such a tense atmosphere (although Dexter comes close). In many ways, the speed of its storytelling has been both a bad and a good thing, contributing to this tension but also making it feel very rushed. I highly doubt that anyone would be OK to sit through 13 episodes with this sort of feeling, it’d be way too exhausting. All in all though, I did really enjoy the finale - the setting was claustrophobic (I got a bit of a flashback to the hatch from Lost), the acting was very impressive and it was genuinely quite unpredictable.
However, I’d find it hard to single out the best episode of The Walking Dead’s first season (the most effective one was probably the outstanding pilot, ‘Days Gone Bye’) because they have all featured some absolutely superb moments but have also all felt too hurried. It’s frustrating that the story feels so unfinished, as it really would’ve benefitted from a little more time to fully set up its character dynamics and relationships. With that said, I still think that these six episodes have been executed with skill by everyone involved. The series just has so much potential that it was never going to feel quite right having a six-episode first season. I'll definitely still be tuning in again next year for its return.
FX will be airing repeats of the finale, 'TS-19', throughout the week. If you missed it, it's on again tomorrow at 10pm.
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