The Walking Dead (2010 - Present): Review By T.Clark

It's been a long wait, but "The Walking Dead" finally returned Sunday night with a brand new episode, "What Lies Ahead," to kick off the second season of the highly acclaimed AMC show. Was it worth the wait? I can happily say "definitely." The 90-minute premiere was everything we've come to love about this show-zombie killing mayhem, and more importantly, great character moments. With so many changes taking place (Frank Darabont is gone and the budget was cut), "The Walking Dead" hasn't seemed to suffer at all. It's still on par with what last season gave us in terms of quality. In fact, it may even exceed those standards.

For those who don't follow the show, "The Walking Dead" takes place in the aftermath of a zombie outbreak. Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), a former police officer, wakes up from a coma to discover a wasteland and joins a group of survivors, eventually being reunited with his wife and son. The show follows this group of survivors as they try to escape death and struggle with hidden turmoil amongst themselves. Secrets, lies, and deciet may get them before the zombies do.

Season 2 begins with the group leaving Atlanta. There's nothing left for them there. The scene before the credits does a good job of getting viewers back into the swing of things, as Rick is once again trying to contact Morgan (Lennie James) on the radio, the man who saved his life in the series premiere and hasn't been seen since. After opening credits roll, we are immediately thrust into the tension and suspense this show does so well, and this episode probably does the best so far. The group is confronted with a herd of zombies, and take shelter under abandoned cars in the middle of the road. While the scene is basically them hiding as the dead walk by, it's intense for the reasons that you never know what will happen next. It's a great opening for season 2, as it sets the tone perfectly.

Following the zombie herd, the group is faced with the uneventful disappearance of Carol's (Melissa McBride) daughter which kick-starts the rest of the episode. Carol's had it rough, even by these standards. Her husband was abusive (don't worry, he got ate) and now her daughter is missing. The rest of the episode accounts for the group, mainly Rick and Daryl (Nomran Reedus), tracking her down. When they don't find her in the woods, the group moves on in the direction of church bells, thinking she may be sounding them off. What they find is far more disturbing and strange.

During all of this, we get a good look at the possible dramatic storylines that will be fleshed out as the season progresses. Andrea (Laurie Holden) is angry with Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) for not leaving her to die in the explosion during the season 1 finale. She overhears Shane (Jon Bernthal) and Rick's wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) arguing and figures out that Shane intends to leave when he gets the chance, and she wants to go with him. Shane himself has been secretly at odds with the group because of his affair with Lori while Rick was in the coma (they thought he was dead) and the tension between him and Lori, with Rick clueless to the situation, has been dramatically rising. I can't wait for the payoff.

The characters are what make this show so great. Everyone loves some good zombie killing mayhem, but when it comes down to it, the show is unique and accessible because the characters are developed and relateable. Just as Lost was more about the characters than the mysteries (although some would beg to differ, but that's a discussion for another time), "The Walking Dead" isn't so much about the zombie apocalypse as it is about a group of people with human flaws who happen to be in the midst of a living dead outbreak. It's about how those flaws put them at odds with eachother and how they interact with one another.

But that's not to say there wasn't a good amount of bloodshed in this episode. During the opening zombie sequence, Andrea goes one-on-one with a zombie in the camper and stabs it in the eye repeatedly as blood spurts everywhere. Rick and Daryl are forced to open the stomach of a zombie to make sure it didn't eat Carol's daughter. Rick busts the head of one zombie open with a rock. And so on. The show didn't seem to suffer too much from the budget cut. It was apparent in a couple scenes that they had to tone down the zombie killing, as a lot of it was mostly off screen, but it was still nicely executed.

While the opening sequence is a nail biter, so is the final scene. It's meant to be a peaceful scene where Rick, Shane, and Rick's son come across a deer. They marvel at the beauty of it because they probably haven't seen something like that in a long while. But it's still tense, because you have a feeling something's going to go wrong. I was actually shaking. Overall, this episode didn't disappoint in the slightest. I've been waiting a year for the return of this show, and it was well worth the wait. If you're not into zombie storylines, don't let that discourage you from watching it. "The Walking Dead" is a must-see, and easily one of the, if not the, best show on air right now.