The Walking Dead: Episodes need multiple viewings to absorb

Most Walking Dead fans have seen each season and each episode of The Walking Dead so many times that they can quote it and know what’s coming up next. But that doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of the show; in fact, in many ways, it adds to it and deepens the level of understanding of the characters and events.

Walking Dead fans look at the show and characters the way we look at novels in a literature class. We look for foreshadowing and symbolism and irony. I’ve even written about dramatic irony and made comparisons to Of Mice and Men, Watership Down and Don Quijote. Our English teachers would be proud!

The only real negative or thing you don’t get with a re-watch  is the authentic brand new reactions to the events. Obviously, that can only happen once. Once you know someone dies or once you jump because you didn’t expect something, it can’t happen again the exact same way again. Sure you can be re-startled or you can cry or laugh again, but you can’t unexpect something you already expect.

Other than that, with each viewing, our level of understanding of the events gets deeper. We notice things we didn’t notice the first time around. The first viewing is usually filled with tense muscles and anticipation. Eyes darting and ears perked up listening. We’re too on guard to catch everything.

When we view again, we know the major points. We don’t have to have our bodies poised to follow the main action. We can relax and let our eyes and ears and minds wander a bit. Start to think about things with some hindsight. And the more episodes back we go, the more hindsight we have. So with every new episode and every season added, our re-watch of old episodes get richer!

Do you love to watch episodes more than once?  Have you learned new things or made new insights on a re-watch? Let me know in the comments.

Next: Season 5:All Named Character Deaths

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