Robot Chicken: The Walking Dead Special – Look Who’s Walking Review
By Nir Regev
Robot Chicken’s Walking Dead Special high point is easily the Shane Walsh and Lori Grimes relationship explanation scene!
Robot Chicken’s Walking Dead Special premiered last night on Adult Swim and ran on the premise of a future history museum of Rick and the Gang. Throughout Robot Chicken’s 22 minutes you get a summarized satirical history lesson in The Walking Dead’s fabled lore.
Initially Rick ‘Gremlin’ is said to have a daughter, the beautiful ‘Carla’ taking a swipe at Carl’s hair. ‘Carla’ then appears! Eyepatch, silver-haired and all to tell the true story of The Walking Dead to a nerdish looking museum attendee.
Robot Chicken – Walking Dead Special:
Gold, Silver, Bronze
Gold: Shane Walsh / Lori Grimes Relationship Origins
– Without a doubt, the most universal of scenes even if you never watched a single episode of The Walking Dead or Robot Chicken feature Shane Walsh. Good ole’ Shane is hard at work convincing Lori that Rick told him to shower with her, sleep in the same bed and generally trying to make her forget her husband. A textbook case of the male best ‘friend’ moving in while the boyfriend/husband is away. ‘Rick told me to do this’, is classic comedy! Eventually when Rick Grimes returns, Shane tells Lori not to tell Rick anything that he told him back.
Silver: Rick Grimes/ Carol Peletier Sophia Log
– Rick Grimes shamelessly forgetting where he left Carol’s daughter in the woods then attempting to fool Carol with a log was old school slapstick comedy! Very much in the vain of Ren and Stimpy and Looney Tunes of the golden age of cartoons, Melissa McBride’s ‘What the f*** are you doing Rick?’ line delivery sold the whole occasion. Rick defending his log by saying Carol was fat shaming her daughter when she accuses Rick of the shenanigans.
Bronze: Negan / Carl Eye Bottle Opener
– Simple, silent, and ever so sweet. The Negan / Carl scene where Negan asks Carl to remove his bandage so he can see his ‘eye hole’ is parodies by having Negan use the hole as a bottle opener. Though in text it might sound gory, in Robot Chicken form, it’s amusing and draws a natural laugh without thinking. Some of the best kind of humor is when you can sit back and not think too much.
Robot Chicken – Walking Dead Special:
Truly Dark Satire, Special Mentions, Biggest Surprise, Cameos, Classic Gags, Just Missed
Truly Dark Satire: Happy Glenndings
– We witness a parody future where Glenn sort of makes it past Negan and lives his life with Maggie… However, the downside is Glenn carries his Negan head wound injury permanently. He isn’t able to conceive of much else than the line ‘I’ll find you’. It’s presented quite light heartedly for such a dark, dark real life premise that happens to returning veterans everyday.
Special Mentions: Walker Viewpoint
– Getting inside the mind of a walker was fascinating. Though the obvious simplified ‘walker is hungry’ gag is emphasiszed, it’s actually a very special concept. It’s about time we actually see an entire episode of The Walking Dead through the eyes of a walker. A day in the life so to speak. It appears Robot Chicken has tapped into a brilliant proposal for an episode of the parent series.
Special Mentions: George Lowe’s Voice
– Mr. Space Ghost, Brak Show Dad, and all around Adult Swim original delivers another 10 out of 10 vocal performance as usual. Playing a unicorn of all things. Nobody can get tired of that voice. You could listen to George Lowe reading the phone book and it would sound good.
Biggest Surprise: Negan Music Number
– Judging by the previous two musical numbers on the episode, it looked like it might be more of the same at first look. Then it happens. Negan swings, and his personality is emphasized hilariously perfectly. That’s the Negan we know!
Classic Gags:
– Shiva is revealed to actually be a classical trained British actor that was originally doing community theater.
– Carol goes all ‘look at the flowers’ on everybody if you know what we mean!
– Daryl’s lack of arrows is finally parodied when he immediately asks Rick for another one after taking down a zombie walker.
Cameos:
– Lucille is presented as an alien figure in a homage to Superman. The Governor (sans eyepatch) and zombie Penny made the cut. Talking Dead with Chris Hardwick, Robert Kirkman, and Shiva. Kirkman becomes unhappy when he hears this episode doesn’t count toward #100! He keeps asking why he was brought on this episode if it’s not #100 in Kirkman’s one of a kind fashion.
Just Missed: Musical Merle / Musical Terminus
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- Why is there no season 12 of The Walking Dead?
- Will Morgan Jones find Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live spinoff?
- Watch Tales of TWD actress Jillian Bell in Prime Video’s Candy Cane Lane
– Though it’s a matter of taste obviously, sometimes cartoons can have one too many musical numbers.
– Musical Merle feels a bit more forced than naturally written as a gag. Don’t recall Merle ever mentioning Jewish people on the parent show either way as he does in this number. Seemed to be added on so it doesn’t seem like Merle is focusing on only certain minorities in his song.
They should have either gone all the way with the song like South Park would have or maybe not done the premise. It felt like trying to keep a joke safe that has an un-pc concept to begin with. Jokes cannot be safe.
It reminds of what Triumph the Insult Comic Dog called what a Political Correct Roast would sound like. There could have been so much more done with a character like Merle.
Related Story: Robot Chicken: The Walking Dead Special Premiere Date
– Musical Terminus was a little too predictable as a gag and seemed more included in order to fit another musical number. Rick saves it a bit but there’s much better spots on this episode.
Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special Trailer
Check out the Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special now on Adult Swim.com!