The Walking Dead's first episode, "Days Gone Bye," isn't just one of the best episodes of the hit AMC series' 177 episodes; it's one of the best TV pilots of all time.
"Days Gone Bye" is perfectly paced and structured. Andrew Lincoln is incredible in this role, but most importantly, it's the launchpad that allows the Walking Dead rocketship to take off.
Written and directed by Frank Darabont, "Days Gone Bye" officially turned 15 years old last fall. To show a little more love to one of the best episodes of TV ever, I shared three unforgettable moments from "Days Gone Bye." After all this time, these are three scenes from this episode that I think about the most! These Walking Dead scenes are forever seared in my brain.
Rick wakes up in the hospital
There are so many wild inciting incidents and first acts in zombie shows and movies. Usually, we get a small glimpse of what life is like before someone gets bitten, a zombie attacks, a lot of people die, and boom, we’re into the story.
The Walking Dead tries a different approach. Sure, we do get to know Rick a little bit through flashbacks. We also see him kill a walker, too. But the real action starts when Rick wakes up from a coma in a hospital bed and finds everything is changed. There’s clearly something seriously wrong, and we get to walk with Rick as he tries to find out just how bad things are.
Honestly, of all the choices Rick makes throughout the series, this moment feels so authentic. Like, if you were in a coma and the world was fine and then you woke up to the apocalypse, you’d probably be super confused, too.
I just love this seen because it’s the perfect entry point to the story. We get to take in the scene just as much as Rick is. Then boom, the action starts and we never look back.
Rick rides his horse into Atlanta
If there’s one image from the entire series that every fan of The Walking Dead knows, it’s Rick riding his horse on the freeway into an abandoned Atlanta. There are thousands of empty cars left by those leaving the city, while he has whole lanes to himself.
There are a lot of other great scenes in the premiere, and there’s a lot of time that passes between Rick waking up in the hospital and finding out from Morgan Jones (Lennie James) just what happened, but none are quite as impactful as the imagery of Rick heading into Atlanta with the skyline of the city. It's just iconic.
The funny thing is that we all know exactly how this is going to go, right? Like, from watching so many other zombie movies and shows, we know that the refugee camp is overrun. Rick is about to encounter a horde of zombies, but my guy does it anyway. It's a bold move that absolutely pays off, thanks to the next scene.
Rick escapes the walkers and hides in the tank
So, Rick rides into Atlanta, and basically as soon as he enters the city, he finds himself trapped between two hordes of walkers. He has nowhere to go, and after his horse gets eaten, Rick crawls under a tank. He looks like a goner, but at the very last second, he opens the door under the tank and climbs in as hundreds of walkers surround him.
After killing a walker inside and disorienting himself with the gunshot inside of the tank, Rick is about to give up, but then he hears a voice on the radio, Glenn's voice, calling him a dumbass and asking if he's getting cozy in the tank.
This is such an iconic scene, and it definitely sets the tone for what Walking Dead fans can expect in the series: walkers nearly killing, and definitely sometimes killing, our favorite characters.
I will always remember the camera spinning as its pulls back and the walkers crawl all over the tank. It's the perfect way to end and incredible episode. Like millions of others, I was hooked immediately!
If you haven't watched The Walking Dead's first episode in a long time, I highly recommend revisiting. It's even better than I remembered!
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