The Walking Dead is easily one of the best zombie franchises of all time, but it falls into the same trap that catches every other zombie TV or movie series.
The outbreak and its initial stages is always more "fun" to watch than what happens next between rival groups, establishing a hierarchy, or building a full government and new society.
The Walking Dead is the perfect example of this. Watching Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) wake up in the hospital, wander out into the new world, find the group in Atlanta, and take shelter at Hershel's farm and the prison is so much more fun, to me, than what happens in, like, the very end of season 3 and the war with the Governor (David Morrissey).
I noticed this in the middle of my latest rewatch of The Walking Dead. The first seasons, while they have problems, feel exciting in a way that the latter seasons don't. The threat of the zombie apocalypse, the uncertainty, and the lack of stability inject a level of fear into the series for the audience that just isn't there in the later seasons.
I was trying to figure out why that is, and I think it largely boils down to one thing. It's not that fun to watch people try to govern. The conflict between humans, with all their emotions and ego, is basically never as fun to watch as the original thrill of watching characters try to escape an outbreak.
In the early days of The Walking Dead, we didn't know if Rick Grimes was going to make it out of Atlanta and reunite Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and Carl (Chandler Riggs). Once they were together, it was clear one episode later that they wouldn't be safe. Their journey led them on the road to the CDC and to Hershel's farm, where they hunkered down, but they were never safe. Then, when that fell apart, they were back on the road again, which led them to the prison and the feud with Woodbury. All of that is great TV.
The Walking Dead season 4 is where the cracks start to form. Sure, there are so many good moments and stories much later in the series. And, it's not that those seasons are bad by any means. It's just that it's more fun to watch the survivors survive the apocalypse rather than get into little (and very big) wars over the waning resources, get revenge for past wrongs, and try to strike a balance between the old way of life and the new way of life.
That might be a me problem, but I think most people would agree that the early days of the outbreak feel like the bigger threat. As we see with The Walking Dead, though, there are much bigger threats later. They just don't really feel like that compared to those early days.
This is not necessarily an attack on The Walking Dead. It's a mere observation that I've yet to see a zombie franchise solve. And, on the other hand, it's the natural progression of things, right? Rick chooses his conflicts with groups, usually, because they pose a threat to his survival or vice versa. It's similar in The Last of Us and other projects, too. It's possible that this is just an unavoidable, natural progression of story. Still, there are some shows that handle it better than others.
The 28 Days Later franchise handles this situation the best because there's a notable passage of time that forces the viewers into a new world basically every time. The exception is 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which continues Spike's story immediately after the events of 28 Years Later. But, I would argue that The Bone Temple presents so much new information that it feels fresh.
The Last of Us also does a terrific job because it does so many wonky storytelling things. There are huge gaps in the timeline. Different characters take the focus in different episodes. But, still, I would argue
Regardless, the problem still remains. The beginning of every zombie story feels more dramatic than what happens later. Maybe, we'll see, if The Walking Dead is revived, that they find a different way to stop that lull from happening. Until then, we're stuck with what we've got.
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