I'm Not Quite as Disappointed in The Walking Dead Anymore

There will be Walking Dead spoilers ahead (for the show and comic). Enter at your own risk.

Season Two of The Walking Dead has been almost universally criticized. In fact, the only show I can think of that got more criticism was the most recent season of Dexter (I'm not counting outright shitty shows, just those that people expect to be good or at least entertaining). The criticism of The Walking Dead couldn't be more appropriate. The show got stuck in the mud that is Hershel's farm and struggled mightily to release itself (and it only took until the last three episodes to get any sort of traction. The characters are paper thin and, in an ensemble this big, you'd think someone might have a character arc over  nineteen episodes. In place of characters, the writers stuck in plot devices to act as conflict producers to create tension regardless as to whether any of it makes sense for the show or the characters (and I recognize the irony in complaining about undefined characters in one sentence and saying the show doesn't stay true to these same people in the next, but one would think the writers would recognize that the two are related. Stronger characters equals stronger conflict. Stronger conflict [should] equal character defining moments).  Instead, we end up with Lori telling Rick to kill Shane in one scene and getting mad at Rick for doing just that a few episodes later.

There is a huge amount of potential in having a television show about a the zombie apocalypse. Endless scenarios and relationships can be examined in this medium than can't be in a movie. That The Walking Dead is content to have characters snipe at each other for now reason is not only disappointing, but a waste of the idea. I hold out little hope of anyone tackling the subject matter again and doing it in a competent way. In the hopes of getting more of what I was looking, I borrowed Compendium One of The Walking Dead comic which features the first eight chapters of the story. Having finished it, I'm not certain The Walking Dead could have ever made a satisfying television series both in terms of what we've seen and what I hoped for.

Firstly, the characters are only slightly more defined than in the show. They still overreact and yell at each other at the drop of a hat. They still let their guard down at ridiculous times. And Lori, who is by far the most fortunate character in the entire series (well... to a point), is still ridiculously selfish and irrational. I don't mean to suggest that characters can't behave irrationally in an irrational world. It just happens way to frequently and Lori, whose husband found her against all odds and still has her son AND has a baby without a doctor or complications, is the worst. On the flip-side, Rick (an antihero in the comic and going that way in the show), Andrea (a sharpshooting non-harpie), Carol (younger and not tied to Sophia all the time), and even Carl (who knows better than to wander around a zombie wasteland alone all the time) are much more interesting. Add to that Tyreese who's not in the show, but kicks all kinds of ass (seriously, why couldn't T-Dog be him?), and the pool of characters is tolerable. They may not be deep, but they don't piss me off so much (sorely missing, though, is Daryl who is the only person on the show worth a damn).

In terms of plotting and momentum, the comic has almost the opposite problem as the TV show. I'm not sure if it's related to the fact that I've only read three graphic novels in my life and don't know how to pace myself, but the story moves along WAY to fast most of the time (at least until they get the prison where it drags to a halt). I enjoyed spending a bit of time with Morgan and Duane (the black father and son) in the show and the interaction in the comic feels like it's done in a matter of minutes. These are the first people Rick meets. You'd think he'd want to hang around them a bit more to get used to this new world he's awoken to. And I know I complained about how long the show got stuck at Hershel's farm, but that comic blows through that, too. it acts merely as an excuse to get some extra characters around so the main characters can exist a bit longer without having to be killed (Hershel's family doesn't last long in the comic). 

The more I read of these familiar moments in the comic, the more I appreciated aspects of the show. No, I didn't need to spend an entire season on the farm (and you can blame the budget if you like, I blame the writers for not overcoming the setting and creating interesting characters), but there are many aspects I enjoyed about the location. And that false sense of security could be used to examine group dynamics in a meaningful way (not that it did). In my perfect world, the first half of season two would have ended with them leaving the farm and finding the jail, which all happened at the very end of the season. That gives us time at the farm, but moves things along so the story doesn't get so stale. And new environs means new obstacles means less time to get bogged down in poorly executed interpersonal drama.

Having already seen the show, I was pleased to discover there are still plenty of surprises in the comic. I don't know if fans of the comic felt the same way about the show (though I know one person who liked what they did with Shane on the show). Often, the differences from the show to the book wouldn't be a step up or down, but a parallel approach that offers interesting ideas, at the very least. I keep coming back to this, but the limitation of these ideas is solely in the horribly underdeveloped characters (this applies to both incarnations).

The one thing about the comic that prevents me from saying that it is absolutely better than the show (and I should note that I really enjoyed the first season) is that it devolves into comic book territory. Is it unreasonable for me to say that about a comic book focusing on the zombie apocalypse? I don't think so. If we're to get invested in the situation facing the protagonists, we must believe in their danger. Moving into the hyper-real arena loses that investment in reality. For me, that happened with the introduction of The Governor. The man is too cartoony to be believed. I don't deny that there will be bad people who take advantage of the people's fear (we can look at Land of the Dead for that), but there is no need for the man to keep zombie heads in aquariums, have his zombie daughter chained up, unrepentantly rape a prisoner, hack off Rick's hand, surviving having the shit beat out of him, his arm and penis cut off, and his eye gouged out (all with the resident doctor dead). This is a super-villain origin story and it feels intensely out of place. Maybe this is also my personal preference for more subtle villains like Mags from Justified.

I don't think The Walking Dead could ever have been what I wanted in a television show about the zombie apocalypse. Neither the show or the comic have shown the sort of psychology I'm interested. However, talking to the person who loaned me the compendium and his enthusiasm for The Walking Dead as an unending stream of horrifying events to make Rick and his son lunatics, I'm intrigued. If this is the case, I wish it hadn't taken the form of an ensemble-based piece of entertainment. In light of the comic, I'm somewhat mollified that The Walking Dead wasn't blowing it's immense potential by shear ineptness, but because the source is similarly lacking in many ways.

Deadwood: An Appreciation

There was a time when I rejected westerns completely. No matter how many people recommended the classics to me, I wasn't interested. This mindset continued through my first year of graduate school where I was studying film. During my first year, I had a friend (who is still a friend) expound on the excellence of Deadwood. I dismissed her with a wave of the hand (in my mind, anyway) as westerns offered me nothing. But a funny thing happens as you dive into a subject (in this case, film). You get exposed to a lot of new ideas and new ways of thinking. During my second year, I even took a Ford and Peckinpah class and realized that not only are westerns interesting, many of them are pretty damn awesome.

In the Ford/Peckinpah class, we watched the pilot to Deadwood. At the time, I was wholly unimpressed. It was OK, but amazing like I was led to believe. I felt completely comfortable ignoring its existence and did so for the next four years. Now that I've finally watched the entire series, I'm pissed at myself for not having done so sooner.

In my defense, it makes sense that I wasn't enamored after the first episode. Deadwood is a deliberate show that plays its cards close to the chest. There's not a real sense of what the show will be until the first season is almost over. The cast of characters is massive (and constantly dying off while new people come to town) so it takes a while to establish who is who and what their position is in Deadwood. Clearly, Seth Bullock and Al Swearengen are going to be major players, but others take into the second and third season for their roles to be fully revealed. It's almost impossible to judge the show without seeing it through to the end (and how sad that the end came so abruptly for the viewers who watched it while it was on the air). Probably my favorite aspect of Deadwood is that once the characters and motivations are established, the show bends over backwards to not only put people at odds with each other, but with what we believe of the character. Alliances between enemies are frequent because in the end, everyone wants what's best for the town.

Swearengen is easily one of the best, most complex characters I've ever seen in any entertainment. Ian McShane got a lot of press for his performance (it's remarkable the role only got him one Golden Globe and no other awards) and I was prepared to dismiss it going in, but damned if he doesn't own every minute he's on screen. Swearengen is a man who is always thinking ahead and how he can play things to best benefit him. He's not above setting aside his differences and even respects Bullock most of the time even if he thinks Bullock is crazy and a tad irrational (maybe the fact that Swearengen is so rational is why I find him appealing).

But the real reason I love Deadwood and that I'm mad at myself for not watching sooner is the vibrancy of the town. Creator David Milch and his crew created something amazing in that town. It would take more words than I would like to type to detail every character in the town who makes an impression, but it's a lively community and even the smallest parts (well, maybe not the extras) are well-realized and leave an impression. The town of Deadwood is the star of the show. The reality is like nothing I've ever seen. The action is amazingly choreographed and you really get a sense that you're watching the town from a balcony like Swearengen (or Tolliver or Hearst) with all the pieces moving around via an unseen hand.

I can't help but feel like I've inadequately represented Deadwood here, but it's really difficult to describe the way it sucks you in. The closest parallel I can make is the way Deadwood makes me feel about the community is the way The Tree of Life makes me feel about childhood. Sure, there are times during the show that I don't understand a word being said even though they are speaking plain English, but that's no matter. Just means I'll have to rewatch. Because I may not ever want to go to Deadwood, but I never want to leave, either.