The Walking Dead

From the amazing comics written by Robert Kirkman, comes one of the best television shows on cable to this day: The Walking Dead. Since season one of this epic series, the show has been known to be an enthralling and dramatic adventure of a group of survivors in the newly found post apocalyptic zombie world of The Walking Dead. Whenever watching this show, you will never know what happens next, or in this case, who dies next.

Now on its fourth successful season, the show continues to baffle and catch the attention of viewers everywhere. People can’t seem to get enough of this show, and recently, on the mid-season finale of season four, it has left people thirsting for more.

Not only is the show filled with cool zombie makeups and beautiful, yet realistic environments, it’s also a place of many great characters and suspenseful storylines. Time and time again, I find myself holding my breath at practically every episode I watch. The darkness of the storyline seems to bring not only an evil feel, but also a human feel as well. The characters learn that the only threats in this new world are not just the “walkers” as many of the casts will call them, but also your fellow survivors. Throughout the story, we learn that this world will change a man and make him do things that a human being should never have to do. As the time progresses, though, we see the mentality and humanity of our beloved cast slowly start to decay. More so than others. Some can hold onto their humanity easier than others, but their are some that have snapped, causing interesting and dark subplots to boil up, eventually turning into major plot lines as the characters of The Walking Dead venture out into this horrific world. The pressure begins to build as the survivors realize that they are probably the very few left in this decrepit world, and surviving becomes one of the toughest things they’ll ever have to endure.

The story begins with Officer Rick Grimes, a local cop who had been put into a coma by a gunshot to the chest. The man wakes up in a world that he never believed could have existed, what with the hundreds of bodies found shot dead outside of the hospital he had been in and the dead up and walking around, craving the taste for human flesh. Eventually, he makes his way back to his house in search for his wife and son, and to what it seems, he believes they are dead.

Through some uncanny events, Rick finds his way to a group of survivors who are a ragtag team of people who desire life over death. This is where we meet some of the shows most interesting characters like T-Dog, Shane, Glenn, Dale, Lori, Andrea, and Carl. We also get to see the show’s most likable character on television for the first time: Daryl Dixon, the crossbow wielding, squirrel hunting, and sweetest redneck that you will ever meet. He’s has a bad past, but somehow this new world has made him a better man. And what’s funny about that, is the guy isn’t even from the original comics, yet somehow he’s made it into the hearts of every fan of The Walking Dead.

As the story progresses onwards we meet new characters and see some old ones fall, making the plot of The Walking Dead even more exciting. We see many characters change and morph into what this new world has made them up to be. Carl Grimes, Rick’s twelve year old son, must grow up before he really needs to. By season two, the boy has become an ace with a gun and turns more and more into a heartless zombie killer by the second. This unique character development allows the viewer to really see what this horrific world can do to us humans and our youth. With Carl’s innocence ripped away from him on account of the need to survive, we see how easily humanity in this world can be lost in all, and not just the adults.

With other characters to come, we see the same theme repeated over and over again. What is right and what is wrong in a zombie apocalypse? This is one of the very things the characters in The Walking Dead constantly struggle with. What is a world without your humanity? Each character had humanity in some way or another before this new world had evolved, and to see it ripped away so easily by the stress of survival makes this show question the morality and immorality of each individual on the screen. How far will you go when you have so many lives on the line like Rick Grimes does? The leadership role has more or less fallen on him under certain circumstances, and throughout the show, we see this once Christian man struggle with his own morality.

The show seems to always leave me with my own forks in the road when it comes to the hard decisions some of the characters have to make. I’d always wonder what I would have done in Rick’s place. Sometimes, I even realize my own decisions aren’t what’s best morally, but are what’s best for the groups survival. I often wonder how anyone can mentally be prepared for something as dark and unnerving as a zombie apocalypse when it comes down to life and death, you and your best friend, or even a lonely child over your own.

The T.V show, though, is a huge success and will continue on for quite some time. That I know for sure. The Walking Dead still has a season to finish up with another one on the way. What will happen next for them? I have know clue, but one thing is for sure, no other show could ever touch on as much deeper thought as The Walking Dead can. The right and wrong is always questioned in the characters’ lives in The Walking Dead, and are talked about long after the episodes are shown. The question I always find myself asking, though, is how far will I go to ensure the lives of the ones I care for?

No show will ever beat the intense drama and life or death situations The Walking Dead has to offer. No show could ever compete with the amount of sincere meaning and thought put behind every word spoken in The Walking Dead. If you’re not a fan now, the time has come for you to sink your teeth into a show that will have you on not only an emotional rollercoaster, but also a moral one as well.