They didn't screw up. I think it's only getting better.

 

This is just a case of being jealous of a great show. Look at all the other drama/action/sci-fi type cable-quality shows on right now. Compare them to The Walking Dead. The walking dead has better actors, better cinematography, better character development, its directed better, the dialogue is better. That's just one of the downfalls of being on top: You also get more criticism. Some of it is constructive...some of it is just asinine.

 

i dunno, i agree to some extent. I think the show may have peaked in season two. I mean, it's not bad, and it's still entertaining, but the writing is just not hanging together for me. I totally understood Shane, Andrea, and other characters who were sorta ambiguous morally. Their motivation was clear. Trying to make Carol into a similar morally ambiguous character just isn't working as well for me. First, I'm still not getting her motivation for burning Karen and David from a practical point of view, as it would have had to have been done before Carol knew how bad the illness would be (which means she basically would have killed them for having a flu, which makes no sense), or after it was clear it was an epidemic, in which case the killing makes no sense in a closing-the-barn-door-after-the-horse-has-already-run-off kind of way. But also, I'm not really getting what the writers are trying to make us think about Carol. Has she taken on a willingness to do extreme things in the interest of the group? or has she snapped somehow, and is murdering people out of some sort of submerged malice? It's pretty clear we're supposed to think the former, but the group is reacting as though it were the latter. I dunno, it's just not making a lot of sense to me. Whereas, with Shane he was envious of Rick, obsessed with Lori and Carl and had this deep-seated need to validate his utilitarian worldview. Andrea felt the need to believe in the possibility of redemption and of civilization surviving the ZA, which is why she drank the Woodbury kool-aid, but she was also a bit vain, so invested in believing she was a good person that she did bad things in the interest of that. I mean, like Shane and Andrea or hate them, you got what made them tick. With Carol, I'm not really getting that.

 

I agree with the getting better. I think the disease, not to mention the super herd, has just put an even finer edge on how close they really are to extinction. And what it is doing to them.

And I disagreed with the meaningless deaths idea in another thread. The deaths aren't making me shed tears but they are certainly meaningful in what they are doing and what they are bringing out int he main characters.

 

Now that's positive thinking, Thanks! "This" group needs it. Be a Rick or Daryl.

Hey, let's enjoy the episodes. Ain't real, anyway.

 

For now, season 1 is still my favorite...even with only 6 episodes. But at the rate season 4 is going, it could at least tie season 1 for me, and maybe even surpass it and become my favorite season. Season 3 is still my least favorite.

 

There were some missteps last year, particularly with Andrea, but this year we're getting more character development, and that strengthens the show overall for the long run. The new "characters" that you mentioned were not meant to be on the show for the long run, but just to advance the overall plot for the main characters. We didn't get to know the backpack guy that Michonne and Rick left behind on the road last year, but his purpose was to tell us something about what the ZA had done to our main characters.

 

Good for you

I didn't think much of season 3, but season 4 is turning out a lot better.

 

As someone who has watched since it first came on the air, I have to say that the one thing that does surprise me is how big the show has become, with such huge ratings. This is not to say that I don't think the show deserves that type of popularity, but I never thought that one that has a Zombie Apocalypse as its backdrop would do so well. It's the type of thing that usually becomes more of a cult classic.

 

I agree, and I think its popularity is a testament to the show's quality, largely set down by Darabont's lead. There's another show called Falling Skies, that is post-apocalyptic but with aliens instead of walkers. I enjoy that show too but the quality is nothing compared to TWD. The character development, the care taken into making scenes memorable, the acting.....it pales next to TWD. When you watch other shows next to TWD [and many of these other shows are good as well], for me, its not hard to understand why TWD is such a phenomenon.

 

You need new glasses.

 

I agree it is a testament to the quality of the show. Word of mouth has been huge with TWD making the audience increase each season. A lot of people that wouldn't normally watch "A Zombie Show" give it shot and like it.

I watched Falling Skies for a bit too, but had to quit it.