Zombies Can Be Fun Part 2

It started as a joke presented by my Nerd's Eye View co-host Matt in which last November I would take to the pages of Divergence and review the premiere episode of the Walking Dead. At the time, there hadn't really been a zombie epic on television before, but AMC seemed to have faith in the project, and if they managed to give Mad Men and Breaking Bad some love, I don't see why this new show would be any exception.

So, where is the joke? Matt is very familiar with my lack of love for zombies. Maybe I put too much thought into my interests, but I've always seen them as the poor man's Frankenstein. Okay, logistically it's not true, but both are revamped versions of dead flesh. One's just more complicated.

To say the least, my results (page 25) on the show were equal parts lukewarm and slight intrigue. I found the make-up and visual appearance to be flattering. I even felt kind of sad seeing some zombies get dusted. However, even as they published webisodes on their website, I don't think knowing a back history would make me that bit more excited.

I stuck it out for another 3 episodes, like I had done sequentially with Boardwalk Empire. However, both shows failed to live up to my consistent interest for one reason or another. However, I was slightly hooked enough by the Walking Dead to read the first 25 issues of Robert Kirkman's comic source material. I liked the onomatopoeia segments, but the characters were just dull. Essentially, that was the one thing that transferred to those episodes, and I eventually left.

Since then, I have been on a subtle mission to "get" zombies as more than Frankenstein bastardizations. I don't think brainless monsters can say anything about consumerism, but many argue that's the undertones of Dawn of the Dead. I consulted Andrew, and started a miniature quest.

Between that first episode and now, I have added Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, and Dawn of the Dead remake to my list of zombie flicks (28 Weeks Later is an outbreak movie). I liked the first two a lot, but the rest was dismal. I now understand the appeal of zombies in a short run: escape or die with natural instincts. However, as a whole, I have trouble accepting it as anything more because let's face it, they're still dead at the end of the movie.

So, with several movies under my belt, I was ready to give the Walking Dead another try. I had become a fan of Mad Men also during this time, so I was more accepting of AMC. I also was glad to hear they got new show runners, which many would predict would add something different to the show. By many, I mean the hosts of the Firewall and Iceberg podcast.

So I set aside time to watch it. I was already in a bad mood because FOX had axed the Simpsons for the X Factor reruns, so I was hoping that this would turn it around.

Somehow... in that first 20 minute segment... there must have been some magic in the old snow cap they found. I was intrigued. Where it would be ludicrous to spawn Mad Men over 90 minutes, this made sense. The large panoramic view of zombies running across the freeway was very impressive. The tension was back. I still wasn't wild about the characters, but I wanted to see where this was going.

So did 7.3 million people. It was virtually praised by critics, while a few still lambaste that the rest was garbage. I was part of a minority that felt it got better. While I think this show's lack of end goal may keep me from taking affection entirely, I loved that the characters became a little more fleshed out and got to have one on one kills with the zombies. I also felt that the church sequence was great, thus symbolizing what's important in an apocalypse.

Did it win me back over? I think it just did. This is by no means my favorite show, but with limited material on Sundays, I am now back on board to see where this season takes me. I'm worried that I will lose interest quickly like last time, but if these new show runners can pack as much energy into every episode as they do this one, I may just be revisiting season 1 on Netflix shortly.

So, the question still remains: do I get zombies?

Personally, no. Outside of George A. Romero's first two films and Shaun of the Dead, they still feel like pointlessly putrid creatures. That's probably their point. However, in the chain of traditional horror monsters, zombies don't rank high. I feel there's no complexity there and while they're fun to infuse into stories, I often times want more of a human threat in my monsters, like vampires or werewolves. there's something about being killed by something with a brain that just makes the violence more impressive.

However, if you can create dynamic protagonists in a zombie story, there is a good chance that I'll like the movie anyways. After all, most stories aren't about the zombies, but the people fighting them. It can be intense if the characters are good. The Walking Dead walks that line fairly often. Will it pick up this season, or will I be saying goodbye until "Zombies Can Be Fun Part 3"?

We'll see.