Richard Desmond is the proprietor of the Daily Star a softcore pornographic tabloid newspaper. He’s also the owner of Channel 5 a terrestrial TV channel and the future UK home of The Walking Dead1.
Trash for the trash.
The pre credit sequence is flashback to (episode 1) Days Gone Bye: The hospital is chaos overrun by zombies and military death squads. Shane examines but fails to find vital signs thus he must abort his rescue of Rick.
This sequence exists to redeem Shane. It’s extemporaneous; the audience didn’t doubt that he thought Rick was dead. Furthermore the audience was willing to accept Rick surviving the apocalypse. We’ve seen the scenes following the Haiti earthquake and the 2004 tsunami. Chosen people do survive. The problem in this show is in the details. Eg how did the comatose Rick survive with no medical attention including (drip) food and water? 2
The writing on The Walking Dead is so bad they fired3 the writers4 despite it being the most successful show (18-49 demo) in cable TV history1. The season 1 writers were puerile at best hacks at worst. My supposition is that Darabont earned the contempt of his peers at dinner parties. He now wants to make great television – as opposed to simply great ratings.
TS-19 does nothing to further the narrative of the characters. They learn that the whole world has gone to pot – something that the audience already knows. We’ve been waiting for these morons to figure it out but they have to be told. Common sense dictates that in such an apocalypse if the US military aren’t all over it then the US military don’t exist anymore – and that includes the capacity to launch nuclear bombs. Likewise the world military. If the Chinese, Russians, French or the Tea Party hadn’t bombed Atlanta then it’s safe to assume they were incapacitated too. With no television, radio, internet (never mentioned) and no airstrikes it should be a safe assumption that this is the end of the world. Once inside the Centre for Disease Control the survivors shower – in a scene already enacted in Days Gone Bye.
This episode introduces a cringing horror/sci-fi cliché: the mad scientist. This is the lone nut job who will attempt to succeed where multinational pharmaceutical companies have not. There is no cure for cancer, AIDS or the common cold but Dr Edwin Jenner will attempt to find a cure for the Walkers. He doesn’t realise there are no patents or Nobel Prizes after the apocalypse. Jenner does have help though. From a voice activated computer that even responds to Rick. It must know he’s the lead character.
Dr Goebbels would have recognised this show. With the exception of episode 5 Wildfire this series has been a love letter to the racist white supremacist fantasist. The most disturbing aspect of this episode is the dénouement. Andrea and Jacqui decide to stay with Jenner in a Jonestown Massacre5 style suicide pact. Dale refuses to allow Andrea her death. He begs her, pleads with her and rescues her.
To hell with Jacqui.
She gazes in supplication at her great Satan the Jim Jones-esque Dr Jenner.
And so they die.
Thrill Fiction exists to support the horror community. It is my intention to critique film and now television in support of the industry. I will expose the fraud. I will laud the worthy. There are talented writers reading this. The Walking Dead is a prime example of another Hollywood failure. It falls to the responsibility of the writer, not the hack/charlatan, to record the human spirit in the art of fiction. This record will last for our future generations and will serve as testament to our present. They will remember us. We are writers.
Thrill Fiction condemns and denounces the racist/terrorist white supremacist propaganda that is The Walking Dead. As a narrative it is riddled with plot holes, inconsistencies, contrivances, bad dialogue, bad acting, a lack of research and contempt for viewer.
Some viewers are worthy of contempt.
You have not been charged for this editorial.
Bourgy.com is my go-to site for entertainment and jibber jabber. I’d like to thank webmaster Steupz for his support. I am indebted. Ricky Sprague writes at Project Child Murdering Robot and When Falls The Collesium. He is the writer Vanity Fair wishes they had. His acknowledgement supersedes Frank Darabont’s ratings. Thank you to Melizmatic. Don’t be a stranger. Hi to Lee at the Houghly Film and Beer Journal. Keep chugging the pints. A special thanks to all who read my editorials on this series. I appreciate your time.
Next time leave a comment.
It waters my ego.
Next time leave a comment.
It waters my ego.
2 TV.com The Walking Dead forum
3 Deadline Hollywood The Walking Dead lets go of writers
4 Time Magazine Walking Dead writer’s not fired say producers
5 Wikipedia The Jonestown Massacre
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