The Walking Dead

The original review: it was supposed to be one of the major horror events in recent years, but unfortunately, it was bitter disappointment. Darabont failed to look after the project and, instead of a proper zombie carnage and tense dramatic events, we got lots of lifeless chatter among unlikeable characters. Only the pilot episode is worth some attention. Hopefully, something (anything!) will happen in the second season. Update 2016: I stopped watching the series early in the second season, but I’ve returned to it and watched it in the course of several weeks. The short first season turned out to be the initial flaw in something beautiful. What hurt it the most was that it didn’t have time to get anything proper going and you couldn’t bond with the characters. Fortunately, that gradually improves in the second season and the unexpected deaths of (even popular) characters begin to hurt. The best season for me is the third (thanks to the strong antagonist, the Governor), and then the fifth (the hopelessness of the first half and the drastic change of the situation during the second). Unfortunately, the latest season, the sixth, is a bit worse. I didn’t like some of the questionable decisions characters make that get them in trouble through their own fault, the incomprehensible screenwriting of some of the characters (WFT Carol?!) and that every new character that a little interesting doesn’t survive for more than a couple of episodes (there’ve been at least three deaths this season that really pissed me off, because they could have developed those characters much better). (19.05.2011)

The first episode sets up the entire vision and then the group of survivors move on. And meanwhile, we get four episodes in which nothing happens! Only the pilot, charged with emotions like Remington ´870, and the finale, which brings something new, are slightly above average, the rest of the episodes are unwatchable boredom. What takes an hour could be done in half the time. In retrospect, I can't remember what it was all about when family squabbles are resolved in a flash, and the shooting of the perfect (phenomenal make-up work!) zombies takes minimal time. Such a sparse plot wouldn't even make a feature film, let alone a six-part series. I actually watched it because I was waiting for "something." This is the biggest trap for TV audiences in a long time. The audience success overseas is a mystery to me, but in any case, I can understand why Darabont fired all the writers in the run-up to the second season, even though I actually don't care much about its origins. (07.12.2010)

Serie I: Gut gemachte Arbeit, die überwiegend in melodramatischen Dialogen hinterherhinkt, zeichnet sich jedoch im Gegenteil dazu durch ein überfülltes Atlanta und hervorragende Wendungen aus (Altenheim, Gräber graben usw.). Einige Konflikte zwischen den Charakteren werden als Hauptkonflikte definiert, andere wiederum als vollends uncharakteristische, jedoch die Atmosphäre ist ziemlich beengend dafür, damit man die erste Serie in einer angenehmen Spannung durchläuft, welche von den realistischen Visionen vom Ende der Welt hervorgerufen werden. [75%] II. Serie: phänomenaler Start, die Atmosphäre der ersten beiden Folgen wird auf Hochtouren gebracht. Doch leider beginnt dann das Redneck-Syndrom und alle Charaktere (mit kleinen Daryl-Elementen) zu Grobianen zu degenerieren, die ihrem eigenen Schatten hinterherjagen und immer und immer wieder dasselbe quaken. Schon sehr lange habe ich niemanden so sehr gehasst wie Dale und sein Mardermärtyrertum. Stoff, der für drei Episoden ausgereicht hätte, wird auf gute 7 gestreckt (ungeachtet des klasse Starts sowie dem soliden Ende). Auch Neuanwerbungen werden sich in der nächsten Serie behaupten müssen, denn hier klappt nahezu gar nichts. Eine extremst leichenähnliche Erfahrung. [55%] III. Serie: oder aber auch, wie mache ich aus Befangenheit Leidenschaft und aus recht sympathischen Charakteren reguläre Familienmitglieder. Im Vergleich zur zweiten Serie ist hier alles ok - der Anfang ist nicht zu flott, einzelne Situationen werden gut angegangen, die Chemie der Charaktere variiert, lediglich die Situationen und Dilemmata werden minimal wiederholt (das Weglassen des Liebesdreiecks hat dem ganzen enorm geholfen), Merlas Rückkehr bestätigt WDs größtes Gut: die Fähigkeit Haltungen unvorhersehbar zur Person auf einer sehr geringen Fläche zu ändern. Poetik eines postapokalyptischen Zerfalls, die psychologisch und ethisch gesehen viel tiefgründiger ist, als jeder ähnlich orientierte Film. Die Art und Weise, wie aus den Walkers eine Staffage an Konflikten in einer untergehenden Zivilisation wird, wirkt eher frostig. Würden die letzten Folgen der Serie nicht manchmal ein bisschen "Zeit schinden" (13 wären gerade so richtig), würde ich euphorische Höhenlagen erreichen. Trotzdem avanciert WD zu einem regelrechten Schatz und Rick und Daryl reihen sich zu den besten Charakteren in der jetzigen Glotze ein. [85%] (10.11.2010)

As Romero has proved more than once, the zombie genre can be approached in all sorts ways. But definitely not as a campfire idyll where a group of unpleasant, screenplay-rustling characters drink beer and discuss “problems" that seem to come straight out of a bad telenovela. Nobody shuts up for a whole forty minutes without saying anything at all. The characters lost everything and all their loved ones just a couple of days ago. There are millions of (un)dead all around them. A battle to protect basic values rages daily. They have to risk their lives for a stale slice of bread. Despite all this they long to survive, to have at least a grain hope. Great material, but nothing comes of it. In fact, this all appears in Darabont’s pilot in large portions and then what happens? Nothing. This makes it all the more painful that after the splendid introduction there follow five episodes of cruel and tedious disenchantment. It doesn’t manage to retain the pulp atmosphere of the comic it is based on and so the only good thing that came out of this “study" (literally) of (jack) shit and the “interactive series game" of the same name from Telltale. Season two came along with more episodes and a smaller budget, but the result is absolutely identical to what we got in season one. In other words, absolutely excellent opening and closing episodes with characters still full of telenoveloid stuffing, paper-rustling dialogs and relationships depicted in a way that even many a terrible Mexican soap would be ashamed of. | S1: 3/5 | S2: 3/5 | (06.12.2010)

Season 1 - 70% - The only way to win me over in this genre was through storytelling purely through the main characters. Forced shootouts in seemingly peaceful moments or unexpected deaths are pleasant spices, but since I don't particularly like zombies, I just wanted to fall in love with Rick, Shane, and the rest. And I did. It's a shame that most dilemmas are projected through secondary characters that I know for about five minutes and whose doubts and suffering I honestly don't care about. After an excellent finale (29.11.2012)

It doesn't work on me. It doesn't work on me at all, just like everything that comes out and imitates the work of George A. Romero and his legendary Dawn of the Dead. Romero gave his little sheep... sorry, zombies qualities that unfortunately don't give them much hope of existence in a hostile world, where they would be subjected to competitive pressure. In nature, it's not the taller, heavier or stronger that triumphs, but the smarter one. In the real world, the unfortunate zombies would be brutally massacred by the living humans, who, despite the pressures of civilization in recent centuries, still retain a hidden instinctual aggression, which they unleash through hunting, various games, or war campaigns. Huge arsenals of armies, security forces, and all sorts of lunatics preparing for doomsday would quickly reduce their numbers to almost zero. If the zombie genre is not approached as a parody or significantly modified, then it simply misses the mark for me. By the way, it's quite interesting how the American film industry loves the end of civilization from a zombie invasion. I can imagine dozens of completely real collapses of civilization that no one bothers to adapt for the big screen, and these silly things are churned out one after another. One more thing I would specifically criticize Darabont for - although it's more of a job for the screenwriter - is that he approached his story more as a depiction of survival of an isolated community in the midst of a hostile world. If such a collapse really happened, I feel like I would have completely different concerns and would use completely different expressions and do completely different things than the protagonists of the series. I watched the first three episodes and then the final episode of the second season, and I painfully realized that I, as I often do, did a good job of predicting and understanding how it would all develop, including the character development. Overall impression: 45%. (09.01.2013)