What's Up with "The Walking Dead": Recap of premiere "30 Days Without an Accident"

When we last saw Rick Grimes and Co. they had just fought back the Governor and his men from Woodbury, Daryl was forced to kill the zombiefied Merle, Carl had killed a boy in cold blood, and it’s safe to say that no one was in a good place exactly. As we rejoin the crew in the season premiere of The Walking Dead the group has finally gotten some of the rest they so desperately needed. The episodes title ’30 Days Without an Accident’ tells you a bit about how things have been since the Woodbury attack. The prison is finally beginning to look like the safe haven we were always promised. Crops are growing, the people are relaxed, and all is good. The problem is this, good in The Walking Dead, is never a permanent thing. It’s only a reminder that the seconds until the next major tragedy are becoming fewer and fewer. We have a huge helping of new community members that, as we’re told early on, were brought in mostly by Daryl. The premier doesn’t really do much to set the stage for the eventual story arc of this season and barely even mentions the aforementioned Governor who is, as of yet, unaccounted for, no, this episode isn’t a landmark setting for the season but more of a preface episode to establish where we are. Other than simply being introduced to the workings of the new and improved prison community, we follow the scouting crew grabbing supplies from a grocery store that used to be guarded by the military and we join Rick on a tense walk through the forest after he happens on a rather disturbed survivor while checking animal traps.

This was not an episode meant to be watched after the marathon that AMC has been running, honestly if you watch this one directly after the chaotic ending of season 3 you are going to be let down. It’s not that it’s a bad episode; just that it’s somewhat uneventful when compared with the last 3 or 4. There is a ton of foreshadowing and tone setting that will be sure to pay off somewhere down the line but for those wishing for a BANG to start the season, you didn’t really get it. What you did get was a ton of unsettling normalcy for the world of TWD. The relaxed way everyone seems to be behind the chain link fences is probably the number one reason that I see serious trouble ahead. Rick, who is working the farming area on his own, is doing so with headphones in so he doesn’t have to hear the growling undead masses only 30 yards away. Community members are taking out fence-line zombies the way you would take out the trash, even the scouting parties are loosening the requirements for who can go out. It’s this level of complacency that is going to mean trouble for the group, trouble that we see beginning at the very end of the episode with the mysterious death of one of the group members, the cause of which is hinted at when one of the pigs on the farm falls ill and dies.

There actually was quite a bit of action during the part of the episode where we follow Daryl and his team on a scouting mission…but this actually goes into my biggest problem with the episode. It was rumored that a main character would be in trouble or possibly even die during the premier, nope didn’t happen. The whole time I was scared that the good times Daryl was having were simply a way to set us up for his death to take maximum hold of us…nah, no way, they couldn’t kill Daryl. Wait, Glenn thinks Maggie might be pregnant….could this mean he’ll be distracted and caught off guard? Nope. What we get is newcomer Zach, the love interest for long time group member Beth, getting torn apart after trying saving the also new, Bob, played by Lawrence Gillard of The Wire fame. Zach’s entire character only served two purposes. 1. To allow the show runners to kill someone off and 2. To show how cold Beth has become. It’s a bit of a catch 22, it feels like there need to be actual stakes for the characters we know and love but at the same time there aren’t many left that I’d be ok letting go of (Carol, is who we decided would be ok to go). I know people love/hate the way Game of Thrones kills off major characters, it does keep you on your toes, the difference between the two shows is that GoT has still got several major players that could be killed off without losing to much draw. Let’s be honest, Rob Stark is not who anyone tuned in to see every week. TWD is down to the felt with expendable characters, so they need to either make us love some of the newbies or prepare to make some tough decisions.

Rick’s walk in the woods with the obviously deranged woman he runs into? Not really even worth talking about. He follows this woman back to her campsite so that he can ask her and her husband the three questions devised by the council that would let him know whether or not they would be ok to come back to the prison. There’s about 2 seconds where you think that everything may be kosher with this chick, the rest of the time you’re simply wondering what the trap is going to be. Was she sent by the governor? Is she the bait for some other group? We end up finding out that the woman is keeping her long dead husband with her as she can’t go on without him. We never actually see the husband, just a mass under a blanket that seems to be moving. The woman then lays out to Rick that she can’t go on without him and to please not kill her when she comes back as a zombie, next thing you know she goes all Hara-kiri and spills her own guts on the floor. So, of course, using the experience of the past three seasons Rick wastes no time putting a bullet in the head of her and the mass under the blanket, right? Nope, apparently it’s not going to obviously bite you in the ass to leave two walkers alive…err..undead. He leaves the two of them to their decaying love story and walks back to the prison. You can plan on seeing her again at some point, most likely killing someone close to Rick ala Dale’s death in season 2.

It wasn’t all bad though, if you watch the show for the amazing make-up and special effects, you were not let down. The premier brought some of the most disturbing visual moments to date causing me to turn my head more than once. This is going to be one of those episodes that we’ll look back on later and see that it was the foundation for an amazing structure to come later. It’s only really disappointing as a reintroduction to the universe that we left some 6 months ago. Maybe it’s the fan boy in me but all these things aside this episode solidified The Walking Dead as my #1 show. Even though nothing really happened it was just nice to be with old friends again…a feeling that makes me even more nervous about what the next few Sunday nights will bring.

And now, as we'll be bringing you every week. The other side of the story!

A Dash of Dissent: Rocky’s Thoughts on “30 Days Without an Accident”

So while John recaps this fourth season of “The Walking Dead” properly, I’ll be watching, too, and adding some brief thoughts (five, actually) about what worked for me and what didn’t. I’ve read “The Walking Dead” comics and thought season one had a lot of potential, but I’ve only thought the show has gone downhill from there. Will season four set things right? Well, maybe.

I must admit that there are some things that actually worked for me this episode! And some things that, as expected, sucked. So here are my five quick reactions; I’ll do this every week to counteract John’s strong fanboying of the show. Because someone has to crush his happiness, and that someone has to be me.

(A few kind-of spoilers ahead, FYI.)

+ Carl actually looks like he’s aged! One of the best things about the last half of season three of “The Walking Dead” was how they redeemed Carl’s character; he transformed from a whiny brat to a legitimate badass who understands how to survive in this world, which is far more in line with how he is in the comics. Sure, a kid with a gun is unsettling. But in this reality, I expect that, and appreciate that they’re willing to let Carl go there. But Carl being older and wiser is a good thing, I think, and I liked the meta angle of him reading comic books. Comic books about zombies, perhaps?

+ Something else that worked for me: More multiracial relationships! Maybe you’re scoffing at that, but the reality is that most television today doesn’t touch multiracial romance, probably because of the fear that viewers will react like those assholes who hated that mixed-family Cheerios commercial. So Glenn and Maggie are going strong, and Tyreese and Karen are a thing now. Cool! It’s a little thing, but I liked it. Love is love, especially during apocalyptic zombie endtimes.

+ A mixed bag: New castmembers Lawrence Gillard Jr. (D’Angelo Barksdale from “The Wire,” joining fellow “Wire” alum Chad Coleman, who played Dennis “Cutty” Wise and is playing Tyreese on this show) playing recovering alcoholic Bob and “Veronica Mars” alumni Kyle Gallner (Cassidy/Beaver Casablancas!) playing Beth’s boyfriend Zach. Gillard is a phenomenal, emotive actor, so I’m excited to see where the Bob character goes, especially because he is already extremely different from the same character in the comics (main difference: Bob in the comics was white and tight with the Governor). But it was a bummer to see Zach killed off in this episode, not only because I wish Gallner got more work, but because I think it was a little silly of the show to pair off people in romantic relationships and then cheaply pull on our heartstrings by separating them. It just seemed too obvious to me.

+ Just upsetting: More kid characters. Carl has finally stopped being an annoying brat, but now the show adds more kids that are annoying brats? That girl who sassed Carl by telling him zombies aren’t dead, “just different,” is infuriating. I barely care about the Woodbury additions to this community, and now I’m expected to care about their self-absorbed, ignorant children? No thanks.

+ And finally, the worst: The suggestion that Rick won’t end up in charge of this community again. The prison is now being run by a ruling council including Daryl, Carol, and Hershel, and they’re doing things like planting crops and organizing story-time; Rick isn’t directly involved. But this show is about Rick; he’s our hero and our protagonist and our goddamn sheriff. Am I really to believe that he will be pushed aside forever? Because we all know the Governor is going to come back. And we can all guess that the community will turn to Rick in that time of crisis. So let’s just stop pretending, please. Don’t waste our time, like the entire last season. (Zing! Because last season sucked.)