The way the third season ended, I knew this show was falling in my pantheon, but it was still good enough to be a must watch, if PVRed and not an urgent watch.
I didn't mind the first two episodes. I like the slow build (as long as not glacial like season two) and there seemed to be some good scenes and acting. The piggy scene was definitely poignant.
But there does seem to be something missing. I think, at least for me, a lot of it has to do with the common sense plot holes many have talked about. Which of course only really get greater the longer you have a zombie show. As was mentioned, they have this great thriving community, but they didn't think to reinforce the fence? How hard is that? Or at least keep it clear. I know they talked about it, but you would think that would be priority number 1! Not, we'll get to it when we get the chance. Or, we killed 100 yesterday, that's enough. Guess what, you're only going to get more overwhelmed later, I would make sure every single one near the fence was killed. It's not like it's really tough. The characters are popping the zombie heads with the ease of balloons these days.
Secondly, they have known for a very long while that when people die, they change, so why didn't they incorporate some sort of buddy or check in system? You know one new zombie inside the walls is going to do a lot of damage, especially since the characters are basically trapped inside the prison because of the zombies outside. Plus, a lot of these people came from Woodbury, where (it appeared) they did have something like that. How could it not get brought up?
And of course, there are all the questions about the zombies themselves, but I'll leave that be, since complaining about zombies rules is a little silly when you have to suspend your belief just to accept the zombies to begin with. Actually I would like to bring one up, cause it broke it's own rules in the first episode. How do these zombies have the strength to overwhelm or even bite a human if they are basically falling apart? AND to that affect, how can they bite through clothes sometimes, but not other times? In the first episode when buddy is trapped under the shelf, a zombie is creeping up his pant leg to get at naked flesh. But another zombie bites right through the jeans of the guy who comes to help him. Why didn't the first zombie just bite the first guy through the jeans as well? Basically it comes down to because the writers wanted to kill one guy specifically and keep the other one alive specifically. But when you have those little breaks in the 'rules' it kinda ruins the believability of the show and the importance of life and death for the characters.
There's nothing wrong with fantasy and fiction and creating a different universe with different rules (aka zombies) but you gotta play by the rules you define. If you start messing with your own rules, then it screws up the whole thing.
For me, the zombies have always been a plot device more than anything. A plot device to have a post-apocalyptic show for one. To show human nature and how it might change in survival situations. To show how pockets of humanity could become tribalistic. What problems could arise in a budding society (ie disease, like the flu idea). All these bigger themes. So I was kinda hoping we'd see more about the world, how things are changing and moving forward, (or perhaps backwards). What people's plans are to reclaim the earth. Perhaps some new conflicts with other humans. (The Woodbury idea was really cool, just so poorly executed)
But all we've had for a while is kinda this hamster cage scenario. No progress, no new ideas, no plot advancement. Just watching these hamsters go round and round on their wheels with the occasional threat of danger. And our lens on what we see is so narrow it doesn't feel like there's much of a point.
Not saying we need to see characters all over the world doing different things, working towards an end goal, flashing back and forth between different groups, cities and towns. It doesn't have to be large in scope. I don't mind focusing on relationships, how people are handling the crisis, etc. Just that what we're left with right now is kinda just staring at a fish tank. The same thing is happening over and over. Zombie breach, rebuild. Zombie breach, rebuild. Zombie breach, rebuild. And the worst part is, for all the tricks the humans have learned and ways to adapt to the situation, they're still so dumb in other areas so the writers can throw in another zombie breach.
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