Review: The Walking Dead ’30 Days Without an Accident’

Well, the return of The Walking Dead is finally here and with a change of showrunner I’m eager to see how the series twists and turns to adapt the vision of its new leader.  Scott Gimple, the new guy in charge, was responsible for my favorite episode last season as well as the highest-praised episode, both of which dealt with more serious character interaction that used a highly charged dramatic approach that The Walking Dead often glazes over.  So what did Mr. Gimple bring to the table with the season 4 premiere?

The story is pretty basic and nothing truly exciting happens this first episode.  They bring us into the camp of the survivors, a newly renovated prison with all sorts of sustenance projects going on.  They show us some new faces and impart the sense of security that the prison home conveys to the community.  They show some of the ways that the survivors are restructuring their world to both deal with the zombie menace as well as getting back to the trappings of civilization.  And they demonstrate the daily routine of keeping up with the piles of zombies that continue to gather on the fence.

There’s a brief stint into the city for supplies, so we do see a little action, but the action is about on par with anything else we’ve seen in previous seasons, so nothing new to look at here.  And then a zombie eats someone, which was probably necessary considering they’d like to keep their viewers and a bloody death in the first episode is almost a requirement.

What stood out to me was that the interactions of characters felt more subtle.  It’s Gimple’s style that uses a milder approach instead of the near-constant stream of headbutting that seemed to permeate the earlier seasons.  This is something I’m hoping continues and improves along the way, as it would bring a better sense of realism to the show.

The action, as I already stated, was pretty much the same.  That is to say, it didn’t impress.  Zombies ended up in strange places, a series of odd and unlikely coincidences led to an otherwise easy run turning into something fatal and then everybody had to flee without the supplies they came for.  Hopefully they work on this a bit.  Of course, as long as viewers are happy with the body count, the style may never change.

All-in-all, I’m pretty impressed so far and looking forward to seeing what happens as the season sinks into a steady storyline.  Next week, ‘Infected’ looks to be the start of some problems in the supposed security of the zombie-proof prison.  For a brief look at episode 2, check this site out.

Photo Credits -           

Walking Dead still courtesy of bloodydisgusting.com