The staff at my regular hangout, the 20-30 year old men I've gotten to know well over four years, are big “Walking Dead” fans (Wikipedia entry).
This is the first pop-culture review I’ve written here so I hope you’ll indulge me this change of focus. If even a few you try it and like it enough to binge-watch to escape the stress of Trump I trust it will be worth it.
I never considered even checking it out “The Walking Dead.” My idea of a good zombie story is the Drew Barrymore and Timothy Oliphant comedy Santa Clarita Diet. Santa Clarita is an acquired taste (pun intended). So far it has only two season’s worth of episodes. As far as I was concerned the only zombie movie really worth anything is the original 1968 George A. Romero’ s low budget “Night of the Living Dead” which proved that a director doesn't need color to make a really scary horror movie. It was listed number 22 on Rotten Tomatoes best 150 horror movies of all time: “it set the template for the zombie film, and features tight editing, realistic gore, and a sly political undercurrent.”
With constant Hurricane Michael TV coverage yesterday, and under doctor’s order to stop watching so much upsetting news about Trump for the sake of my blood pressure, I decided to give it a try.
My Review of The Walking Dead
I’ve watched four episodes. I won’t give out any spoilers. I will say this. The show is not what you may think it is. It is actually a tale about morality and ethics.
The premiere episode starts before the credits with a sheriff’s car pulling up to an accident where there's a car seemingly out of gas. He walks toward the car carrying a gasoline can (right) and then the story opens up. He realizes that there is something decidedly not right going on. Then, within a minute non-stop action begins. I can’t say more or I’ll spoil the experience for you.
After episode one, I was hooked. Episode two was even better. I gave up on Rachel Maddow last night halfway through and watched episode three.
The show is a damn good character-driven adventure story with narrow escapes and excellent production values. The dialogue is well written and at times the characters engage in clever repartee. Aside from the white racist, his brother, and a wife abuser so far all of the characters are likable.
As I suggest in the title, you have to inure yourself to plentiful fake blood, guts, and gore if you want to try escaping Trump for lots of binge-watching with this cult-favorite show. Be prepared: the only way to “kill” an already dead “walker” (as the zombies are called) is to shoot it in the brain or bash its head in.
Now in its ninth season and according to reviews the best season, there’s plenty of Walking Dead episodes to binge on. It offers many hours of distraction and relief from the unpleasant realities of Trump.
Season |
Episodes |
Originally aired |
First aired |
Last aired |
|
1 |
6 |
October 31, 2010 |
December 5, 2010 |
|
2 |
13 |
October 16, 2011 |
March 18, 2012 |
|
3 |
16 |
October 14, 2012 |
March 31, 2013 |
|
4 |
16 |
October 13, 2013 |
March 30, 2014 |
|
5 |
16 |
October 12, 2014 |
March 29, 2015 |
|
6 |
16 |
October 11, 2015 |
April 3, 2016 |
|
7 |
16 |
October 23, 2016 |
April 2, 2017 |
|
8 |
16 |
October 22, 2017 |
April 15, 2018 |
|
9 |
16[19] |
October 7, 2018 |
TBA |
This is obviously merely one idea for a particular long-running series to binge watch in order to take your mind of the pre-election stress and the unrelenting disgust we all feel whenever we see Trump rallying his minions to shout “lock her up” as he did yesterday during the height of Hurricane Michael at his Pennsylvania rally.
I wrote about it because you, like me, might have written it off because it is a zombie show favored by the much younger generation.
Sometime’s it is best for our mental health to take a break, any kind of break, for the barrage of troubling or infuriating news: music, yoga, a walk in the woods, or even 150 episodes of “The Walking Dead.”