Post-Apocalyptic

One kind of weak episode followed by one kind of strong episode. Yin and Yang. Peanut butter and chocolate. That sort of thing. The bottom line is that zombies are back drop and this show lives and dies by characterization. The weak episode focused on Andrea and the Governor, who have become tiresome. The strong episode focused on black-sheep brother Merle, who was a breath of fresh air.

“Prey”

Man. More and more I don’t really know what to make of this show anymore. At times it’s astoundingly written, it definitely holds your interest, and yet… There’s a streak of sadism that keeps peeking through that I’m not so enchanted with. Maybe that’s just inevitable if you keep a zombie movie going past its two hour cinematic running time. Or maybe it’s just me. But I did find “Clear” in particular to be both brilliant and disturbing.

We open with the governor brushing a girl’s hair. When a piece of her scalp comes off, she snarls and just like that we meet his dead daughter, Penny. So the Governor, who up to now has been a more successful version of Rick, becomes an echo of Hershel as well in trying to salvage walkers.

Ten million viewers. 10.9 million to be precise, with 7.3 million in the coveted 18-49 age bracket. So yeah, it seems like the zombies will be with us for a while.

You may recall that when we last left our intrepid band of survivors, they’d just been cast out of paradise as Herschel’s farm became overrun by a herd of walkers. We pick up several months later. Lori, Rick’s wife, is noticeably pregnant and everyone is kind of tired and bummed (post-Apocalyptic life is not for the whiners among us).