Season four of The Walking Dead had a really excellent
premier. It made the walkers feel scary again after their almost non existent threat
towards the end of last season, and it put us in a place where I honestly can’t
imagine all of the immensely exciting things that could happen this series.
After the attack by the Governor on his own people, Rick and
the survivors have welcomed the remaining survivors from Woodberry into the
prison. The group is much larger now and it gives us several new and
interesting characters who we will undoubtedly end up loving before the
creators of the show decide that they will die horribly and tear our hearts out
in the process. One of these new characters is former army doctor, Bob Stookey.
He is going to be a main character this season and from what we saw of him this
week, seems to have some exciting secrets that will unfold throughout the
season.
The returning main characters have gone through some changes
since season three. Rick seems to be turning into a little bit of a pacifist. He
has taken the responsibility of farming the land and appears reluctant to take
responsibility as a leader, a job that has fallen to Daryl and Hershel. This is
an interesting change for Rick and I think that this change is possibly just
the next step in Rick’s slow descent into madness in the wake of all the awful
things he’s had to do, an issue which was directly addressed this episode. Carol
has also changed. She is probably the most developed character in the series. She
has changed from the always terrified, abused wife and mother from season one
into a hardened, brave and confident survivor at the start of season four. This
is a change that I really enjoyed; one of my favourite scenes from the premier
was a scene in which Carol was showing the larger group of children in the
group how to wield a knife. This was a scene that really highlighted how much
Carol has changed from season one.
Carl is also a changed character. In the premier we see him
struggle to work out whether he is a child or an adult. His confliction is
really interesting to watch as he shows such delight when Michonne brings him
new comics and yet he wants to help his dad secure the prison and gets really
angry with the other kids when they start naming the walkers. Last season Carl
killed a man in cold blood, and it is strange to see him not affected by it at
all now. He still wants to help and fight, and from the brief trailer at the
end of the episode, it seems that he is going to further struggle with morally grey
situations this season.
My favourite scene in this episode was a run that Daryl took
a few people on to a Costco like shop to gather supplies. This scene alone made
me actually scared of the walkers for the first time since season two. The
suspense was really intense and the walkers dropping through the ceiling one by
one was a really scary situation.
I loved this episode. The Walking Dead is my favourite show
on television at the moment and the first episode of season four did not disappoint.
I honestly can’t think of a single thing that happened that I didn’t like or at
least understand why they included it. I continue to be impressed by the
production quality and the high calibre of acting that TWD has to offer.
10/10
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