BY JACOB FERREIRA
The Walking Dead has been running for almost four years now, and despite a few bumps in the road, it has been one of the most watched shows on TV for nearly all of its run. The first half of season 4 aired a few months after the less-than-stellar season 3 finale. The original gang, along with previously rescued Woodbury survivors have built a pretty nice community for themselves. They even have a small farm complete with livestock that is tended to by Rick, who has retired from his violent ways and taken on the role of farmer.
As usual, things take a turn for the worst when a deadly virus begins to spread, and with most of the main cast either sick or away from the prison, Hershel (Scott Wilson) takes the center stage, and consistently gives a fantastic performance in just about every scene he’s in. Season 4 Part 1 has the characters hoping to go back to a livable life, away from blood thirsty zombies, even after everything they have gone through and done to survive. This idea culminates in an incredible mid-season finale that completely changes the dynamic of the show. It’s one of the most action packed episodes so far, but still manages to have just the right amount of character driven moments. Basically, it’s everything the season 3 finale should have been.
The second half of the season picks up right where part 1 ended, and this time, it delves deep into each character’s thoughts on who they are. The group is divided amongst each other in the aftermath of the mid season finale, and must deal with all sorts of tense situations in morally ambiguous ways. Carol, Daryl, and Rick take the foreground in this respect, and go through some strong character development that seems to build up what kind of people they will live as. Despite being separated, all the characters have a common goal of traveling to “Terminus,” a mysterious self-proclaimed, “sanctuary for all,” advertising the phrase “Those who arrive, survive” on train tracks all over the state. Viewers are finally given a glimpse into what Terminus is all about in the season finale, which contains some of the most nerve wracking scenes in the series to date, and leaves the audience wishing they could immediately time travel to next Fall. Even though the finale did a great job of keeping everyone at the edge of their seats, it seemed to lack the sort of wow factor that was present in the mid season finale, and instead it acted as a build up for the premier of season 5. Whether or not this is a good thing is debatable.
One of the biggest reasons why The Walking Dead has picked up in comparison to last season is thanks to its new showrunner, Scott Gimple. Gimple, who wrote the season 3 episode “Clear”, among others, has so far done a great job of reworking plots from the comics for TV in a way that pleases comic readers, and gives TV fans the shock and awe they deserve. He has also proven to have his own original, but equally fantastic, ideas that don’t appear at all in Robert Kirkman’s comics, like the virus at the start of the season, and the (possible) safe haven Terminus. Season 4 of The Walking Dead has some good things going for it, but it also has some flaws that need to be addressed. One, which may be unavoidable, is the show’s fear of using, well, “vulgar language.” It just seems a little ridiculous that children can be mercilessly ripped to shreds, and throats can ripped open with someone’s bare teeth without offending anyone, but as soon as somebody says the f-word everyone loses their minds. I’m not saying that every character needs to swear like sailors, but characters like the newly introduced Abraham lose some of what makes them so special in the source material, and some lines just don’t have the impact they should.
Another problem is the amount of build up and its lack of pay off, a prime example of this being the previously mentioned season finale. After all that hype about reaching Terminus, most viewers, myself included, expected a bit more of it actually appearing in the episode, instead of the drawn out build up we received. The finale wasn’t horrible because of this, but it definitely could have been a lot better.
Despite its problems, which really aren’t that big of a deal, season 4 of The Walking Dead was a huge step in the right direction. Many of the show’s past mistakes have been corrected, allowing it to now focus on the future. There are some high expectations for season 5 of The Walking Dead, and I don’t doubt it will be able to meet them.
