The Walking Dead

For those that missed it, a few weeks back the third season of the successful zombie show came to a violent end, with plenty of fights, deaths and undead action.

The season as a whole has been, in my view a season of three parts. The first half before the holiday break started incredibly strongly, with plenty of action, a fast moving but compelling plot as well as some new intriguing characters. It ended on a bit of a cliffhanger as the group escaped the clutches of the Governor and headed back to the safety of the prison. A storm was coming though as the inhabitants of Woodbury under the leadership of the now crazed Governor prepared for retaliation. The second half started with the battle and the went on from there at a much slower pace. Indecision from the characters about what to do, a Governor character who was starting to becoming a little unbelievable and a sudden lack of pace within the series became more of a frustration. It picked up again slightly after a rather interesting episode featuring Rick, Carl and Michonne as well as an old character.

Each episode put elements for a climactic finale together. However much of it did seem like it was simply following a predetermined path from which it could not stray, well at least the Governor did. Despite being one of the better characters at the start, he was now simply a tool for moving the plot forward, and by the end I was glad to see the back of him. His story had been dragged out too long and was not entirely plausible. He'd essentially become an angry obsessive despot, determined to be an obstructive force to the group in the prison, for reasons I did not entirely understand. Yes they were in a post apocalyptic world, where humanity focused more on survival than being a good neighbour, but I could not see how Rick and co living in a prison, that wasn't exactly next door, was an issue for him. The road between the two sites had probably never been used as much.

Moving on from my ramblings  the finale was on the whole a success. Whilst not giving too much away, there were a few surprises and some extremely tense moments, and even some grieving, depending on how much you like the character. Though it was not the best closure to what had been a decent season, it was on the whole a good send off and left the door open wide enough to make me want to come back to season 4 for more. What will happen next could determine the success of the show to come. Whilst the prison has been an adequate location for the group to hold up in for the time being, there needs to be some more variation in season 4, perhaps they should even go back on the road? The last thing I want to see is the group staying put for another 12 episodes, essentially like what happened in season 2.

Either way the future of the series seems bright, as does to some extent the near future of the characters. Though the Walking Dead has yet to capture the initial excitement that the first season held, it is still as compelling as ever.