Walking Dead Season 2 Preview
Walking Dead Season 2 is ready to shamble onto our TV screens this weekend, and with it a host of mysteries and questions that left us starving for more at the end of the first season. What did CDC scientist Jenner whisper before he died? Where’s Merle? Will Rick find Morgan and Duane? Will the tension between Rick and Shane boil over? Most importantly, will the last vestiges of humanity be devoured by zombies?
Season 1 introduced us to deputy Rick Grimes, who awakes from a coma to a world already overrun by the undead. He seeks sanctuary in Atlanta only to find that it’s zombie city. When he connects with a group of survivors, he’s happily reunited with his wife and son, but there’s plenty of marital drama since she’s been carrying on with Rick’s former partner, Shane, who told her Rick was dead. Awkward.
After various tribulations and trials, some involving zombies, some humans, the survivors hit the road. Eventually they find a Centers for Disease Control compound, and inside they meet a lone scientist trying to uncover the cause of the zombie outbreak (shades of Lost Season 2, with Desmond living in the Swan Station beneath the mysterious Hatch). The CDC plotline was one of the season’s major diversions from Robert Kirkman’s comic books, and the explosive ending left some major plot points hanging. With no place to call home, it looks like the survivors will be spending some more time on the road.
To ease our zombie cravings during the series’ long hiatus, AMC doled out six web episodes that explored the terror and uncertainty of the initial days after the zombie outbreak. These episodes had serious production values and some gut-wrenching horror (zombie mouth-to-mouth!) as we watch a family literally disintegrate before our eyes. Along the way we learn the origin of the infamous Bicycle Girl zombie and get an awesome zombie cameo from Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian.
Perhaps even more uncertain than the fate of the humans in Walking Dead is the outcome of all the behind-the-scenes squabbling. Original showrunner Frank Darabont was fired by AMC, and the show’s budget was cut even though it set ratings records. Hopefully it will continue to serve up the shocking gore, character-driven drama and white-knuckle tension that made Season 1 so great, despite these obstacles.
Related Posts:
Posted by Ed Grabianowski
on Tuesday, October 11th, 2011. Filed under Dark TV, Headline, Releases.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Tags: amc, anthrax, frank darabont, robert kirkman, scott ian, walking dead, walking dead season 2, zombie, zombies
