Discussion Thread on "The Walking Dead" TV series, Seasons 1-11 (2010-2022) (1 Viewer)

[The Drifter]

Mods, I searched for (but couldn't find) a thread discussing all 11 seasons of TWD on Blu, so decided to create one. Hopefully this is OK.

I re-watched S01-10 of TWD last year & also watched S11 for the first time, all on Blu-ray. Amazing post-apocalyptic/horror/dystopian series, and I enjoyed/appreciated this much more than I did when I first watched the show via streaming. Seeing the show on the Blu set(s) definitely added to my enjoyment of the series; the deleted scenes on the sets were definitely interesting as well.

Seeing the show over the course of a year (instead of over multiple years) also helped re: making connections between characters/seasons. And, I obviously noticed more details, etc. this second time around.

I had started reading TWD black & white comic book several months before first watching the show. And, it was interesting to see how the writers/producers of the show definitely kept the comic readers guessing re: the plot points throughout. I.e., though a lot of the settings/characters were somewhat similar to what was seen in the comic, there were also distinct differences. Though I'm usually a purist when it comes to adapting books/comics into TV shows/movies & want them to be as true as possible to the source material - in this case I felt it was a good move to change things up. It kept the comic fans guessing & made us watch the show based on it's own merit - to some extent. This was a good move, and this made me almost as much of a fan of the show as I was of the comic (I still think the comic was slightly better, but that's another thread).

Carol was one of those characters that saw the most growth in the series. In Seasons 1-2, she was a somewhat meek character - due to having been abused/brow-beaten by her abusive husband Ed for years. Soon after his death in S02, she was then traumatized by the loss of her daughter Sofia. However, she eventually came to be one of the toughest/strongest characters on the show - and proved to be a real survivor & asset to the group(s) she was allied with. This is just one example of someone who was forced to completely change/adapt in order to survive - due to the circumstances re: the zombie apocalypse & breakdown of society, etc.

 

[The Drifter]

One of the biggest questions throughout the series was: How/why did the zombie virus/apocalypse begin?! This was touched on towards the end of S01, when Rick & others in the group went to Atlanta & encountered Dr. Edwin Jenner - who was investigating the virus. However, this mystery was never solved.

(I know that in the iconic film Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968) - which is considered the fore-runner of all Zombie movies....it was strongly implied that the virus was supposedly caused by a meteor shower that somehow brought this to Earth.)

Negan was a complex character. I'm sure I wasn't the only one that despised the character in his early appearances. However, as time went on he never actually became sympathetic - but was also one of those characters you really didn't want to die off. In fact, IMHO one of the best episodes of the series was the S10 episode that focused on Negan's "origin" re: his wife being very sick & his needing to try to get medication for her, etc.

It was interesting to see the different communities/villages that came up after the apocalypse - with their own rules/culture/etc. Alexandria; The Kingdom; and the Commonwealth were three of the most memorable.

One of the most disturbing scenes (in a series filled with extremely disturbing scenes) was in S11, when a group went into a house that was occupied by non-infected animalistic humans - who were crawling on the floor(s) & attacking the group, etc. I.e., it was stomach-turning to see how these people had devolved so much as to become animal-like - presumably in order to survive, etc. Note that IIRC, this is the only time in the series (or any other WD-related series) when these types of humans were depicted, etc.

I'm probably in the minority in that I didn't see any of the seasons/episodes as weak or below-average. In fact, S10 - S11 were some of my favorite seasons of the show - despite the absence of Rick Grimes.