The tone of the TV show The Walking Dead is set before we have seen five minutes of the pilot. Even before the characters has been introduced. Its set when we see Sheriff Rick Grimes put a bullet in the head of a young girl, maybe 8-10 years old. A young Zombie girl that is. From that moment we all know how this show is going to play out, how much violence we are going to see, how much emotions we are going to see and what fine acting we are going to see. Five minutes. That’s all it needs to get me hocked. The Walking Dead has every chance on becoming a classic.

The main character is Sheriff Grimes who after being shoot wakes up in the hospital, a hospital that turns out to be abandon. When he leaves he finds dead bodies all over the town, dead bodies and devastation. Without knowing what has happened he leaves for his home and his wife and son Lori and Carl. When he gets home he can’t find them though. All he finds is an empty house and but before he knows what happens he gets wacked in the head with a shovel. When he wakes up he is the prisoner of a very scared man and his son. After making sure Grimes isn’t a Zombie or “Walker” as they call them they release him and tell him what’s happened.

The rest of the pilot and the second episode are very much spent on introducing the characters and letting us know who they are and how they ended up where they are. Grimes goes looking for his wife and while during so he meet up with a group of survivors and together they do what they can to stay alive.

After seeing the first two episodes it’s clear to me that this series can be one of the best TV shows to air this decade, definitely one of the top three. It’s based on the comic by Robert Kirkman with the same name and translated to TV by none other than Frank Darabont who most King fans know and respect enormously for his great adaptations of King’s work. The Walking Dead isn’t based on King’s work but none the less a great show!


And even though this review is about the show itself I can’t neglect to tell you about the wonderful press kit AMC sent me. It’s beautifully designed and contains tons of material about the show, the first episodes, a book about all the characters AND a replica of the gun Grimes uses. This is definitely the right way to promote a new show. Great work AMC.

As I said, The Walking Dead is going to be a classic. Don’t miss it when it premiers on AMC this Halloween!

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