It was good enough, but I’m hoping for better in February…

Robert Kirkman has said that if it wasn’t for the zombies, then “The Walking Dead” wouldn’t be anything more than a boring soap opera.  The worst thing that can be said about the past seven episodes of this season is that there has been more than one occasion where his words have been proven right.  Things started off strongly with the season premiere and the two episodes that followed, but a lot of what has happened since has felt like the series has been spinning its wheels.  Sure I liked seeing Darryl hallucinate Merle, Glenn and Maggie’s developing relationship, and — even though it was utterly wrongheaded — the efforts of the group to get the zombie out of the well were good for a laugh.  What has been missing from these episodes, however, is a sense of reclaiming what has been lost in this new world.

There was a great scene in the series premiere where Rick took a nice hot shower.  His first after coming out of his coma.  Then you had that bit in the season premiere where Shane came across the water delivery truck and popped open a bottle just to revel in it.  This was also the time when everyone was headed to Ft. Brag but got sidetracked after Sophia’s disappearance and Carl getting shot.  I’m in agreement with most of the internet that the search for Sophia was a big drag on most of these episodes.  If everyone had been as proactive as Darryl in the search, maybe things would’ve been more interesting, but even if the resolution of this subplot in the finale seems obvious or even inevitable in retrospect it was still handled extremely well.

I also appreciated the fact that Rick finally got some worthwhile scenes in the mid-season finale as well.  Shane’s arc has easily been the most interesting to watch in these past few episodes, as everything I’ve seen seems to indicate that he’s going to eventually wind up dead by the end of the season.  (And if you’ve read the comics, then I’m sure you also were amused by who he tried to give a gun to during his rant in Sunday’s episode.)  The show’s writers are, in my opinion, taking the long way around to get him to where he was at the end of the first volume of the comic and while that has given the character and actor a meaty arc, Rick’s struggles throughout the season have kind of paled in comparison.

Sure he had his throw-down with God in the season premiere and the confrontation with Lori about her pregnancy two weeks ago, but even if this is an ensemble show he hasn’t really seemed like a leader.  That changed during his impassioned plea to Herschel, which was interesting in the way that he tried to sell their case on the way that this new world changes a man for the worse.  He could’ve made it a straight up moral choice, but his approach showed cleverness and intelligence.  It also took guts to try and see things Herschel’s way and round up those zombies, even if his return had the worst timing ever.  Then you have the last few minutes of the episode where it shows that even if Shane has a lot of bark, he doesn’t have all the bite he says he does.  Rick, on the other hand, shows us how the world has changed him and that he has what it takes to survive in it.

It’d be great if they can keep this momentum going through the next six episodes, but what I’m really hoping for is for them to incorporate more elements of the comic.  As the past seven episodes have very loosely followed the events of the second volume, we’re overdue to see Tyrese, his daughter and her boyfriend show up.  I’m sure that their presence could shake things up, but given Tyrese’s position of being a friend/counterpoint to Rick in the comic, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if he showed up after Shane is out of the way.  If nothing else, let’s see these people try to take back a little more of the life they knew in this zombie-infested world.  Let’s get some electricity to Herschel’s home so they can start watching movies again!  Have them put on “Dawn of the Dead” and then laugh at how easy those people had it!  It probably won’t happen, but I can hope.