Movie Scum

No doubt your DVR is stacked to the brim with episodes of zombies, vampires, Kentucky-based meth-dealers, and other harbingers of the apocalypse, but NBC is unsatisfied with merely having a well-received show about a flesh-eating psychiatrist as its grim factor. Enter Outbreak: The Movie!

S01E06 While I am thankful that AMC gave Frank Darabont a chance to bring Walking Dead to TV screens, I have to curse their apprehension at the beginning with only a six episode order for the first season. Not only does that cut things short before really establishing the tone and direction of the show, but this episode was pretty lousy as a season finale but would have been much better if we did not have eleven months to go before seeing the next installment. Now safely inside the CDC in Atlanta, the group (they really need a catchy name like Apocalypse Avengers or something) meet Dr. Edwin Jenner, the lone scientist left studying the zombification disease after everyone else fled or checked out. At first Jenner is fairly welcoming (as much as a man carrying an automatic weapon can be) offering hot showers, food, and beds to sleep in. He explains what is known about the disease and how it affects the brain before rendering the host dead and resurrecting the brain stem to drive the

S01E05 Just as a quick recap of last week’s review, I didn’t like Vatos primarily because it was less about the great characters and more centered around silly, nonconsequential twists and standard zombie stuff you can see anywhere. Ironically, that episode was also written by the comic’s writer Robert Kirkman so I had expected much better. In fairness, it was not Flesh Freaks or Who’s Your Caddy bad but still kind of disappointing. This week though had everything I expect, want, and salivate for in a Walking Dead episode. Primarily, it centers around the aftermath of the zombie attack last week as there are not only dead zombies and dead humans to deal with but also tree-hugging Jim as an in-betweener who was bitten in the mele. Rick decides the best course of action is to head back to Atlanta (haven’t we done this before?) in hopes to find a cure for Jim at the CDC. Shane however wants to trek to a military base under the assumption it is more heavily fortified and not overrun wit

S01E04 Thus far in the series, we have seen a good number of zombies (mostly in the first episode) but little zombie violence as necks and arteries are severed from the living buffet for the undead. I like this approach as the ending of this episode mostly came out of nowhere in what was otherwise another leisurely adventure in the apocalypse. After discovering that Merle had obviously watched  Saw  too much (or he didn’t think about cutting off only his thumb), Rick and company discover that he is wily enough to cauterize his stump, yet stupid enough to go empty-handed (too soon?) into the urban jungle filled with the walkers. While trying to retrieve Rick’s bag o’ guns, some no-good gang-like fellows pummel Daryl and kidnap Glen before Rick and T-Bone can come to the rescue. As they initiate a trade with the rapscallions, our hero group discover that these hoodlums really have hearts of gold as they fortify and protect a nursing home and its elderly denizens. Meanwhile back at cam

S01E03 When it comes down to it, the major point in most post-apocalyptic stories are the other survivors and The Walking Dead does not deviate much from that tradition. Sure, we still have the looming zombie threat but with only a handful of zombie appearances this week, it is all about the living and their interactions with one another. Rick is reunited with Lori and Carl at their mountaintop retreat in a scene that almost brought a tear to my eye. However, even after their tender moment, Rick contemplates returning to free Merle who was last seen chained to a roof as the group cut and ran last episode. Granted Merle was an ass, a racist, and would likely do more harm than good but Rick, Glenn, T-Dog, and Merle’s brother Daryl set out heading back to Atlanta, not only to free Merle but also to reacquire Rick’s satchel of guns left behind with his now-likely zombie horse. Meanwhile, things at base camp are not too rosy either as the zombies are heading further up the mountain and

S01E02 This episode illustrates why the concept of a weekly zombie series is an excellent idea (being AMC’s highest rated drama doesn’t hurt either). Any show can have a flashy and expensive pilot (and most do) but when it comes down to it, the premiere episode is merely the foundation of the series and usually not a particularly good expectation of what is to come. Historically, a series’ second episode delves more into the character-driven aspects of the show (one aspect the pilot was not lacking in to begin with) as you begin to get a sense of how the stories will unfold throughout the remaining episodes. If that is the case here, we have four   seventeen(!) more episodes of awesomeness ahead of us.After he escapes the tank from the end of the last episode, Rick ( Andrew Lincoln ) teams up with another group of survivors who are now in jeopardy as Rick’s presence has drawn more zombies (or “geeks” as one character calls them) to the storefront they are holding up in. Like with a

S01E01 Anticipation was pretty high for The Walking Dead after information kept trickling out about the cast, the producers, and of course the involvement of Frank Darabont. After being teased for months with a five minute preview, various zombie images, and only a passing familiarity with the source comic, I am extremely happy (if not at all surprised) that the premiere episode of Dead was damn near perfect. Of course, being that this is just the first part of a six-episode season, we are just getting started with the introductions to the zombie apocalypse. I’m happy that we are treated to the necessary exposition in random bits and phrases as opposed to an entire episode as we are kept on the same level as our protagonist Rick (played by Andrew Lincoln) who has literally just stumbled out of a hospital ward into hell on earth. When he is rescued from certain doom by Morgan Jones (Lennie James) and his son Duane (catch the reference?), Rick is thrust headfirst into this new world,