After an underwhelming season three finale, “The Walking Dead” returned to AMC Sunday night with a slower-paced and character-driven season four premiere. The episode was the first under new showrunner Scott Gimple, the third show runner since the show began and writer of last season’s phenomenal episodes “Clear” and “This Sorrowful Life.” Under Gimple’s direction, there is hope from critics the hit-and-miss “Walking Dead” will ascend to a level of consistently good writing and character development mixed in with the usual zombie gore. Though there were some missteps in this first episode, it set up strong arcs for several characters while promising a brutal and dark season ahead—just how viewers like it.
Viewers are quickly introduced to a Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln, “Love Actually”) far removed from the leader audiences have known the first three seasons. He is still struggling with the events of last season, including the death of his wife, Lori, and the child-soldier attitude of his son, Carl (Chandler Riggs), who shot and killed another boy at point-blank range at the close of last season. Rick has abandoned the leadership role and become some sort of pacifist farmer, refusing to even carry a gun. He and Carl tend to pigs together, enjoying some relaxed father-son banter.
The audience is also introduced to numerous new characters in the first few minutes, most of whom were brought in from Woodbury in the finale last season. The prison has taken on a sense of community, filled with children and elderly. The past few months have apparently even given some time for love, as we are introduced to several new relationships– so many, in fact, that fan favorite Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus, “The Boondock Saints”) grumbles it’s “like a damn romance novel.” The atmosphere is relaxed and comfortable, and the characters treat the walkers and outside threats with casual indifference—a mirage we know can not last for long.
The peace is quickly interrupted as Daryl takes a group out for supplies and they run into trouble at a nearby supermarket when walkers begin to literally fall out of the ceiling. Meanwhile, Rick takes a sojourn into the woods and meets a woman who begs him to take her and her husband back to his camp.
The episode featured the beginning of what will likely become several significant themes for the season, the most notable of which is Rick facing the question of “can we ever come back from what we’ve done?” and struggling to maintain humanity for himself and his son in their unforgiving and brutal reality. The question is important and will likely underpin the remainder of the season; however, Rick’s side-plot trip into the woods seemed to drag at certain points, and is probably the least interesting part of the episode, although its ending is rather haunting.
The more interesting developments come from inside the prison as we further explore the dynamics that have been set up over the past few months. Carol (Melissa McBride, “The Mist”) is now leading the children in “storytime” which is, in fact, undercover weapons and survival training. This is a nice touch on several levels. The audience sees young children having their innocence taken from them, a necessity which has been seemingly forgotten by others in the prison’s false security. It also sets up a nice arc for Carol, who has been on the back-burner for far too long despite having one of the most interesting journeys in the show from subservient, abused wife to the strong woman we saw emerge last season. Hopefully, the writers will finally do her character justice this season.
The episode seems to particularly explore this theme of childhood and innocence, not only through the children Carol trains, but through Carl as he struggles to return to being a “kid” who reads comic books and plays ball with friends. It will be interesting to see how the children are used in future episodes to further these ideas, and Carl’s growth this season will likely be a particularly important journey. Riggs has grown significantly in acting ability since the first season, and this would be a great time to see him step up and lift more weight in his role as Carl.
Of course, the episode also gives viewers what so many watch the show for in the first place: zombie action. The supply group’s run to the supermarket is a fantastic scene, though the premise for the actual zombie “attack” seems a little far-fetched. The gore seems to have even gone up a level from last season, featuring grisly images of a walker hanging by its intestines from the roof and a particularly gruesome “curb stomp.” “The Walking Dead” has always promised good action scenes and gore, and the first episode had one of the best action sequences we have seen yet.
“The Walking Dead” has a history of building up expectations only to flounder and run in circles with its plot, the major flaw that marked both seasons two and three. This season has started off strong, and it seems Gimple may have finally found a way to balance the action fans demand with the character studies and emotional depth they crave. If the rest of the season consists of episodes similar to what aired on Sunday, Gimple will have done a fine job. With much remaining to be seen, fans should be optimistic.
