web counter
 

"The Walking Dead" Season Two Preview Is Mostly Meh

By Rob Payne | Posted Under Videos | Comments (15)

pajibawalkingdeadclip.jpg

If you watched through to the end of the credits of AMC’s “Breaking Bad” season premiere this Sunday, then you probably already saw the below clip from the new season of “The Walking Dead.” Entertainment Weekly (who also provided the header pic, complete with SDCC booth info for your convenience) is reporting that it’s the “first scene” of the season, while other sites are simply calling it a preview for season two. Honestly, it plays like it could be a scene from any point after Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes awakes in that hospital bed. It’s just that vague. If you haven’t seen it, watch (spoiler/NSFW alert: there be zombie guts) here:

I don’t know, maybe I’m just jaded by seeing enough zombie movies to easily pass all of the Facebook zombie survival quizzes, but this video does nothing for me other than having an excuse to talk about the show. (Which, is absolutely what AMC wants, so good for them.) I’ve seen my fair share of zombie brain bashing, and bashed zombie brains, and this was nothing special. I’m more interested in why the Mary-Sue-To-Whom-Bad-Things-Happen Rick Grimes, is alone in the woods after previously being seen with a caravan of survivors, including his wife, son, and (ahem) best friend. This dude knows better than anybody what being alone in an apocalypse of the zombie variety is like, so it simply strikes me as another example of the show’s characters doing things that make no sense, like three episodes fundamentally affected by the narrative dead end of, the woefully misused Michael Rooker’s, Merl. I will definitely give credit for rock usage over a gun, though, and Lincoln continues to bring it with his unsettled performance, so maybe this clip is a sign of good things to come like everyone else seems to be saying. We shall see, but I’m still skeptical.

Rob Payne also writes the independent comic The Unstoppable Force, co-hosts the internet radio show We’re Not Fanboys, and his brain can be devoured on the Twitter @RobOfWar. He does like The Walking Dead comics quite a bit and plans on re-watching season one again before October; he does not hate it, he just doesn’t see what all the fuss is about.









Each Time You Like, Share, Tweet or Stumble a Pajiba Post, An Angel Does the Paul Rudd Dance

← Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution: The Perfect Age Of Rock 'N' Roll Trailer | Planet of the Apes Clip: Who Let Caesar Watch King Kong Again? →









Comments

Nothing special really. But once the theme music started playing I got really excited for the show to start up again.

Posted by: THRILLHO at July 19, 2011 9:44 AM

I hope Michael Rooker somehow returns, he's such a wonderful actor and his character was so incredibly vile and repulsive that I couldn't help being fascinated by him. And what a wonderful foil he'd be for Shane, two overly aggressive alpha dogs snarling at each other while they fight for their lives against the walking dead.

I wouldn't mind seeing Lori killed off, she's right up there with Rita Morgan for blandest-wife/character award.

Posted by: snapnhiss at July 19, 2011 9:46 AM

I can't wait for this show to return. I absolutely loved the first season. As much as I enjoy, and still read, the comic, the show, as a whole, has been better so far.

A nice little clip that shows that the show has no intention of going "soft" on us.

I believe I read that Michael Rooker is going to be in season two. I have no idea how they would re-intergrate him back into the group after what happened on the roof and given how unstable he was before all that went down.

Posted by: Forbiddendonut at July 19, 2011 9:51 AM

Maybe Rick is hunting for food. Or they ran out of gas and had to walk. Or were swarmed by zombies and got separated.

Can't wait for the show.

Posted by: Fredo at July 19, 2011 10:35 AM

Glad I'm not the only one who was disappointed with the teaser and the series so far. I don't mind deviations from the comic (which is amazing), but the writers of the show are not as talented as Kirkman at introducing a character who embodies a stereotype (someone like Rooker's Merl), only to humanize and undermine that stereotype and our perception of it a few issues later. I do not expect adaptations to be faithful to subject matter (if I did, what's the point in watching the show or film? Why not just read the book!) but I do expect adaptations to be faithful to the tone. When "The Walking Dead" television series initially introduced Merl and the CDC, I was incredibly happy that there were radical deviations taking place, only to be let down a few episodes later when they became blatant contrivances.

Posted by: Drew Morton at July 19, 2011 10:48 AM

It seems to me that this promo was going for "Badass!" and "Gross!" both of which were severely diminished because it aired right after what was easily the grossest thing I've seen on TV, and probably one of the most badass.

Posted by: wrion at July 19, 2011 11:26 AM

Rooker will be back. Only by then he'll be called The Governor.

Posted by: superasente at July 19, 2011 12:12 PM

I was disappointed too, for the reasons you mentioned - it's just so generic. Were they expecting to us to go, 'oh my god, there are still going to be ZOMBIES when the show comes back!!'? That being said, I didn't read too much into the fact that Rick was seemingly alone - he could have wandered off to pee, or gather wood for a fire, or anything really. But I was hoping for a little peek at something character-related.

And like wrion said, after watching the boxcutter scene in Breaking Bad, a little zombie-bashing is nothing. It was practically a palate cleanser.

Posted by: Nicole at July 19, 2011 1:02 PM

You shut your whore mouth.

Posted by: DeistBrawler at July 19, 2011 1:07 PM

You shut your whore mouth

Jeez, why you gotta be mean to superasente like that?

Posted by: snapnhiss at July 19, 2011 1:37 PM

It was a short little teaser. I don't think it needed to explain why Rick was alone or what he was he doing alone in the woods. Who knows if it's actually footage from the season?

I think the teaser did it's work for season two. It showed that the group is going to be largely isolated (Rick was alone), desperate (he's using a rock and not some other weapon to bash in zombie brains), in a rural setting and not a city (trees), tired and hot (Rick was looking rough and weary), it's going to be brutal and violent (brain smashing with a rock) and that the zombies will keep on coming... (he killed one and another was right behind it).

Thus, in a short, tight little segment the teaser did exactly what a good teaser is supposed to do. Give you a feel for what the show/season is going to be about without telling you everything.

Excellently and effectively done.

Anyone who isn't seeing that is actively trying not to and is getting distracted by the same minutiae that they needlessly (and in many cases incorrectly) obssessed over in season one.

Posted by: Forbiddendonut at July 19, 2011 1:55 PM

HERE BE SPOILERS FROM THE COMICS!!

superasente , I've been wondering if maybe that's the direction they're heading with his character as well. But one thing that makes me second guess the idea is that the Governor doesn't lose his hand until Rick and the others escape from the town, whereas Merl has already lost his. I suppose it could be one of those plot points where they divert from the comics, but it's a very cathartic moment when the Governor loses his hand, and I'd hate for them to take that away from us in that manner. Of course, we don't even know for sure if the Governor will show up at all, so really it's all pure speculation on my part.

What I thought was very interesting in this video is that you can start to see the change in Rick from the shocked, trying-to-protect-everyone lawman that he is at the start of the series, to the almost savage, kill-anyone-to-protect-his-family survivor that he eventually becomes. The almost wild look on his face when he starts going after the first walker, and the way he pretty calmly just bashes the shit out of it and then tosses the rock at the second one, makes me think Season 2 is when we'll really see Rick start to transition. Of course, that transition won't be complete until after the events at the prison, but maybe this is where it starts.

Posted by: JustBill at July 19, 2011 2:13 PM

While I admit the teaser itself is underwhelming, just hearing the theme music made me happy.

Posted by: MM at July 19, 2011 2:35 PM

A dull, lumbering, talky show has a meh preview? Weird.

Maybe Laurie Holden will have lots of scenes of putting on her "acting" face and staring off into the middle distance.

Posted by: bbmcrae at July 19, 2011 5:47 PM

I just wanted to give a heads up that if you want to see season two of the Walking Dead in HD it won’t be on DirecTV. Good news though, you can get AMC in HD with DISH Network. That means you get zombies in HD with DISH! As a customer and employee of DISH I can’t say how happy I’ve been since I made the switch. Here’s the link for more info - http://goo.gl/bXW9x

Posted by: Robert Paulsen at August 27, 2011 3:09 PM