Review

In a flashback we learn Shane attempted to evacuate Rick from the hospital, where Rick was bed ridden following being shot in the first episode. Shane failed as soldiers were executing hospital staff and zombies were starting to over-run the facility. With limited options, Rick is still reliant on hospital equipment, Shane barricades Rick's door and escapes from the hospital believing Rick is pretty much toast.

In the present the survivors are savouring the comforts of the underground CDC base, hot showers, wine, food, and safety. Shane tries to explain his actions to Lori, but she isn't listening and has to fight Shane off. Following a night of wine and good food, Dr Jenner explains to the survivors what happens when a person is bitten and infected by a zombie, right up to resurrecting. He also explains that the building is on self destruct and they are pretty much screwed. Rick Grimes convinces Jenner to let the survivors go, but Jacqui decides she has had enough and elects to die with Jenner. Andrea also makes that decision but is talked out of it by Dale. Jenner tells Rick something we can't hear, and the survivors, sans Jacqui, escape the building just before it self destructs.

I was left vaguely disappointed by the final episode of season one, the pay off, the cliff hanger, something anything, Bueller, wasn't going down. If TS-19 had of been a mid season episode then I guess I might have liked it a whole lot more, but as the final statement of 2010 it left a whole lot to be desired. But since I got the box set to review I guess I shouldn't be complaining, so naturally I will be moaning more than a zombie locked out of a bus fill of orphans.

Pertinent to an ongoing plot arc is the revelation of just what happened with Shane and his story about Rick having died. A whole new light is spun onto Shane's actions, and I guess you can't blame the big guy, how was he to know Rick would do a 28 Days Later Jim impersonation. There's clearly a lot of mileage coming up when Rick finds out what went down post zombie outbreak and before he had made the scene. With a decent batch of writers this development could be a highlight of season two.

Season one of the show lumbers off screen like a starved zombie looking for something to do besides decaying

What I will definitely be taking into season two is a jonesing about the information Jenna gave Rick, that was for Rick's ears only. Clearly Jenna imparted some vital information, but just what that information is all about is going to play on my imagination during the wait for the DVDs of season two to arrive on our Fatal Shores. I'm assuming here the networks wont get off their collective arses and pick up the distribution rights to this excellent franchise.

Other than those two plot points I was left pretty much nonplussed with the curtain call for season one. Some fine acting as the various Survivors take delight in the simple pleasures, and get a reprieve from the ever present zombie danger not withstanding. There simply wasn't the X factor we would expect with a final episode. The season limped over the line without really setting us up with a need to see what happens next. While I was pleased to see the characters I've grown to like survive through to season two, maybe having one or two of them in imminent danger might have been worth pursuing, for example leaving it up in the air as to whether or not Dale and Andrea make it out of the CDC building.

On the zombie mythos front we get Jenna's explanation for what happens after a person is infected with the virus. I actually appreciated this insight as it's not usually covered in standard zombie cinema fare. More importantly for an ongoing debate we are having around these parts, a person has to have been infected by a zombie in order to join the undead ranks, there are no indications in season one that simply dying of any other cause will have the same effect. Remembering here we are talking the television world and not the comic one, ergo what happens in the comics does not necessarily translate to the screen. Some people really need to understand that point before pontificating on the mythos in The Walking Dead.

Laurie Holden (Andrea), she was also in Darabont's The Mist, has been delivering good work throughout the first season. A fine Actress that is making every post a winner with her character who has harden up during the season, I'm looking forward to more solid performances from Holden through season two.

TS-19 delivered the season high of 5.97 million viewers up North, indicating the show has retained it's core audience and added to that audience during the season. I have this unsettling notion that the zombie concept has gone mainstream, how freaking long before we have sparkling zombies being hit on by self centered chicks as a concept!

So that's all she wrote for season one friends and neighbours. Overall I had a real good time with this above average U.S television series, though a third of the episodes could be describe as weak, and if I wanted to be pedantic I would also point out some glaring plot issues and a tad of situation abruptness. But hey how often do you get to groove to zombies on the small screen? - sign me onboard season two, I'm ready to back up the first season.