The undead. Zombies. Walkers.
In a world where almost everyone you ever met is zombified and has an inhuman desire to eat the brains of the living, it would be easy to get caught up in the fear of these monsters. But for Deputy Rick Grimes' family and the band of survivors in AMC's post-apocalyptic drama "The Walking Dead," the zombies hordes are the least of their fears; it is humans they most fear.
The fourth-season premiere of "The Walking Dead" on Oct. 13 proved that the dangers of a planet overcome by zombies do not end with the dead, because the living pose an even greater threat at times to Grimes, played by Andrew Lincoln. What the Governor, who is still on the lam, showed viewers in Season Three was that although zombies outnumber the living and are hard to kill, humans possess the ability to backstab, connive and consciously murder. Even Grimes' pre-teen son, Carl, has a jaded and murderous side.
In the premiere episode, Grimes tries to aid a lost and desperate traveler, only to have it blow up in his face after her betrayal.
Yet, for those viewers panicking at the thought that a series based on zombies would abandon that enemy in favor of humans, don't fret. There will still be plenty of Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) eyeing the undead down the sights of his crossbow in "The Walking Dead" Season Four. The Season Four premiere alone totaled at least a few dozen zombie kills, many of which came when a scavenger raid went horribly wrong.
Now that Grimes and his survivors have raised their own settlement to hunt down the Governor, it will be interesting to see how the dynamic of the group changes with the addition of so many newcomers as well as how not being on the run for a change affects their peace of mind. They have now been based out of the prison for a full season, after many countless episodes of searching for a camp of their own.
"The Walking Dead" consistently pleases fans season after season, despite killing off main characters and making viewers patiently wade through a dialogue-heavy plot in order to get to the action-packed sequences. Thus, there is enough reason to continue watching, or to start watching, this Emmy-winning thriller.
Brett Montana can be reached at brett.montana@student.shu.edu
