The Walking Dead - Days Gone Bye, Pilot, S01E01

Of all the scary monsters that exist in supernatural stories, the modern zombie is, in fact, the most possible. Although the notion of a disease which brings dead tissue back to life, and renders it ravenous for human flesh, is quite far fetched, when compared to vampires, werewolves, and magic-users, the possibility becomes far more probable. And so we have a hero, walking up after being unconscious for more than a month, who finds the world completely changed and zombies a part of every day existence.

Although I knew that the lead character was not going to die in the pilot episode, this did not stop me from constantly being on edge as I watched him discover a new and terrifying world, or, worse, whenever he encountered a walker (as the dead who come back are called). This show is extremely creepy, and the details are both disgusting and disturbing.

Within the first few minutes, after watching a scene which clearly would take place in the future, we learned quite a few things. 1. Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), our hero, is a cop. Or at least, he was before the zombie apocalypse hit. 2. Finding campsites which are abandoned and have a fair number of corpses about them is something he has become quite used to seeing. 3. The walkers retain some sense of instinct from their previous lives (the little dead girl picked up a stuffed bear). 4. The dead want to attack the living with a terrifying intensity. 5. A shot to the head will, indeed, bring them down.

And then the actually story starts. The quick conversation between Rick and his partner, Shane, did an excellent job of establishing what their mundane, every day lives were. We never saw Rich with his family, never even saw the two men off the job, but we had a sense of who they were as friends to each other and as lovers to their women. We also quickly understood their attack style: Rick was not afraid to take point, and when he went down, getting shot in his bullet proof vest, his main concern was that his wife never know the danger he was in.

Because of Shane's concern for his friend and because of Rick's concern for his wife, both had their guards down which allowed one of the criminals to get a shot past the vest.

As someone who has never read the Walking Dead graphic novel series upon which the show is based, the thing I am most curious about is how long it will take Rick to find his family again. Shane, apparently, managed to get Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and her and Rick's son away from the more infected areas, but he also seems to have gotten into Lori's pants. I suppose you can hardly blame her, given the stress she is currently under, nor the difficulties she and Rick were having in their marriage. I, however, dislike seeing her with another man when I know that Rick is doing everything in his power to get to her.

I don't want Shane and Lori to get so close that her choice is too complicated.

As for the grossness factor, man, are the blood and guts gross or what? It's absolutely stunning in its vividness, but I could do with a little less. I don't actually want less, as I think that would detract from the point, but I don't always need to be quite so grossed out. Also, it is not something I am planning on watching alone because I definitely feel the need to cling on to someone who ought to be protecting me from the horrors I am seeing on the screen.

I am hooked, there is no doubt about that. And I have no concerns about getting to see as much as I want as AMC has already greenlit the second season of the show. The Walking Dead is going to have a long life (hehehe, I made a pun).