- We’ve seen The Walking Dead.
And it’s better.
- People aren’t that stupid.
When the naked guy in Miami ate somebody’s face, the Internet tuned in. Even the CDC has put out a tongue-in-cheek guide to surviving the zombie apocalypse. The fact that everyone in L.A. except Tobias is in lala land stretches suspense of disbelief past the snapping point.
- The characters are bland.
I neither like them nor hate them, so their fate fails to engage me, except maybe on a purely humanistic level of not wishing ill to others others. The main characters don’t seem fleshed out.
Madison—scarier than the zombies. She’s been enabling her sad sack son for years, and now she’s facilitating torture. This woman is proof that the public school system needed an overhaul. Oh, and let’s not forget that she cut a hole in the fence.
Travis—irritating. After five seasons, we know that the Dales of the apocalyptic world don’t make it. Trevor’s hesitation is foolhardy, naïve, and frankly, annoying. His selfish, guilt-ridden desire to blend his disparate, dysfunctional family is the catalyst to the debacle at the hospital.
Nick—a user in every sense. Come on, who’s going to cheer on a kid who steals opiates from a woman dying from gangrene?
Alicia—she thinks dressup will make it all better. Has no one taught these infantile teens about boundaries?
Christopher—his only dimension is anger, spiked by outrage.
Liza—dead (not living) proof that a self-sacrificing nature yields no reward.
Daniel—not even a good antihero. It’s a challenge to identify with a veteran torture expert who unleashes a horde to kill hundreds as a solution to saving three, two of whom are doomed.
Ofelia—unbelievable, with murky motives.
Griselda—stayed flat; now stiff.
- The political subtext falls flat.
It’s cheesy to hint at “all lives matter” in an encounter between police and a zombie. Such a scene demeans the cause behind those riots.
- The first season’s pace is slower than TWD Well-Boy trudging through a river of mud.