“The Walking Dead” comes back to life with a strong premiere episode. 3.5 stars.
Review: 3.5 out of 4 stars
8 p.m. Sunday, AMC
If there’s one thing “The Walking Dead” does well, it’s bookending its seasons with a bang. Season six continues that trend.
In “First Time Again,” our courageous band of survivors square off against the biggest zombie threat to date: an entire quarry filled with thousands of reanimated corpses. Rick explains that as zombies continued getting trapped, the louder moaning drew even more walkers until the quarry contained the equivalent of an undead mosh pit. The walkers are trapped by some abandoned semi trailers, but the group knows that can’t hold the zombies forever.
The episode jumps back and forth between the group’s effort to corral the zombie horde away from Alexandria and the moments leading up to the action. It’s a wise choice. There is so much character ground to cover and the show usually grinds to an emotional halt during the zombie sequences. By jumping back and forth in time, we get a regular dose of zombie action interspersed with drama.
The series is also well served by the return of Morgan. We first met him in the pilot. Morgan was holed up in his home with his son, terrified of his now-zombie wife lurking outside. Morgan reappeared in the third season, having had a complete mental breakdown after losing his son and living on his own. Having now reunited with Rick and the gang, Morgan serves as the series’ moral compass. The show always works best when having to balance the better angels of its nature (Dale, Herschel and now Morgan) against the necessary evils of apocalyptic survival (Shane and occasionally Carol or Rick).
The season premiere does an excellent job setting up the tensions in the group. After Rick executed a rogue member of the Alexandria group last season, not all the neighbors are on board with his particular brand of leadership. Ethan Embry does a fine job as Carter, one of the Alexandria originals. At one point, he even plots to kill Rick before eventually coming around and recognizing that the former cop knows what he’s talking about. It’s a shame Carter has his face eaten off by a zombie in this episode. He would have provided an interesting dynamic this season.
Other tensions arise as Daryl pushes Rick to continue his recruiting missions. The lethal Carol is trying to remain undercover as a helpless wimp. Glen struggles to trust Nicholas, which is understandable since he tried to kill Glen last season and his cowardice cost Noah his life. Abraham seems to enjoy killing zombies a bit too much. Sasha’s mental state is still in question after her death-wish behavior last season. Deanna is still in shock after her husband’s death. And nobody trusts Father Gabriel, with good reason.
It’s taken us six seasons to get to a point where we know this much about the characters. A better show would have gotten us there sooner. Maybe “The Walking Dead” has finally turned the corner. The show is richer when every incident is filtered through a different character’s perception. To have those moments, the characters need to have a few moments to breathe between zombie attacks. Hopefully, this season maintains that delicate balance. The season premiere gives us reason to hope.
Ben Bowman is a RedEye special contributor.
