JORDAN HARTSHORN
Arts Writer

The litmus test for AMC’s new series The Walking Dead is in how it operates without mindless, brain-starved title characters.

AMC assures us that “story matters here,” but like the lingering threat of zombies around any corner, one can’t help but fear that the show will forego its dramatic appeal and descend into a depthless campy romp like others in the world-gone-to-shit genre.

For what it’s worth, the pilot, “Days Gone By,” made a concerted effort to allay those concerns. The ending provided an orgy of undead action, sure, but their placing served as a cathartic release from a gripping introduction to this austere world. Pressure is put on pilot episodes introduce the audience to its proposed world, and make its viewers feel both invested and intrigued without letting the bombardment of new information get distracting. We need to keep asking, “what’s next?” without thinking, “what the fuck?”

The Walking Dead benefits from having its lead character stepping into its world for the first time with us. Aside from a brief introduction to Rick Grimes’ pre-apocalypse life as a cop in small-town Georgia, his discoveries are our own from the moment he wakes up bewildered in world he doesn’t recognize. Its singularity is simple and effective for the sake of introduction.

It would have been easy to thrust zombies upon Grimes immediately, but the show was not heavy-handed with its antagonists. His first encounter with the undead comes from a distance and there is no direct threat. The zombie girl with no legs is still frightening — like the dark hospital stairwell Grimes find himself in at the start — but serves to illustrate a looming danger rather than an immediate concern. Instead, the audience is allowed to focus Grimes’ more pastoral regard for his family, and come to know their everyman protagonist.

Because while Grimes’ world is eye-catching, the audience needs to feel that he’s an appropriate vehicle to navigate through it. If his struggle were to simply survive, we wouldn’t have a compelling drama in the same fashion that if Mad Men was simply just about advertising. His reaction to being immersed into this god-forsaken mess needs to appear organic and it does.

Throughout the episode Grimes is able to care for his immediate concerns, and explore more intangible elements of his predicament. He doubts his own humanity in a dead world, prompting himself to awake from a dream, and comes to terms with how inhuman his adversaries really are. His conclusions are not necessarily absolute, showing compassion when he apologetically he returns to and mercy kills the legless zombie he first encountered. Uttering, “I’m sorry this happened to you” before pulling the trigger, Grimes demonstrates a conflicted conscious for the killing, instead putting the blame on her affliction and not his bullet. By the way the girl puts a hand up as if in one final protest the scene is almost touching — and not just for a zombie flick.

When episode’s final scene in Atlanta finally unleashes a wave of zombie mayhem it is rewarding, but not overdone. Like Grimes, we’re finally thrust sink-or-swim into the action.

Thankfully, the show gave us context and something to care about initially.