User Reviews

Now that we are four seasons into THE WALKING DEAD, one can look back at DAYS GONE BYE and truly appreciate what a stunning achievement it was and how AMC raised the bar on mature entertainment in prime time. Everyone was impressed with the zombie makeup-those walking corpses were as good as anything seen in the movies. And the special effects were outstanding-try not to wince when that poor horse is disemboweled and devoured on the streets of Atlanta. There was high praise for the way director Frank Darabont paced the story and set a most ominous mood right from the start, making us truly believe this was a world where death could come shambling out of the shadows at any moment.

But we can now look back and grasp just how well the characters were delineated and the story laid out in a way that set the stage for much of what was to come. The opening scene where Rick Grimes encounters the little girl in slippers plunges us right into the apocalypse with no warning or exposition: we learn that something bad has happened, so bad that people fled their homes and camped at a gas station waiting for a tanker truck that never came. Now there are corpses everywhere, some of which get up, walk around and attack the living. A bullet through the head, even a child's, is the only solution. A flashback to before the apocalypse reveals Rick and his fellow officer, and best friend, Shane, going about their business before the world went to hell. It's quickly established that these men have been friends for a long time, there is tension in Rick's marriage, and that they know how to handle themselves in a tough situation. If only they knew how tough things were about to get.

A shootout leaves Rick in a coma, one from which he does not awaken until after the zombies have ravaged the world. It's telling that the one memory he holds onto is of a visit from Shane, bearing flowers, and not one from his wife, Lorrie, or his son, Carl. It's this memory that finally shakes Rick back to consciousness and the dead flowers in the vase hint at how much time has passed. We are not shown how civilization ended, but the rows of body bags, burned out buildings, abandoned military equipment, the chained door with the Dead Inside warning are all images that let the viewer write the story for themselves.

Rick is saved from a Walker by Morgan and his son Duane (named for an actor in the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD) and learns the hard facts of the new reality, but is determined to go find Lorrie and Carl, who may have fled to a refugee camp in Atlanta. Rick hits the road, but Morgan won't join him because he can't let go of his old life by putting a bullet in the head of his zombie wife. There is no sanctuary to be found in Atlanta, only a herd of ravenous Walkers and the episode ends on a perfect cliffhanger. Before that, it is revealed that Lorrie and Carl are safe, so is Shane, who has gotten very close to Rick's wife in his absence. We also briefly meet future regulars Dale and Glenn.

By the end of the episode, many plot threads have been put in motion: How much Rick loves his family; How much Shane desires Lorrie; How much she desires Shane (and why her character will be hated so much by fans in the future); How deadly are these Walkers in a group; How Rick might be a good guy, but he doesn't always make the best decisions; How Shane might be a hard head, but a better leader than Rick.

Right from the start, the acting was exceptional and huge reason why the show was a success; all of the performers-Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, Sarah Wayne Callies, Lennie James, Chandler Riggs, Jeffrey DeMunn-never once overact or camp it up in a way that would have ruined the mood. They really make these people real and make us care what happens to them; which makes much of what happens later so shattering for us fans.

With the exception of LOST, no show in TV history ever got off the mark so well as THE WALKING DEAD. Of course they had Robert Kirkman's comic as a source material, but a good book doesn't always translate. Thank God they got this one right.

What a wonderful first episode. It flies by (is over an hour but felt like 20 minutes to me) and does several important things. It introduces some main characters, especially Rick, a family man and cop. He wakes up from an injury related coma and finds lots of corpses, lots of zombies and a few people. The first two people he teams up with are father and son, and the camaraderie established between Rick and the father is amazing. I really felt for these characters, almost as though they were real people right in front of me, and found myself hoping they would protect themselves from the zombies. There is a very touching subplot involving the father and son that I will not spoil; it is painful without being melodramatic. The episode shows that people who are desperate can still have a sense of fun; by enjoying the first shower in a long time, or by riding an enthusiastic horse when one runs out of gas for a car. The episode is captivating but casually paced, until a thrilling scene at the end. My all time favourite TV show (The Wire) had a relatively dry and unappealing first episode; the Walking Dead has done the opposite, drawing me in right from the start. Well done AMC!

I thought i'd begin by saying that i have just began watching twd and i thought i would review each episode title, all the way up until the season 6 finale. I have done this for Jessica Jones and Game of Thrones too.

Anyway, this is not a 9.2. This is easily a 9.5. It was without a doubt the best series premiere i have ever seen. And the shocking part about it, we only met about 5 characters and two of them aren't even series regulars. Lennie James and Andrew Lincoln ( who are BOTH British) were absolutely phenomenal, it was the best acting I've ever seen, and I'm shocked that i have previously read Game Of Thrones is a better acted show, this episode alone defeats any episode of GoT.

I must admit i found this episode to be more upsetting and emotional than scary and frightening however, in a weird way it was exactly them 4 things. The opening shot of Rick shooting the zombie girl in the head was f*****g scary but at the same time, deeply emotional. Then you have literally every scene with Morgan were James and Lincoln shine powerfully ( sorry i know I've re-iterated the same point aha). But of course, the ending scene explains to me why this show is labelled as gory and disgusting. after 40-50 minutes of deep emotions and incredible acting, the episode was topped off with Rick's horse being completely devoured by the walkers, and Rick hiding in the tank. It was a great cliffhanger to an even better cliffhanger.

If the show is constantly like this, then i will be very confused as to how this show has received an 8.6 rating, while the highly overrated Game of Thrones is a 9.5. if you have any problems with this, send a message to me on instagram or snapchat - jonnyedwards2, both are the same username.

Also, shout out to Greg Nicotero for his disgusting work!

(Spoilers) Whenever I get to talking about comics with anyone I always bring up one specific title. The Walking Dead. To me, it's the most ambitious, rewarding, and well-written comic being released today. When I heard that they were making a TV show out of it I couldn't have been more excited. Then the good news started pouring in: AMC would be broadcasting it and Frank Darabont would be at the helm. AMC has a flawless track-record when it comes to TV (as we all know) and Darabont can handle the character development that is essential to the success of the story. So I waited patiently for Halloween night to see if my dream of the perfect adaptation was to actually come to fruition.

It did.

The Walking Dead proves to be everything that fans wanted and more. The story opens with a bang with our hero, the Gary Cooper-esquire Sheriff Rick, blasting a child zombie in the head. Then it flashes back to before the outbreak to a scene between Rick and his partner Shane that not only tells us about their relationship, but the relationship that Rick has with his family. He loves his son and his wife, and while his marriage is not without its rocky spots, Rick is the type of man whose main concern is raising his family in the right manner.

Frank Darabont creates the perfect atmosphere, allowing us to get to know Rick and the world he has found himself in before cutting to the action. In fact, this episode is quite light on the action--that is until the last twenty-or-so minutes.

The scenes between Rick and Morgan were fantastic. Morgan and his son Duane are squatting in Rick's neighbor's home unable to move on. I mean this both literally and figuratively. One, there are plenty of zombies outside and they are not armed well-enough to defend themselves, and two, the matriarch of the family is a zombie, roaming outside trying to get in the house. Morgan cannot bring himself to shoot his wife because when he sees her, he still sees the woman he loves. He looks a photographs of his wife and sees that everything that his wife was is now gone, but he just can't bring himself to shoot his wife. There is a rather beautiful scene cutting between Morgan attempting to put his wife to rest and Rick hunting down a suffering woman in a park that he had run into earlier. The music and the tension created in this scene is perfect. We as the audience needed to see the pain and confusion that our characters are going through. These zombies used to be human, and in our characters minds it's difficult to understand that the spark behind their loved ones eyes is out. There is nothing left of them except for their bodies and basic primal instincts.

"I'm sorry this happened to you," Rick says as he puts the woman out of her misery. A beautifully simple line that says more about Rick than anything we had seen before it. Rick still has compassion for these people. He recognizes that while they need to be dealt with, they were once human just like he is now.

I want to take a moment to point out that the cinematic style for this show is perfect. There isn't a single shot that is wasted. Darabont shot the show in 16mm film which adds a filmic grain to the picture--which is perfect for the apocalyptic feel that the series is going for. The look of the show is striking. The flickering lights and scruffy details on people's faces only enhanced by the shows gritty appearance.

We see later on that Rick's family is indeed alive and being taken care of by Shane, Rick's old partner. They are with a group of strangers and they have a CB radio with which they are searching for other survivors. The big reveal of the scene however isn't that Rick's family is alive--but it's that Rick's wife, Laurie, has become romantically entangled with Shane. Of course, she doesn't know that Rick is alive, and probably assumes the worst, but still it's pretty rough. We only get a small glimpse of Rick's family, but a small glimpse is all we need because for now, our main focus is on our hero.

The end scene shows us what kind of pulse-pounding action (and gore) we can expect from the series. Darabont has told us that AMC put little to no restrictions on what kind of violence they will be able to show, and the last twenty minutes proves it.

The show ends with a cliffhanger, our hero trapped in a tank, surrounded by zombies. It's obvious that he is contemplating suicide until a voice comes from the tank's radio: "Hey you, dumb-ass in the tank, cozy in there?" The voice not only gives a relief to Rick, but provides relief to us as well, as it's the first bit of humor we get. The camera pans to the zombies devouring the horse (in graphic detail)and zooms out to an aerial shot showing hundreds of zombies zooming in on Rick's position. All this to the tongue-in-cheek tune "Space Junk" by Wang Chung.

We are definitely in for a ride.

I have become a huge fan of this show. I will have to say that I gave Episode 1 a lower rating. I had stopped watching this show because of this episode. It seemed low brow because of the language and it does take time for some people to get use to the amount of gore and violence on the show.

I want to say to anyone that hasn't watched this series. Give it a chance, if the violence seems too much. It's worth it because the story is amazing.

The cast is also part of what makes this show really work well. They did a good job and it is very important to have a good cast for a show like this one. It keeps you interested.

Okay so I like zombie apocalypse stories, usually. As far as the zombies go, it's not a bad show. However, major plot holes make me cringe in almost every episode. In the first season, it was discovered that to avoid being detected by zombies, the characters needed to smear themselves with dead zombie guts since, it is presumed, the zombies can tell they are alive by smell. Then, in the next season, the group of travelers manage to avoid a whole "herd" of zombies by merely crawling under cars and remaining silent. Huh? What happened to the smell thing? Then there is the transmission of zombie-ness: a bite or scratch will do it, but not being smeared with zombie guts. Hmmm. Finally, I live near Atlanta, GA where the whole thing is set, and in the show it NEVER rains except when it is needed to wash zombie guts off of the people who were using them to blend in. Maybe zombies can only smell you after it rains? There are trees and green foliage everywhere, but the climate is apparently a desert. But not a very hot desert. Occasionally, characters are seen sweating, but as a resident of the unbearably hot southeast, it is hard to stay dry going from the front door to the car in the driveway! What? Okay, so maybe the first three seasons happen during a rare mild spell of weather. That means that these 3 seasons occur over a period of like 10 days. It feels more like 3 weeks, but this is way too slow of pace, in my opinion. The point of apocalyptic stories is that civilization has crumbled, and while the conflict with zombies has merit, the battle with nature should be equally prominent. But these folks apparently live in an idyllic place where it is never too hot, never too cold or wet, and well, if that is the case, who needs civilization anyway? For me this undermines the dystopian themes that it tries so hard to convey, crucial to this kind of story, in my opinion.

This is great television!!!! How did this great show decline into what it is currently after 9 seasons? I remember how I used to sit at my desk at work and think about how I couldn't wait to go home and watch Walking Dead. Now I watch out of a sense of obligation because I have to see it through. I just might watch these first seasons all over again.......

Twd is my favorite series, I started watching it when the third season was ending and so far I still watch it. the first episode attracted me forever to the series and managed to attract a great fandom.

Frank Darabont managed to develop a great first episode and one of the best episodes of the series.

The episode begins with the iconic scene of the series, when Rick goes to a gas station looking for gasoline for his car. Rick finds the zombie girl and kills her, a great scene. I love the talk between Shane and Rick, both actors have great chemistry and their characters are incredible. Rick and Shane are in a gunfight, in which Rick is shot and enters a coma and everything started here.

I love the theoretical setting of the darabont episode and a spectacular address. Rick discovering the disaster that is the new world keeps us tense and just as confused as he. The bicycle walker is another iconic and very impressive moment.

Rick and Morgan from the first minute have great chemistry and a good relationship, solid and entertaining, which makes us empathize with both and their problems, something necessary in a first episode.

Rick decides to go to Atlanta in search of his family, which was shown to be in a camp outside. the scene was very tense, accompanied by a great soundtrack and direction, rick sees a helicopter and finds a horde and then ends up locked in a tank, surrounded by walkers, his dead horse and with glenn on the radio.

I love the walking dead and especially love this episode because I was unable to take my eyes off of the screen, I was hooked instantly. For the people that haven't seen the walking dead yet, watch it, the whole thing as well. It is one of the greatest shows I've ever seen right up there with Breaking Bad and Dexter. The first thing you see in this episode is a road with flipped over destroyed cars and a police car drive up to a gas station and a sheriff hops out (Rick Grimes) and he walks over to the gas station with an empty can of gas. He gets to the gas station and sees a sign that says 'no gas'. He then starts to look around in hopes of finding some gas but instead sees a little girl stand up and walk to a teddy bear and pick it up. She then starts walking away and Rick begins trying to talk to her but it turns around and reveals that it's a zombie. So Rick shoots it in the head. Then the title sequence happens and greatness begins. Rick gets shot during a car chase and slips into a comma but wakes up weeks later in the hospital and realizes that the world has been over run with zombies and his family is gone so goes to Atlanta to try and find them but gets swarmed with zombies and trapped in a tank and someone on a radio greets him (Glenn). I loved this episode so much and it is one of my favourites.

The Walking Dead is a phenomenon.This pilot has it all suspense,supreme acting,amazing imagery,frights and sheer tension and is the beginning of a show that has lasted so far close to five years and who's fan-base has grown and grown and turned a series about zombies into a global mega-hit with a outstanding cast of actors and a group of characters that we care dearly for,no show ever has given us such a set of people to root for like this and it ain't scared to kill them off.

Sheriff Rick Grimes(a magnificent Andrew Lincoln) wakes from a coma(after a gunfight goes wrong)to find the world in a apocalypse scenario and sees the dead have returned to life and are known as Walkers(Zombies). He meets father and son Morgan and Duane Jones(Lennie James and Adrian Kali Turner)who informs him of what has happened to the world and why its not a good idea to get bit by a walker. Rick after resting decides to venture out to try and find his wife and son but as he races off on a horse he comes across a huge group of walkers,is his life over or will somebody lend a hand.

This show had a massive build up with previews and trailers mainly because of the huge fan-base with the comic book its based on so I was really looking forward to it but was wary it could never touch classic films like 28 Days Later(plus 28 Weeks Later)and Romero films but I was blown away by how awesome it was and knew from just one episode that this was something special and it has grown with each season and I put on the same level already as those classic movies(apart from 28 Days Later as that is my favourite zombie/apocalypse to date).

Andrew Lincoln was already well liked for me from stunning British series Afterlife and I knew he was a sublime actor but his Rick is fabulous he really is with a accent inch perfect that you would never think he was British born.We follow him from his awakening into a world so changed to before his shootout(which we see in a flashback)and feel his pain at thinking he has lost everything and pray with him in hoping his wife and son are out there and escaped this dreadful existence.He is a fast learner of this world he now lives in and its one of the strongest opening performances in any show and though nowadays there are plenty of other characters this is Rick's story and everything especially early on is centred on him and already his leadership qualities are there,a phenomenal lead actor,one of the best.

Of the few moments we meet other actors they make their mark like fellow British actor Lennie James who excels as Morgan a tough father both in how he is and how he speaks and glad he returned later down the line and he along with Norman Reedus(Daryl from later on the series)share the strongest friendship with Rick. His son Duane played by Turner does whatever he is told but shares a strong bond with his father and the story of his mother will break your heart and is a focal point of this first episode. Series regulars Shane(Jon Bernthal),Rick's wife Lori(Sarah Wayne Callies),son Carl(Chandler Riggs) and friends to be Dale(Jeffrey DeMunn)and Glenn,voice only(Steven Yeun)have brief scenes to introduce their selves especially Shane who we see in some great flashbacks with Rick and though he turns volatile as the show goes on Bernthal is a epic talent and one of the strongest characters in WD history and here is a character who wants to lead the group(if in a different way to Rick).They all get to shine as the series goes on,its a supreme cast.

As for a story and action this first episode is gripping and though future instalments have more omg moments this is stuffed full of tension filled scenes which begins with Rick coming across a zombiefied girl before scenes with Rick and Shane pre walker world,Rick awakening to a deserted hospital(and a creepy 'don't open dead inside' door)before going out 28 Days Later style to a abandoned world,seeing bicycle girl before meeting Morgan and Duane who tell him of the world now including the heartbreaking story of his wife,now a walker until finally Rick heads off on his horse and stumbles upon a massive group of walkers. Meanwhile Shane and Laurie are a sort of couple who hideaway with Carl,Dale and others and these scenes though slower are great as we know there are other top characters besides Rick.

The imagery is incredible with streets empty,cars tipped over and buildings crumbling and the emptiness will give you chills but you just know somewhere walkers are there like the 'don't open dead inside' which Rick discovers early on,this is unbeatable version of a apocalypse and to see the world so quiet and abandoned will chill you.

The walkers or zombies are very well done and the best I have seen to date with so many and different verities to them including bicycle girl,Morgans wife and the little girl.The sheer number of them is staggering too and the use of many extras makes it more realistic to look at.

A wonderful start to a realistic,superb acted,action packed and gripping phenomenon with a brilliant leading actor and character who's journey begins here,we are approaching season six lets hope for many more to come.

I watched this when it came out and remember liking it, particularly Frank Darabont's crisp dialog. On a second viewing, 13 years later, woah. There are some problems.

So, Rick Grimes gets shot in the side. It's bad, but not crazy bad. He's in the hospital and he passes out, apparently, because when he wakes up the world has been entirely transformed. And not just in the span of a few hours. The changes had to take days, maybe weeks.

At least a week.

The world is wrecked. Rick slept through tanks and helicopters and absolute mayhem. The slaughter of hundreds of zombies. Bedlam in the hospital. Rick was unconscious so long that people gave names to the zombies - "walkers" - and know how they operate, how to deal with them.

A week. Easily. Yet all that time in a hospital bed and Rick didn't poop himself or pee himself or wake up FOR ANYTHING. He's got a full beard though.

While Rick slept, a man and his son lost the wife / mother. She turned to a zombie while they were in someone else's house squatting. They had left their home, gone to another home, the wife died, turned into a zombie and they turned her loose outside. While Rick was cutting Zs in the hospital.

Rick was out of it for so long, apparently, his wife assumed he was dead and slept with another guy. Hooked to an IV, just snoring away while the military bombed buildings and people screamed and zombies died en masse, Ricks wife was like okay, it's time to move on, how about I let Ricks best friend have a poke.

Other than that, well, it wasn't so bad, just not as exciting I'd remembered. I've seen the opening of The Last of Us now, so I'm spoiled.

This episode honestly felt slow, with Rick making some really dumb moves, like turning his back on a car full of murderous criminals, or shooting a guy in the head in close quarters, blowing his ear drum. Certain scenes were even laugh out loud funny - Rick running around in his hospital gown with that fake beard on, trying to react appropriately to hell on earth.

Granted, it all must've worked on me the first time, because I watched for several seasons.

I won't be doing that again.