Admittedly this week (and probably most of this month) will feel like an October sort of month due to how many things connected to scary and horror that I'm reviewing at the moment. So I have previously talked about
The Walking Dead and one of its spin-offs. So today I will be reviewing the first spin-off the show ever had. Some of you may be asking why I'm not including Season 6. Well that's because it's not yet available to Prime members for free yet and I don't have access to the UK AMC channel due to it being a BT exclusive channel. But when I eventually watch that one, I will review it as well as the upcoming season 7. Now this spin-off was originally set at the start of the zombie apocalypse, but later down the line it was established that it would be set in the same universe as the main series. This was cemented when the show bought a couple of characters from the main show. So let's see what we got here:
Season 1
At six episodes long, this first season introduces us to a dysfunctional family led by Madison Clark (played by Kim Dickens)
who together with another family, must navigate the zombie stricken Los Angeles in search for a safe haven. It's not often that a first season would be this short, but its gives us around six hours to be introduced to the characters, the established setting they are in and just to see if The Walking Dead can be bigger than just being one TV show and this first season while short, does well to prove that it can get bigger. Especially as it's not at all focused on the main characters from the main show and thus allowing itself to be its own thing while being set in the same zombie apocalypse. 9/10
Season 2
After managing to flee Los Angeles, the two families travel by sea on a ship captained by Victor Strand (played by Colman Domingo) who was once a sophisticated conman turned businessman which puts him at odds with Daniel Salazar (played by Rubén Blades) who is from the other family. Eventually they arrive in Mexico and venture into a community where everything isn't quite as it seems with some of the survivors changing their ways for better or worse. Its kind of interesting to see how survivors work things out at sea, the one place where walkers are highly unlikely to attack them but also where supplies are more limited than ever. Nevertheless, its another great season that was definitely worth being longer and kind of more in line with the main show in terms of length and everything that comes and goes as the season goes on. 9/10
Season 3
Following what went down in Mexico, the survivors become separated at least initially as most of them find a new community in the form of a ranch. But like before, everything isn't as it seems and the survivors are forced to make some completely unexpected decisions to continue their survival. While it took the main show up to season 5 to do a storyline where the survivors are travelling but separated for a while, it's basically almost the same thing for this season. Focusing on three different groups of the same survivors that we met earlier, but all attempting to reunite at the same place and when they do, the reception is pretty icy. Guess the world they live in has caught up to them. Anyway another great season and also the last to be its own thing because a certain friend of Rick Grimes makes an appearance in the following season. 9/10
Season 4
So to keep it in line with the main show, this next season takes place at least a couple of years after the last one with flashbacks showing us what happened to the remaining survivors and the eventual fate of Madison. Morgan Jones (reprised by Lennie James from the main show) leaves Virginia to forge his own path and meets up with fellow survivors John Dorie (played by Garret Dillahunt) and Althea (played by Maggie Grace) the latter of which likes to video the survivors she comes across. Morgan agrees to travel with the pair for a while and eventually meets and joins the survivors from the previous seasons as they encounter and battle a group calling themselves the Vultures. Lots of changes were made for this season and I welcome most of them such as the idea of bringing characters from the main show into this one and having Negan and Governor like villains going forward.
Some fans may like it, others may not. For me, I quite enjoyed it and look forward to seeing what Morgan does going forward. 8/10
Season 5
Eventually the group acknowledges Morgan and Madison's daughter Alicia (played by Alycia Debnam-Carey) as joint leaders of their little group. The group spend much of this season on a journey to find and help other survivors in an attempt to make up for the wrongdoings of their past. Daniel Salazar returns and the second main series character also makes an appearance, this time being Dwight (reprised by Austin Amelio). A pretty straight forward season that has moments that look similar to that of wild west films and typical Texas culture. It's not the best season of the show so far, but continues to do what it can do with its characters and settings and giving us a cliffhanger that many of us sure want to know the conclusion of. 7/10
So overall, it's a worthy companion series, prequel and spin-off to the main show. It may start to lack the good parts later down the line, but it's a good series worth watching especially during the breaks from the main show. 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment