The Walking Dead aired “The Damned” last night. The episode is the second of the eight season and included fast-paced action, a throwback to the first season, and fresh new ideas.
Even though the show is now moving quicker, it is still an improvement on the storyline from The Walking Dead comic series. This episode was everything I wanted from the comics. The comics are very fast-paced, which is a major strength. However, I wanted the war with the Saviors to be fleshed out more. The show took a weakness from the comic and satisfied all fans with their improvement.
Another one of the strengths of this season is that the war mood is much more evident than it was in past seasons.
In season 3, the "war" with the governor didn't feel like a war at all. Half a season was spent talking about war and then there was little payoff. This
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There are several groups and battles going on at once, rather than just one group versus another. The huge amount of character in The Walking Dead used to be a major weakness. There were too many characters for the audience to see and if a supporting character went missing for half a season it would barely be noticed. What was a weakness is now a strength as a number of characters are what makes the war great.
One scene that stuck out to me was when a group was battling and a soldier yells out, "protect the king!". Jerry, a faithful servant, responded with, "protect yourself!". I thought this was interesting because the characters from the Kingdom were realizing that this isn't a fantasy, but real. As Ezekiel so wonderfully puts it, "“ have provided a light to move my people forward in the darkness, and they have made my fictions realities." The fantasy was used as a coping mechanism, but now it can be used for motivation to protect what they have. They just have to remember that they are all soldiers, even