I said last week that I enjoyed the motley crew aspect of some of the groups forming on Walking Dead in this latter half of season 4. The unlikely pairing of Glenn and Tara in particular intrigued me at the time. Based on "Claimed", maybe I should have been careful what I asked for. Granted, it isn't Glenn and Tara that are the problem. It's the new guys. Whenever new characters come along on Walking Dead (which is quite often, considering the show constantly needs fresh meat to become zombie fodder), it tends to be a pretty mixed bag. Frankly, the show hasn't been adept over the years at creating characters who aren't annoying. Or at least very frustrating.
By now, most of our remaining main characters are pretty tolerable. But it has been a long process of killing off some of the less likable characters that has gotten us here. And some of the characters that are beloved now started off pretty shakily. So that does give me hope for Abraham, Eugene, and Rosita. But "Claimed" certainly gets us off to a rocky start. I understand that Walking Dead the TV show is somewhat limited by the source material it draws from (the comic). But sometimes, certain ideas work better on the printed page than they do in live action. Michonne is a character who (to my understanding) has evolved a great deal from her comic book counterpart, and probably for the better. These three new guys may need to undergo a similar transformation.
Abraham in particular was frustrating to deal with this week. I adore Michael Cudlitz (Band of Brothers!), but his character here could not be more one note: the stereotypical, tough-talking soldier archetype. And after just one episode, I'm already tired of him going on about "getting to Washington" and "saving the world". Rosita isn't given much to do in this episode, but I can't help but take slight issue with her well put-together appearance and sexy "uniform". Walking Dead isn't Shakespeare; I can't take too much issue with the show for trying to add a little eye candy. But we're in the midst of a zombie apocalypse here and Rosita looks like she is cosplaying a "sexy soldier" outfit at Comic Con.
Speaking of apocalypses, another frustrating thing about Walking Dead is when we meet characters like Eugene who deal with zombies as if they have never seen them before. I understand that Eugene is a scientist and not a soldier, but we are pretty deep into this apocalypse thing by now. Rick and his crew all became skilled at dealing with zombies and I think that's realistic. Idiots who make mistakes like the ones Eugene made in this episode would likely all be dead by now. Additionally, Eugene and his "cold, robot-like scientist" persona seems like it will start to grate on me quickly. Not to mention...that hair.
I may have spent most of this review complaining about the ongoing Glenn and Tara story line, but I actually have little to complain about on the Rick and Michonne side of things. The kid who plays Carl is still a noticeably poor actor, but the scenes featuring he and Michonne are genuinely charming (and it has been GREAT to see more of Michonne's personality, as I alluded to above). Meanwhile, Rick going all Metal Gear and silently stalking around the house evading the bad guys and procuring a gun was pretty tense, and quite badass as well. And, of course, I don't think we've seen the last of those home invaders. I'm not sure what characters we will be dealing with next week but if it is Abraham, Rosita and Eugene again, I hope that with the introductions all wrapped up, we can get into seeing some more interesting (and nuanced) aspects of those characters.
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