One of the reasons people loved the pilot episode of The Walking Dead, I think, was because so much of it consisted of just really well-crafted, and most importantly, silent, action sequences. And these weren’t even huge bang-boom-pow action set pieces, but merely Rick trying to figure out this new world he had woken up to. Naturally there was no room for dialogue. Similarly, any time, most often in the cold open scenes, when there is muted dialogue in the show, it soars. The directors for most of these episodes have a real knack for constructing compelling scenes where we are completely captivated watching the images unfold before us.
And then usually the middle 30 minutes of each episode consists of characters talking to each other. This is where the show tends to lose people. There is the occasional strong exchange between Carol and Daryl, for example, where we learn something interesting or hear people wax poetic or philosophical about their plight and whatnot. Too often we’re hearing Andrea giving a speech (why does anyone listen to her? I don’t even like listening to her on my TV) or Dale nagging everyone to do something or other. The acting leans toward the melodramatic, which is incredibly off-putting in a setting otherwise hyper-realistic. When the zombie apocalypse is presented with such realism, it’s jarring and irritating to see people acting like they’re in a bad Lifetime movie.
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