It turns out people like completing out their weekend by watching humans take on the zombie Apocalypse. Last night’s season three premiere of The Walking Dead drew 10.9 million viewers. That’s more viewers that any drama in basic cable (not to be confused with complex cable) history. Last night’s episode was watched by twice as many viewers as last season’s premiere. What makes that even more impressive is the fact that Dish, the nation’s second largest satellite TV provider, doesn’t even carry AMC, the channel that features The Walking Dead.
I like The Walking Dead, but I didn’t care for last night’s episode too much. I’d preface the following with a spoiler warning, but considering the ratings from last night’s premiere, I’m going to just assume that everyone who wanted to watch the episode, already watched it.
My problem with last night’s episode was what they did to Hershel, played by Scott Wilson. Even though Hershel is old and the closest thing they have to do a doctor, Dictator Rick took him along on the mission to clear out the prison of walkers, also known as zombies. Why wasn’t Hershel left back in relativity safety with the women and children? Because it would seem the writers wanted Hershel to get bit in the leg by a walker so that Rick could then whack his leg off with a dull hand ax, that’s why.
The whole thing just seemed stupid and more than a little silly.
I don’t see what possible reason Rick had for dragging Hershel along on the prison clearing mission. It just didn’t make any sense. Though Hershel is technically really only a veterinarian, his human doctoring skills are quite good. After all, he saved Rick’s son Carl’s life by performing surgery on him. Considering the fact that Rick’s wife Lori is about to have a baby and will undoubtedly be in need of Hershel’s medical skills, he would want to keep him nice and safe and out of harm’s reach. That would mean not going on the prison clearing mission.
And why even go into the prison to kill the zombies? All they needed to do was open the doors and create a bottle-neck for the zombies to go through. Commandant Rick and his people could then re-kill them safely, efficiently, and on their terms. Going into a dark, mysterious prison looking for the undead seems unnecessary, dangerous, and a lot of work.
Too much work in fact. And when you are living off owl sushi and canned dog food, it’s not a bad idea to conserve calories when you can.