Analysis of The Walking Dead Season 3 Thus Far

"The Walking Dead" continuously surprises me. I used to think that any story in a zombie apocalypse could never be extended into a series because the monsters are one-dimensional. Boy was I wrong. The way in which Kirkman and his team of writers have developed this world for AMC is nothing short of genius. With the mid-season finale looming just a week away, season 3 has made me understand through subtlety so many things about a zombie apocalypse that truly make it an "end of the world" scenario.  Here's my analysis of high points we have witnessed thus far and what they mean to me:

In "When The Dead Come Knocking", Michonne finally meets Rick because she walks
up to the chain link gate carrying baby formula in a shopping basket in the midst of a
herd of zombies who can't see her because she is dressed in zombie blood and gore. It's
a chilling scene to see a woman so calmly approach the gate and to be so comfortable
around the reanimated dead. Verdict: Michonne may be the most insane person the zombie
apocalypse has ever produced and thus, the most suited to survive.

1) The introduction of Michonne and the Governor, Rick losing his mind, the psychopath Merle, and the sociopath in Carl (Rick's son). My analysis: If you are normal like you and me, you cannot survive the apocalypse. Only people who are insane survive the end of the world, because insanity is the only psychological trait that is capable of dealing with legions of the undead. If you live for any length of time...if you are not insane, you will become insane. You can't escape it.

2) The death of Lori in childbirth. This was more  horrific than T-Dog's death, and it showed how far society has fallen. Women have not had to worry about death from childbirth for nearly a century. But throughout human history, it was a problem. Well with the episode that featured Lori's death, it's back and it's here to stay. Welcome to the stone ages again. The message to all women in the zombie apocalypse: getting pregnant just may be a death sentence.

In season one, this group didn't handle zombies well at all. There was lots
of panicking, screaming, and running. Now they don't even kill zombies if
the zombies are moving too slow. They don't even bother. They're treated
with the same indifference as a fly buzzing around. The ability to see such
things as merely a part of the scenery is disturbing because it's like they
no longer care or are shocked by anything.

3) The reanimation. In season one, the CDC showed us through sophisticated computer technology that the reanimation occurred shortly after death, and that nothing of the former person remained. Yet, we also saw in season one that Morgan's wife turned the knob to their door as if she remembered her home even though she was one of the walking dead. Then in last night's episode, a scientist was trying to discover if a newly reanimated zombie would remember either its name or recall a picture of his family. These kinds of questions, though unanswered to this point, seem to beg of a greater existential one: why is this happening and what exactly is a zombie? Is it a new form of life? Or is it truly an undead creation with no memory of its past life? I also think it may have to do with religion. More appropriately...do humans have souls? And if they do and something is left behind, then what does that say about an afterlife? Maybe it says there is no afterlife at all for any of us and that a person's soul could remain earthbound in a rotting corpse forever.

It's been a fascinating series. I'll be sorry to see it go on hiatus for a few weeks until it starts up again in either January or February 2013.

In other news, did you purchase your PowerBall ticket? I happened to be in Idaho over Thanksgiving weekend and since they (unlike Utah) sell PowerBall, I bought a ticket. Biggest jackpot ever. May the best ticket win. Boy, would $425 million be a real life changer or what!

Have a great Monday.

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