The Walking Dead - Season 4: Review (Mild Spoilers)

The Walking Dead has recently been a very bitter-sweet experience for me. Every week I anticipated watching the newest episode, and it's frequently (and disappointingly) rather anti-climactic. Following the frankly boring conclusion to Season 3, I hoped that Season 4 would refill me with hope for this gradually declining series, and although I don't know if I could go that far, it's certainly an improvement. 

Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln)

The season begins with Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his 'family' living in the prison following the previous events which brought many new faces into the picture. The Governor (David Morrissey) is now nothing but a bad memory, and things are finally beginning to look up for the group. Things don't remain idyllic for long however, as a plague sweeps the prison and consumes a few of the new members, forcing Rick and Hershel (Scott Wilson) to take action by segregating certain individuals. Things then escalate and it seems as if The Governor is still a very dangerous presence in their world, and events boil over (SPOILERS) once the prison is over-thrown in the mid-season finale. 

The second half of Season 4 plays out similarly to something like Pulp Fiction, as smaller groups of people are each given an episode which tracks their respective situations. It's nice for the show to not remain focused on the monotonous location of the prison, but this is also where I began to lose interest. It's entertaining when watching Rick, Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs) survive in their own small group, but when an entire episode focuses on much more boring characters, it almost feels as if an entire week has gone to waste. There were a few occasions when the predictability of events became almost comical. If a dark house played a role, it was almost certain that a zombie would leap out and almost kill a character before being brutally dispatched. 

A few twists and hints at the 'bigger picture' made this season feel much more engaging overall than the previous one. With characters no longer being confined to the prison, many new stragglers are introduced, each with their own morality and outlook on the crumbling world. Glenn (Steven Yeun) comes across a group with a man called Eugene (Josh McDermitt), who supposedly knows the cure to the world-wide virus. A utopia called 'Terminus' is also heavily mentioned, but it almost sounds a little too good to be true. These sub-plots were interesting but, not surprisingly, far from concluded.

Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus)

That was my main issue with Season 4 and The Walking Dead as a whole: it didn't answer a lot of questions posed. The sanctuary of Terminus is largely left as a cliff-hanger for next season, which is exciting, but leaves you feeling empty once the credits roll. The story of Eugene is also far from ending, which is more irritating than engaging. That's not to say a few endings aren't reached throughout season 4, as some of my favourite characters in the show are now dead, but as a whole it didn't really progress the story quite as much as I would have liked. 

Verdict
Season 4 The Walking Dead definitely isn't as bad as the previous instalment, but it's far from perfect. The mid-season finale is much more enjoyable than the eventual finale, but both are entertaining at the very least. If you haven't watched the show up till now, I doubt that this will do anything to bring you in, but for fans there are more than a couple episodes which stand out as some of the best yet. I'll definitely continue watching The Walking Dead, but Season 5 really needs to be incredible if I'm going to still be watching in a few years. 

"Terminus: those who arrive...survive."