ermkaybruv

This is a good show, probably one of the best zombie shows you can find--which isn't saying much given most zombie media is pretty same-same, but The Walking Dead is still impressive in its own right.

The thing is, this show is painfully formulaic, and deliberately so. When it picks up, it can REALLY deliver, but the overwhelming majority of the time it will slog along and torment you over what you want to see, yet it only delivers most of the time in mid-season and season finales.

So many episodes of the Walking Dead could totally not exist. Most of the seasons could literally be cut in half, the meaningless subplots trimmed away, and the experience made significantly better. During the long, dull, relentless, repetitive filler scenes, you hear the same phrases said again and again in speeches by main characters, and after a while you start to roll your eyes. Even in the exciting moments, you often scratch your head at the forced character arcs or "twists" that really don't make sense when thought about.

Simply put, the show knows what you want, and it also knows how to exploit that. The Walking Dead is very much driven by marketing, which is why the story is so stretched out, so many episodes with so little story. And it gets bad enough at times that some episodes consist of absolutely nothing of interest (things like wandering, moralizing, tedious errand-running), and the minute something slightly better than boring happens--BOOM!--cut to commercial, or the episode ends.

It does get shameless, and for this reason I'd highly recommend binging the show rather than watching week to week.

Now, having said all this, yes, this show is an 8, because its good seasons are thrilling. Incredible actually. Like some of the most memorable TV moments ever. And for that I can't bring myself to give the show lower than an 8, though I stress that I'd give it a LOW 8 because of how much frustration you have to endure between the good stuff.

I have a very love-hate relationship with this show. It annoys me as much as it amazes me. Maybe it annoys me MORE than it amazes me. But it does have charm and it does keep my interest even when that's solely based on great season openers, mid-season finales, and season finales, with a bunch of banality in between.

I would say watching the show is an overall positive experience, and you might not see that based on the negatives I mentioned, but you have to watch the show to understand. If you are into the zombie genre, I DO think you'll love this.

And hate it. And scream at your screen for it to end, already. And be won over again when the payoffs come. And yell at characters for stupid decisions. And cheer elatedly during crazy arcs. And get disillusioned and promise yourself you'll stop watching. And never stop watching because you just keep getting hooked over and over.

And hope that you-know-who returns to the show.

Is this a perfect show? No; what show is, especially in its first season? But is this a consistently entertaining, beautiful project (inside and out!) that not only brings the Bible alive, but takes a deep look at faith and what was really being asked of the 12 disciples when Jesus said, "Follow me"? Yes, yes, and yes!

The actor who plays Jesus carries this season. Not only is he incredibly gentle and solemn when he needs to be, but he is funny (like actually laugh-out-loud funny!) and that is something many depictions of Jesus lack. Jesus' human side is explored in The Chosen as I've never seen before, so wholly and fully, yet in a way that is reverent and respectful. While we can imagine the Christ portrayed here being as human as us, we can also imagine him being as God as, well, God. Brilliant actor, and probably the best portrayal of Jesus ever put to film. His performance is controlled and unassuming yet so powerful in that alone. Whenever Jesus is onscreen you are completely captivated, hanging on his every word.

As far as some downsides in the show (which are in no way very glaring): Occasionally the humor did start to feel a little silly sometimes and took me out of the moment (rarely though, and never when involving Jesus and the disciples).

The score, while gorgeous in itself, has a sequence of a woman performing a vocal part that I felt was overused.

And I thought it a bit odd that the Roman soldiers have American accents, especially considering so much wonderful care is put into keeping the Hebrew accents so consistent. The lead "evil Roman soldier" fellow as well seemed cartoonish and I couldn't find him as threatening as he needed to be in this role, but rather he stood out from the others who are all far more developed and believable characters.

Yet these things do not detract from what a monumental moment this is in Christian cinema, or, lets just say cinema in general. To really see these disciples as real people was an eye opener and an encouragement to read the Bible again with new eyes. The actors playing Peter, Mary Magdalene, Matthew and I'll say each of Jesus' followers were masterfully done, perfect casting, and where did they find such unknown actors with such skill? I can't overstate how happy I am with this show and I really hope the show runners can get enough funding for a season 2. They are doing what Hollywood seemingly never could!