Amazon Prime Video watchlist: September 2018

September 2018 on Amazon Prime Video provided plenty of zombie killing, but also a lot of talking.

TV shows:
The Walking Dead (Season 1) [7/10]
The Walking Dead (Season 2) [4/10]

It seems like ages ago since I watched the first season of The Walking Dead on BD, as it was the reason why I bought a region-free player because of the cut German and wrong aspect ratio UK releases, so only the US import was an option. I didn’t even know there would be such a hype following the series afterwards, only that I was more interested in the The Walking Dead: Season 1 Telltale game and because the comic series was quite good. Unfortunately, the series couldn’t live up to my expectations, and now after having rewatched it (with only the Prime version including the extended cut of the pilot episode), I can’t say that I’ve changed my opinion. Only six episodes, and after a great atmospheric and emotional start, it’s amazing how many conversations one can fit in just 6 episodes without making the audience care about the characters or even progressing the plot in any meaningful way. Of course it’s all about how people cope with their new situation, but as most of these aren’t very likable, I couldn’t care less about what happened to them. Some pretty good gore effects and tense moments still made this short season worth watching, even if the new scenes that weren’t in the comic were rather forgettable.

Oh my, whatever happened here in the second season of The Walking Dead? People talking and talking and screaming and screaming, but where are the zombies? Yes, they show up once in a while, but if almost all of the time is spent on a farm with rarely anything happening, or when it does, it’s usually at the end of the episode, then it’s already too late to wake up from the boredom. I know that the series is as much about human drama as it’s about the zombie apocalypse, but compared to the comic or the Telltale games, one should know a thing or two about suspense and action, and if it makes room for too many conversations between people that tell their miserable life stories, then there’s clearly something wrong. It doesn’t help that the acting is quite good and the cinematography is great if the pacing is almost at a standstill, with only the great beginning and more dramatic final episodes saving this from being a complete disaster that tells even less in 13 episodes than it did in 6, and killing off a character that was one of the few likable ones and who stayed alive much longer in the comics was a deviation I could have done without, too.

So yes, only one TV show in September, with questionable quality. Despite all the hype surrounding The Walking Dead, I got much more out of the comics and the game, but maybe the next seasons will be an improvement? Who knows, so stay tuned…

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