Which is why it is so sad that Season 7 has been a dead mess on the whole, apart from the production values, some effective world-building and the actors did their best with what they had (an achievement somewhat, admiration is to be had for anybody able to do anything with such poor material). Direction is smart and atmospheric while the show throughout has been strongly acted especially from the two leads playing particularly well-crafted characters. The pace was a little slow to begin with in Season 2 but thrilling elsewhere while not rushing through important pieces of information.

Seasons 3 and 4 are especially good in this regard, and it is the latter where the complexities and nuance of the storytelling and characterisation particularly shine. Loved that the stories had multiple layers and felt satisfactorily resolved, while the action is both thrilling and terrifying, the blood-spattering gore uncompromising. For five seasons, the writing was intelligent and thought-provoking, with lots of tension and emotional resonance and improving every time a story and character were expanded and given more complexity. The music is haunting and affecting, having presence but never being too intrusive. 'The Walking Dead' is incredibly well made in the production values, with gritty and audacious production design, photography of almost cinematic quality, effects that look good, have soul and are not overused or abused and pretty frightening make-up which helps make the already freaky zombies even freakier.

My only complaint about the early seasons actually is the slightly slow start to Season 2. Seasons 1-5 of 'The Walking Dead' to me were absolutely brilliant, and it still shocks me at how an intelligent, well-made (so much so that it is easy to mistake it for a film) show about zombies could be made when so many films have tried and failed abysmally to do so. Finally getting round to it a few years ago and slowly working my way through it, 'The Walking Dead' turned out to be very much my cup of tea and as good as the hype made it out to be. It took a while to get round to walking, both from being busy and also not being sure whether it would be my cup of tea. Had heard nothing but great things about 'The Walking Dead' from friends and IMDb reviewers.

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