Season 4 of the Walking Dead premiered almost two weeks ago to 16 million viewers. That is more eyeballs than many network TV shows. Walking Dead has become unmissable drama. This season began on a positive note before the first show even premiered. The two worst characters in the shows history were dead. Lori and Andrea are no more. They have ceased to be. And this is a great place to be. On top of this, there was a deviation at the end of the last season. With the survival of both the prison and the Governor, the TV show has severely deviated from the comic book. It is now its own animal. The anticipation was palpable. I for one was counting down the days and the first episode delivered. It was...wow. Today, we will take a look at it and what we have to look forward to with the rest of the season.
5. Lets All Die Like It's 1635
The CDC estimates that each year the average death toll for influenza is around 4,000 per year. In 1675, an influenza outbreak killed 2656 people in London in two months. Yikes! Rick and company are screwed. Modern convenience has enabled us to forget what it's like to be dirty. Dirt barely exists. Anywhere. Even 100 years ago, this was not the case. This band of merry apocalypse survivors are living in 1675 with hand guns. Never before has the show mentioned disease. Although zombism appears "disease-ish", there are plenty of regular everyday killers out there that could easily get them at any point. The common cold can turn much worse than coughs or sniffles in the outside the zombie apocalypse. And this virus plagueing our group is a fast acting super virus. I repeat. They are screwed. And that's awesome. This disease gives a realness and a grittiness to the show which it hasn't had previously. A germ killing people. People who are zombifying and traveling to the prison. Could the zombies themselves be the carriers of deadly disease? This would make the dead even more lethal. They don't need to bite you to kill you. It's a real fun danger. A real human danger. And a definite part of the large attitude shift the show has had. Yet, Super Influenza isn't the only danger...