The Walking Dead: 7 Reasons Why 'After' Was The Perfect Premiere

5. Tight Character Focus

One of the criticisms of 'After' has been that only three members of the huge ensemble were actually present in this episode. Following more than two months of waiting, plenty of fans were hoping for glimpses of Daryl, Tyreese or even Carol. Still, the more narrow focus of this episode allowed two of the least developed main characters to actually demonstrate some on-screen growth. Despite the fact that Carl has been around since the beginning of the series, he hasn't had much to do other than shoot the occasional teenager and never stay in the damn house. In 'After,' we seem him rebel against his father, gaze longingly at an awesome video game system, and eat 112 oz. of pudding. He makes a fool of himself and nearly dies a few times within the span of only a couple of hours. He declares that he would be just fine if Rick died but collapses in tears when his father appears to zombify. We see that Carl is still a teenage boy, for all of his posturing as an adult. Even better, Michonne finally gets some attention. With almost no dialogue, we nevertheless learn more about her character in this episode than in all of her previous appearances. She was a mother who lost her toddler son. She had a lover who did something terrible. Her Season 3 stoicism was an acquired trait from the circumstances of the zombie apocalypse, and it's not a trait into which she can retreat after the fall of the prison. Also, we get a good look at just how gorgeous Danai Gurira is when she's actually allowed to smile. (Spoiler alert: she's totally gorgeous.)