When it comes to shows like ‘The Walking Dead’ or ‘Game of Thrones’, everything is a spoiler. So although this should go without saying, if you haven’t seen the first four season of ‘The Walking Dead’, you shouldn’t be reading this.
The last two seasons of AMC’s hit show, ‘The Walking Dead’, have featured our group of heroes holding up in a “safe” place and focused on defending their turf. The seasons were great, but the problem is that there’s only so much you can do when you limit the show to a couple of locations. So maybe the best thing about the fourth season is that the group left the prison and then split up, giving us time to focus on different locations and develop characters individually, free from the group. It was also great because although it was nice to split them up, we spent most of the fourth season wanting them to get back together.
We all love Rick and Daryl and the fourth season really takes the time to develop both of them more than previous seasons. Rick was a little frustrating in season three, spending most of the time wallowing in sorrow from the death of Lori. Thankfully, he broke out of that in the fourth season, realizing what he’s going to have to become in order to survive this world. We knew this all along, but the theme of the fourth season is that in order to survive in a world of zombies, you have to worry more about the humans than the zombies.
Daryl also had some development as we learned more about him, thanks in large part to his pairing with Beth. In “Still”, Beth helped him open up and we got some insights into his past and who he is. Daryl continues to be the best character on the show and the showrunners don’t get enough credit for how they’ve developed him. He’s great because he’s so mysterious, so his development has to be done carefully. Thankfully, the showrunners know what they’re doing and Daryl continues to be the highlight of a great series.
Each season of ‘The Walking Dead’ has it’s special “oh wow” episodes and for season four, it was ‘The Grove’. The events that transpired in the show were jaw dropping for a television show and the writing was so great and the happenings so shocking that it could have easily been its own movie. We follow Carl, but other than him, the show had never explored the psyche of a young child and the results were more disturbing than we could have thought.
‘The Walking Dead’ is clearly a fantastic show. It has the scares and the violence that should keep the average viewer entertained, but what makes it truly great is the quality of writing and the care the showrunners take with the characters. That care and appreciation is what keeps the show going and should keep it great for years to come. And I didn’t think this was possible, but the cliffhanger for season four has me more excited for season five than I’ve ever been for a season of TV.
THE WALKING DEAD SEASON 4 BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: The Walking Dead is a naturally gritty show, but it does look pretty great on Blu-ray.
Audio: The audio quality of The Walking Dead is equally important, given the scares and intense moments. Thankfully, this Blu-ray excels on both accounts.
Commentary on six episodes: Although stars Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus show up for a commentary each, these commentaries primarily feature the producers and directors of the series. They’re all pretty decent, giving more details into the making of the episodes and providing some interesting tidbits.
Deleted Scenes (9:13): Eight episodes get some deleted scenes. Typically with TV shows, deleted scenes are nice to have, but don’t impact the story at all. These scenes definitely fall into that category.
Inside The Walking Dead: Each episode has a five minute featurette that dives into detail about the characters and themes as the show moves along. They’re nice, but I would have liked to have seen a longer featurette that walked us through the entire season and how the characters evolved.
The Making of The Walking Dead: Just like the above featurette, each episode has a five minute making-of featurette that focuses more on the behind the scenes happenings of the show
Drawing Inspiration (6:04): This is a comparison of the show to the comic and how the comic inspires the themes and outcomes of the show.
Hershel (7:37): The cast shows up to talk about the importance of Hershel to the rest of the group.
A Journey Back to Brutality (8:19): Rick Grimes gets a longer featurette looking at his development.
The Governor is Back (8:45): An entire featurette focused on the return of the governor.
Society, Science and Survival (5:29): Apparently, college courses are now integrating elements from the Walking Dead. This featurette takes a look at that.
Inside KNB Studios (18:22): This is a lighthearted look at the gory special effects.