Good

Better

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My excitement about The Walking Dead Season 4 went from a 5 to an 11 last Friday. It was a great day to be a fan of the show because not only was The Walking Dead Season 4 trailer unveiled at the San Diego Comic-Con, but the issue of Entertainment Weekly that was released had a Walking Dead story and three different collectible covers. A cover features Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), another has Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs), and the third, most badass one features my favorite character Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) on his motorcycle. Sadly I didn’t get the Daryl edition like I had hoped, although I was still pretty happy with Rick.

Based on The Walking Dead Season 4 trailer and EW’s article, the new season, which starts in October 2013, seems like it will be a great mixture of character driven episodes and tense action. Here are my thoughts on the trailer and the article. Be sure to watch the trailer below and let me know what you think about this teaser for Season 4.

When we pick up with the people at the prison, it seems like times are getting extremely tough. With more humans at the prison, resources are probably going much faster. There are multiple shots of Daryl and company risking their necks on dangerous supply runs like the one in the trailer’s opening at a Walmart-type store. It’s definitely unsettling to hear screams of pain without knowing the source. Plus, the conversation that Carol has with Daryl about the increasing number of walkers and the shots of zombies piling up against the prison only add to my anticipation about how the survivors will deal with the growing threat.

Speaking of Carol, I was glad to see her talking more with Daryl. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a total shipper hoping that those two get together. I also thought it was funny that she was teaching a class on knife safety. I’m intrigued to see how that particular portion fits into the coming episodes. Other things that made me curious: the new character played by Lawrence Gilliard Jr., all the emotional reaction shots, the talk about leaving the prison, the scene where everyone is fighting their way from a car through a swarm of zombies, and the final moments when they hear something on the radio.

Lawrence Gilliard Jr.’s character clearly has something dark going on beneath the surface, especially based on the shot where he’s looking in the mirror with his hand shaking. I wonder what potentially dastardly deeds he will perpetrate. Hopefully he isn’t linked to Hershel’s line about two of their own being killed in cold blood or to the shot of dead rats someone has been feeding the walkers on the fence. The emotional reaction shots could be to anything, although to me they signal a lot more character-rich episodes.

The scene where everyone is fighting near the car and Tyreese is battling a cluster of zombies by himself, reminds me of a part of the comic where he similarly fends off a ton of walkers. I cross my fingers that the fight goes in his favor since I like Tyreese. I’m going to guess that his busted eye in the trailer comes from a fight with Rick. I can’t wait to see how their relationship is built up in the show and what will eventually bring them to the same blows that they famously exchanged in the comic.

The Entertainment Weekly Article

Wicked creepy right? This isn’t a position I’d want to be in.

The main photo for EW’s Walking Dead Season 4 article is amazing. It’s cool toward the beginning of the issue that you see how the photographer was on his back to take the shot of everyone creepily standing over him.

Cool to see how it’s done huh?

I enjoyed the piece’s anecdotes about Chandler Riggs (Carl) finally getting to fire a real gun on set after celebrating his 14th birthday. Admittedly I was concerned too about the season would be with its new showrunner Scott Gimble, however the interviews with cast members and reminders of the superb episodes that he wrote in Seasons 2 and 3, assuaged my fears.

EW got me wondering how The Governor will crop up in Season 4 and hooked me with teases about an impending threat scarier than the walkers. It made me laugh though to hear viewers were confused about the Tyreese/Sasha relationship. Even if you didn’t read the comic, I thought it was fairly obvious that they were family. Like the EW writers, I’m speculating nervously on how many characters might get killed off this season.

I say if Daryl dies we riot. Anyone else agree?

Just kidding…or am I? Haha.