I decided to re-watch TWD from Season 1 to see how it compared and the biggest difference for me is the emotion.
Current TWD comes across as very emotionless, characters come and go far too frequently and when/if they die it's never really that emotional or that important. The current world is too good and too happy, back at the beginning they were struggling to survive and it was exciting.. everything they did could have been life or death. Now its a case of they have everything they need, the walkers don't pose a big threat and the only thing that'll disrupt the groups and their communities is other groups.
The beginning of TWD was exciting but also very sad. Current TWD is sometimes exciting but almost never sad. The Season 1 scenes with Morgan looking down the scope of the rifle at his wife-turned-zombie and how clearly distressed he is, such an emotional scene, and then the pure elation of having a shower in hot water at the Police station, Rick going back to the walker without legs in the park and apologising before shooting it in the head. Andrea and Amy when Amy turns. Rick at the CDC before they are allowed in, screaming for the door to be opened. Sophia running away and the group hunting for her, before Carl has the moment with the deer and gets shot in the stomach.
Those were just a handful of scenes out of many which I found pretty exciting and emotional and at times quite fearful, they created the world in the early days as one with almost no other people but thousands of walkers around and safeness being prioritised more than anything, every decision they make has a huge impact. When Shane found the truck full of water bottles, how much it meant to them.. nowadays it's like they have their own plumbing system with clean, fresh water. Progress is understandable for sure but it's the lack of everything and the desperation in the earlier seasons which made it exciting for me. When losses actually mattered.
I love the show and I'll continue to watch but there's too many people, too many established groups in a close proximity to each other for things to feel survivaly. I hope something big happens soon which leaves around 20 or so characters alive and follows them moving on to another area.
