THE WALKING DEAD “No Sanctuary” Review

By John McCubbin on Monday, October 13th, 2014

Has the wait been worth it? Off course it has! But by how much? Read on to find out.

The official description from AMC:

We learn the true motives of the Terminans as Rick and the group find themselves in a vulnerable situation. Will they be able to work together?

The Walking Dead is back! Though the return of Arrow and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the series premiere of The Flash and Gotham have given comic fans some excitement over the last few weeks, it’s been the return of our favourite zombie infested series that I’ve been looking forward to most. Especially given how Season 4 ended. Not failing to disappoint, the season premiere of The Walking Dead is as explosive as expected, whilst still having great story depth.

If I’m being truly honest, there were moments during the second half of Season 4 that I felt things were moving a little too slow, with the group’s splintered journey to Terminus seeming painful long. It’s this that makes the intense events of this episode that much sweeter, with the character psychology on both sides adding an extra layer of depth. Straight from the start we are given a two sided take on the Terminans, with this being a developing feature throughout the episode. We are also quickly shown that life for the group is about to get a whole lot worse with Gareth’s (Andrew J. West) plans not being beneficial for Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and company. It is however the way that writer Scott M. Gimple and director Greg Nicotero balance this with the movements of Carol (Melissa McBride) and Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman) that really shows the true worth of the episode, with there never once being a moment when I’ve felt there could have been something done better.

Something that I’ve never had a major criticism about has been the performances, as though there has been the odd addition that has taken longer to balance the image I had envisioned from the comics, there hasn’t once been one that I’ve found horrifically terrible. All the actors really show their worth in this episode, as though Andrew Lincoln (Rick) is as ever the leader in chief of our survivors, Melissa McBride (Carol) and Chad L. Coleman (Tyreese) also give a strong performance. We also got wonderful performances on the Terminus end, with Andrew J. West (Gareth), and Denise Crosby (Mary) both being amazing. Someone that was out of the spotlight a bit was Norman Reedus (Daryl), proving that the show can be successful without him.

The Walking Dead has never been so good. Responding to the gripping cliffhanger of the last season, the show takes the bull by the horns and drives home an exhilarating season premiere. It also continues to give an emotionally deep story, with flashbacks, and other extras giving clever twists to how we picture the characters. Due to all this it’s my pleasure to recommend this to both new and old fans.

OUR RATING

+ The Terminans are more than meets the eye.
+ Carol is like Rambo the way she kicks ass!
+ The group literally have to fight for their lives.
+ Keep watching past the credits, as there's a surprise appearance.

S#!T Talking Central

Kondorr

OK, I have a question (for reference, I have both compendium and love’em)… is this show really THAT good that it justifies a return… I mean the road to the end of season 3 was just horrible…

For someone who liked the first two episodes of season 1, the first 10 minutes of season two, and parts of the first half of season 3… is it worth to jump on again? Is it really that much better?

Or is it just the same thing only slightly more exciting? Or should I just stay with my compendiums? Are there storylines/spoilers past the SOMETHING TO FEAR arc?
- John McCubbin
  
  The story is still building up to the Something to Fear arc. Currently uses themes of the cannibals arc. I would however say to give this a try. I have never lost love with this series, as though it has had it’s negative moments, so has the comics. If the series is as good as this episode moving forward then I’d definitely say it’s worth re-trying.
  - Kondorr
    
    Thanks for the reply, but up to “Something to Fear” I thought the comics were pretty close to perfect. I was only disappointed with one arc (“A Larger World”). It seemed rushed in order to kick of “Something to Fear”.
    My precise complaints with the show where, that they stopped to use the zombies as something to fear… they became in season 3 almost background noise. Something else is that the amount of crying in this show became unbearable… there are other ways to show someones humanity than through crying. The comics did not rely anyway near that much on crying.
    But my biggest complaint were the lonely emo-walks in the woods. Someone got angry or sad… they went for a walk in the woods… basically suicide…
    There was one such thing in the comics, were a guy went out for piss and got the bite directly. I always thought this was a joke on behalf of the show.
    
    Soooo…
    Is there less crying now?
    Are the zombies a fearfactor again?
    Did they stop acting emo-suicidal?
    - John McCubbin
      
      I am incline to agree there, but after that it got a little poor for a while, and there were stages after the Governors death where things felt slow. As for the show, so far no one is crying again, and this series looks like it’ll be more intense. It also has already hinted at the possible introduction of Negan.