• by Ed Martin , November 12, 2013

A few weeks ago in this column I expressed concern about the storytelling this season on AMC's “The Walking Dead.” Given the show's phenomenal success since it returned this fall, it would seem almost pointless to criticize it. This series is working better than just about anything else on television these days, so why even try to pick it apart?

Well, as I have noted before, “The Walking Dead” is simply too important a program -- not only for AMC but now for all of television -- for any of us to watch as it weakens without at least speaking up about it. A hit of this magnitude doesn't just help its network. It elevates all of television, the way “ER” did when it premiered to totally unexpected massive ratings on NBC in 1994 and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” did when it exploded on CBS in 2000.

I have no desire to throw rocks at “The Walking Dead.” I generally enjoy it so much that I want it to continue on an indefinite basis. I am fascinated by the influence it is having not only on program development at other networks but on the conception and execution of commercials, too -- especially some of those that run during “Dead.”

But I am even more concerned about the show now than I was a month ago after watching the first two episodes of the season, the show's fourth. Three weeks later its problems have only intensified. To begin with, it doesn't seem to have been a particularly good idea to make the flu the “big bad” of this half-season. For a couple of episodes, maybe … but after five weeks a certain fatigue has set in. The repetitive aspect of watching people get sick, get sicker and then die just isn't holding up, especially because we know very little about any of them. And what's worse, the characters that are not sick are not learning a thing from the hardships of this extended ordeal. How many people have to die before Hershel and the other caregivers figure out that anyone stricken by this deadly disease has to be locked in a cell so that if they die and quickly rise as walkers they won't be able to immediately attack other people? There is no shortage of cells. They are all living in a giant prison!

If nothing else, the characters on this show by now should have mastered simple survival skills and an awareness of the hazards of their environment. I'm not seeing very much of that.

I also keep wondering why Rick and the rest haven't figured out a way to handle the zombie hoards that frequently amass outside the inexplicably flimsy fence that surrounds the prison. Wouldn't a few minutes with a flame-thrower take care of the situation? Wouldn't it make sense to open fire through the fence on the zombie mass, rather than waiting for it to break the fence and storm the compound? Or even better, since the walkers tend to follow sounds, why haven't Rick and the others figured out that when a menacing mass of zombies begins to form at one section of the fence they can simply make a lot of noise elsewhere in the compound and encourage them to drift around?

Maybe young Carl ought to be in charge. It is increasingly obvious to me that he is the only character on this canvas who has acknowledged what the world has become and isn't afraid to respond accordingly. He probably saved his frazzled father's life at the end of last season when he shot that suspicious teenager who kept approaching Rick and Carl without heeding their warnings. Rick was entirely too cautious facing someone who had been aligned with the murderous Governor. Carl, on the other hand, simply eliminated the danger. When the current season began, we learned that nine months had passed since last season's cliffhanger and that Rick hadn't let Carl shoot a gun during that time. Talk about putting your kid at a disadvantage in a world populated by millions of flesh-eating zombies! I imagine Carl will grow up to be not unlike the Woody Harrelson character in the 2009 feature film “Zombieland.” (Now that's a sequel spin-off I would like to see!)

Just as one might argue that Rick no longer seems capable of making smart decisions, one might also assert that better decisions would be made if more women were involved in the decision-making process. But the show has dropped the ball there, as well. So far, Lori and Andrea, two of the four smartest and most complex female characters, have been killed off, while Carol has been banished (by the clueless Rick) simply because she was beginning to smarten up and do what has to be done to survive the hell in which everyone is trapped. Fortunately, the warrior-like Michonne, the most fascinating woman on the canvas to date, is still around.

Even if somewhat erratic, Carol's growth as a character has been one of the stronger and more compelling plot turns this season. I like to think she's going to show up in AMC's other zombie drama, which may or may not be a direct spinoff of “The Walking Dead” but takes place in the same world. The smartest thing the writers of that show could do is to create characters like Carl and Carol who are not afraid to get tough when the going gets awful. An occasional comic touch wouldn't hurt, either. Surely not everyone caught up in this madness has lost his or her sense of humor.