Walking Dead, The: The Complete Fourth Season (UK Blu-ray / DVD)
Gareth Jones
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Starring Andrew Lincoln, David Morrissey, Lauren Cohan, Norman Reedus, Danai Gurira
Directed by Greg Nicotero, Guy Ferland, Dan Sackheim, Tricia Brock and others
Distributed by Entertainment One
As the dust settles around what was formerly Season 3’s Woodbury, our gang of prison-dwelling protagonists begin the fourth season of AMC’s The Walking Dead working hard to keep their community ticking over as efficiently as possible. While Daryl (Reedus) leads the occasional runs into nearby zombie-infested towns in search of provisions, Carol (Melissa McBride) teaches the children the finer points of literature and, when the other adults’ backs are turned, how to correctly handle blades. Meanwhile, a mentally and emotionally shattered Rick tends to the livestock and vegetable patches – forgoing his previous imposed position as leader of the group in an attempt to lighten the load and preserve the man he once was. Also reduced to a shadow of his former self is David Morrissey’s Governor, now wandering the wastelands as a solo drifter, until a chance encounter with a family and their young daughter appears to offer him a link to his pre-despot former self.
As a series, The Walking Dead has long been accused by many of being overly ponderous, slow and unfulfilling. Those lodging complaints of such a fashion are unlikely to be particularly welcoming of season four’s beginning, which certainly takes it time to establish (or re-establish) characters who are almost constantly in a state of change. It’s fully necessary, though, in order to properly consider the inevitable impact of the consistent barrage of terrible moral decisions, outward (and inward) challenges and inescapable suffering foisted unto the living in a world now ruled by the dead. These changes must be slow, calculated and well measured if they’re to appear in any way realistic – and this is just one area in which The Walking Dead‘s writing excels, especially in this season.
Yes, it does drag its heels occasionally with some episodes becoming mired in reflective dialogue – but without heading into spoiler territory for those that haven’t been keeping up on television and wish to wait for a boxed-set feat, season four packs in some of the most devastating scenarios that Rick and his group have had to face thus far. This is a series – both in comic book and live-action form – known for its uncompromising treatment of those who live within it, and the world they inhabit has rarely been more brutal than what we see here. Those initial, quieter episodes do manage to pack in enough drama to satisfy but they’re building up to something big. Something huge, vicious and downright soul-destroying that occurs halfway through and sees the final half of the season deal with the fallout: quieter moments that move from the world of extreme violent action/reaction and into the realm of deeply personal devastation for the now-fractured group. Here is a season filled with hurtful revelations, forgiveness, rage, disconnection and the kind of needless death and destruction that arises from human nature – good intentions provoking tragedy, or ill ones provoking outright chaos. Carl is still an annoying little shit, though.
In terms of the cast, Andrew Lincoln takes it all out in this particular season – Rick is put through the wringer big time and by the time he comes out, all bets are off for this man. If there’s one thing you can be certain of when the final moments come to a close, it’s that nothing for Rick is ever going to be the same. One of the most intimately effective episodes, The Grove, sees a powerhouse turn for Melissa McBride alongside Chad L. Coleman as Tyreese – though the child actors accompanying them simply can’t hold their own against such an effective force. It would be somewhat excessive to go through and pick on every single cast member for their own standout moments, but let’s just say that nearly each and every one of the major players is swinging for the fences right here, from start to finish.
The Walking Dead remains a dependably ballsy show; one that constantly takes risks – whether that be in choices of narrative direction or simply the amount of explicit gore it can display on television – and for the most part gets away with them. It’s what makes it so irresistibly compelling, unpredictable and hard-hitting. No matter how far off the track it seems to be heading, it always manages to find its way back thanks to some excellent writing, top-notch direction and a cast willing to put everything and then some into what they’re doing. Is it a model of perfection? No – but it’ll have you up, down, left, right and then spun round and knocked flat on your ass just when it feels like it. And this season is a shining example of what it can do.
In terms of special features on Entertainment One’s UK DVD release, episodes 1, 5, 8, 12 and 14 all sport full-length commentaries with various cast members, writers, producers and directors. They’re all more than worth a listen due to offering up a wide variety of perspectives and opinions. Episode 12, entitled ‘Still’, actually has two available commentaries – the standout being one including actor Norman Reedus and writer Angela Kang, who share a fantastic chemistry throughout.
On the final disc, there’s a whole mess of extras including smaller parts such ‘Herschel’, which sees cast and crew delivering their own takes on Scott Wilson’s excellent portrayal of such a pivotal character, and ‘A Journey Back to Brutality’ in which Andrew Lincoln dissects Rick’s inevitable adaptation to this brutal new world despite his own emotional protestations. ‘Society, Science & Survival’ is probably the only real piece of fluff to be found, giving a brief look at a real-life University course that uses The Walking Dead to investigate various angles of scientific and social theory.
Everything here is pretty great, including a semi-roundtable chat with various folks at effects wizards KNB; a comparison of some elements of the show with their comic book counterpart, and a discussion regarding the character of The Governor. The standout pieces are ‘Inside the Walking Dead’, an 85-minute behind-the-scenes feature jam packed with cast interviews that covers the season arc from beginning to end, episode by episode. Backing that up is a 75-minute ‘Making of’, which covers more on-set action and, pleasingly, delves more heavily into the various visual effects on display. It balances the preceding feature out perfectly, making for almost 3 hours of consistently engaging content, before you even count the rest.
Now that’s a package to be proud of. Entertainment One: take a bow.
Special Features
- Audio commentary on selected episodes.
- Inside The Walking Dead
- The Making of The Walking Dead
- Drawing Inspiration
- Herschel
- The Governor is Back
- Society, Science & Survival
- Inside KNB Studios
- A Journey Back to Brutality
- Deleted Scenes
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Season
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Special Features
Categorized:Reviews
