The Walking Dead is known and loved by many as one of the most popular, boundary-pushing zombie TV shows out there. It's been so long now since the first season was out that its details likely exist foggy in our brains if they exist at all, and with the last season coming out, many are likely doing a lot of review.
Being as it is that the episodes of The Walking Dead are nearly an hour in length, each one covers a lot of ground, making for a whole lot of content for the viewer to keep up with. Looking back at the very first episode, here are some details you may have overlooked.
Shane's Weird Monologue
The first character interaction we experience is between Rick and his work partner, Shane. Shane is on a rant about the fact that his girlfriend is forgetful when it comes to turning off the lights in their house.
It's kind of a weird introduction to the series in general, as it feels like it's supposed to be an average, relatable conversation between two co-workers -- swapping stories about their domestic trials and whatnot -- but it's a bit overdone. The weirdest thing is that they chose to make it extremely gender-centric.
The Tires That Don't Pop
Shane and Rick rush to the aid of a police chase. They park far up ahead of where the pursued car and police vehicles right after it are headed. When they get there, they set up a spike strip in the road so that the pursued car will get its tires popped when it comes through.
The mistake in this logic is that the police cars should ideally know what's coming and slow down ahead of time, or they should be seen to have their tires pop, too. In this case, we see the police cars zooming toward the spikes equally fast as the car in front, and they appear to even go over the spikes, but later the cars are seen to be fine.
Lori And Shane
It doesn't make a whole lot of sense that Lori and Shane have already formed a romantic relationship. For one, they have been in constant survival mode, distracted with the recent apocalyptic state of the world. It's unlikely they've had hardly any time alone because if Lori left Carl alone too long he wouldn't still be alive. Plus, it can't have been long since they left Rick since he would've died in the hospital if it had been.
Rick Should Be Dead
When Rick wakes up in the hospital, the whole place is shredded to pieces. And it doesn't look recent. The flowers by his bed are dried out and dead, indicating the passage of time, yet allowing a vagueness for exactly how much has passed.
But even if the crisis happened quickly, it still would have been too long of a time for a person to survive without food or water and injured, on top of it all. And he certainly wouldn't have the strength he does.
Rick Pities The Dead
Rick is on his way to leave for Atlanta, in search of the foretold community they have there, but first, he stops at the park where he earlier saw one of the dead dragging itself across the lawn.
The scope follows him walking through the park, searching for something -- until he comes upon the severed upper-body of a person turned into one of the dead. He speaks to it as a person, as if to the person it was before, saying he's sorry for what happened to them, then puts it to rest. This shows Rick's need for closure and his tendency for compassion.
The Horse Wouldn't Make It To Atlanta
Rick runs out of gas on his way to Atlanta and stops over at a house to see if they have any he could borrow. Predicably, the members of the household are dead. But Rick then catches sight of a horse they have in the backyard.
Next thing you know he has the horse saddled up and he rides it the rest of the way into the city. By the state of the bodies he found in the house, this horse hasn't had food or water for ages. It would likely be extremely weak, if not dead.
The Hospital Ceilings
The ceilings of the hospital Rick wakes up in are completely torn apart. This might seem like a petty thing to point out -- but with the amount of thought and effort that must go into setting these scenes, one is lead to wonder how they opted for some of these choices.
Zombies are crazy, yes. But they are also slow and restricted to human height. The ceilings being completely demolished is an oddly unnecessary thing to put effort into.
Rick's Uniform
As soon as Rick returns to the police station to get a shower in and load up on weapons, he finds a fresh Sheriff's uniform -- hat and all -- and opts for this as his preferred outfit for the apocalypse.
The fact that he does this goes completely unacknowledged by Morgan and his son, the people who Rick is staying with. Is this some weird ego thing for Rick, or an innate need for something familiar in a world turned upside down?
Shane Shows Red Flags
We don't see a lot of Shane, but what we do see foreshadows some bad personality traits bound to blow up later. His beginning monologue indicates that he is a little erratic, possibly temperamental.
Then as soon as Rick dies -- or so they think -- Shane forms a romantic relationship with Rick's wife, revealing questionable loyalty. Shane is also overly dominant, speaking down to Lori as if she is inferior to him.
So Much Newspaper
The final shot of the episode slowly pans out on the topical landscape of Atlanta. As the shot widens and gets further and further away, we see the details of the ghostly city, its lack of humans and life -- and a ton of newspapers.
Again, sometimes it's these weird, small choices that stand out. Sure, newspapers are often around for sale from stalls in the city, but this series wasn't made that long ago -- much of the news is online now. Even if it weren't, it's funny to imagine the crew running around spreading loads of papers as if this is the top criteria for making a city look apocalyptic.