The Walking Dead takes place in a world which looks a lot like our own, except the dead have come back to life and attack the living. The show follows a small group of survivors who are lead by Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln). As the first season ended, the group fled Atlanta after a bad experience at the CDC. Their plan was to head for a military base. However, they soon run into trouble as the highway is clogged with cars and unpassable. Then, two tragic events occur, both involving children (perhaps the show is sending a not so subtle message about traveling with kids) -- First, while fleeing from a zombie, Sophia (Madison Lintz) runs into the woods and seemingly disappears. Then, while helping Rick and Shane (Jon Bernthal) search for the girl, Rick's son Carl (Chandler Riggs) is injured. Rick and Shane take the boy to a nearby farm, where the owner, Herschel (Scott Wilson), agrees to help them. Soon, the rest of their group -- Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), Andrea (Laurie Holden), Glenn (Steven Yeun), Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn), Daryl (Norman Reedus), Carol (Melissa McBride), and T-Dog (IronE Singleton) -- join them on the farm. Herschel reluctantly agrees to let them stay and the group is happy, as the farm seems like a safe haven. But, no place is safe from human treachery and as secrets boil to the surface, the dead get closer.

When discussing The Walking Dead, it's important to look at what the show is and what it isn't. Despite what many say, it isn't original or ground-breaking. Based on the comic book by Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead utilizes ideas which have been around since George Romero's Night of the Living Dead debuted in 1968. (And that film owed a debt to Richard Matheson's I Am Legend.) Since that time, we've seen many, many movies which deal with people trying to survive in a world which has been taken over by zombies. In fact, movies like this have been made all over the globe (the Italians really embraced them in the 1980s.) The second thing which The Walking Dead isn't is about zombies. Let's face it, zombies are kind of dull villains, so like so many of its brethren, the show focuses on the people and their issues. At times, these problems are directly related to the undead outbreak. But, other situations simply spring from relationships and seem to be better suited for a soap opera. The Walking Dead is known to have long stretches where no walking dead appear.

So, what is The Walking Dead? At its core, it's a solid show and Season 2 is definitely an improvement over Season 1. The second season plays like a sort of homage to Night of the Living Dead. That film showed a group of survivors who were trapped in a farmhouse which was surrounded by zombies. On the show, the group isn't trapped in the farmhouse, but they do choose to stand on the farm, as it's seemingly safe. They do leave it on occasion and, of course, run into both "walkers" and other human who are up to no good. It's an interesting choice to take the "on the run" feel of Season 1 and have the characters stay in one place for most of Season 2. The problem is that this causes things to get a bit redundant. However, the writers use this to there advantage and the close quarters leads to more issues amongst the group. The introduction of the new characters on the farm, most notably Maggie (Lauren Cohan) helps to open things up some. The season features a pretty big twist in the latter half which will simply floor some viewers.

Despite these improvements, The Walking Dead is still mediocre at best. From a technical standpoint, the show is top-notch as the acting is good, the locations look great, the action scenes are well-done, and the show never pulls any punches on the gore. But, this can't change the fact that the show feels very slow at times and the theme that people can be much more dangerous than the "walkers" gets driven home far too often. Even if you want to argue that the show isn't meant to be about zombies, that doesn't excuse the stories for being lackluster at times. In the end, the bottom line with The Walking Dead is that I've seen it all before and seen it done better and I've yet to see a scene on the series which touches Dawn of the Dead (either version). But, I must say that the Season 2 finale introduces some interesting images, so perhaps Season 3 will finally win me over.

The Walking Dead: The Complete Second Season tells Carl to stay in the house on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment. The four-disc set contains all 13 episodes from the show's second season. The show is letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 20 Mbps. The image is sharp, showing on defects from the source material, but it is noticeably grainy. I really wish that I still had an episode saved on the DVR to compare with the transfer, because the grain here is palpable. It may have something to do with the overall washed-out look of the show, which is dominated by earthtones. Some bright colors appear, but they aren't very dynamic. (One has to assume that this approach is thematic, but I think that the show would be more effective if horrible things were happening in a colorful environment.) The grain and diffused color takes away from the picture's detail, but the depth remains pretty good. The Disc carries a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 5.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The stereo effects are notably good at times, especially when the group is in the forest and there are sounds coming from off-screen. The few zombie attack scenes provide nice surround effects, as the zombie moans and the show's score come from the rear speakers. Gunshots and Daryl's motorcycle provide some subwoofer action.

The Walking Dead: The Complete Second Season contains a lot of extras spread across the 4-Disc set. Disc 1 offers an AUDIO COMMENTARY on the episode "What Lies Ahead" by Executive Producers Glen Mazzara, Gale Anne Hurd, and David Alpert, and Executive Producer/Writer Robert Kirkman. Disc 2 contains the episode "Pretty Much Dead Already" which has an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Mazzara, Producer Scott M. Gimple, Director Michelle MacLaren and Editor Julius Ramsay. Also on Disc 2 is "Nebraska" which has a COMMENTARY with Mazzara, Co-Executive Producer Evan Reilly and actors Scott Wilson and Steven Yeun. The COMMENTARY on Disc 3 is found on "Judge, Jury, Executioner" and it features Mazzara, Co-Executive Producer/Special Effects Make-up Artist/Director Greg Nicotero, Writer Angela Kang and actor Laurie Holden. The remainder of the extras are found on Disc 4. "Beside the Dying Fire" has a COMMENTARY from Mazzara, Director Ernest Dickerson, Nicotero, Kirkman, and actor Norman Reedus. "All the Guts Inside" (6 minutes) takes us on-set for the "zombie autopsy" scene. "Live or Let Die" (7 minutes) explores how the longevity of the characters in the show varies from how long certain people live in the comic book. "The Meat of the Music" (8 minutes) shows composer Bear McReary at work with his orchestra. "Fire on Set" (6 minutes) examines the farm location and its eventual demise. "The Ink is Alive" (9 minutes) has creator Robert Kirkman discussing how the show compares to the comic book. "The Sound of the Effects" (5 minutes) takes us onto the Foley set to see how sound effects are created. We get a closer look at the zombie in the well, and how that scene was shot, in "In the Dead Water" (5 minutes). "You Could Make a Killing" (6 minutes) profiles make-up artist and director Greg Nicotero. "She Will Fight" (6 minutes) has actress Laurie Holden discussing her character Andrea. "The Cast on Season 2" (5 minutes) is a long promo from AMC which has the actors commenting on what to expect from the second season. "Extras Wardrobe" (3 minutes) is another piece from AMC which shows how the zombies are clothed. The Disc contains six "Webisodes" (20 minutes) (which are presented by Pizza Hut (?!)) which offer side stories from The Walking Dead universe. These can be viewed with COMMENTARY from Director Greg Nicotero. We also get DELETED SCENES from eight episodes which run about 29 minutes. These can be viewed with optional COMMENTARY from Executive Producer Glen Mazzara. One has to wonder why at least one episode of The Talking Dead isn't included here.