Okay so I like zombie apocalypse stories, usually. As far as the zombies go, it's not a bad show. However, major plot holes make me cringe in almost every episode. In the first season, it was discovered that to avoid being detected by zombies, the characters needed to smear themselves with dead zombie guts since, it is presumed, the zombies can tell they are alive by smell. Then, in the next season, the group of travelers manage to avoid a whole "herd" of zombies by merely crawling under cars and remaining silent. Huh? What happened to the smell thing? Then there is the transmission of zombie-ness: a bite or scratch will do it, but not being smeared with zombie guts. Hmmm. Finally, I live near Atlanta, GA where the whole thing is set, and in the show it NEVER rains except when it is needed to wash zombie guts off of the people who were using them to blend in. Maybe zombies can only smell you after it rains? There are trees and green foliage everywhere, but the climate is apparently a desert. But not a very hot desert. Occasionally, characters are seen sweating, but as a resident of the unbearably hot southeast, it is hard to stay dry going from the front door to the car in the driveway! What? Okay, so maybe the first three seasons happen during a rare mild spell of weather. That means that these 3 seasons occur over a period of like 10 days. It feels more like 3 weeks, but this is way too slow of pace, in my opinion. The point of apocalyptic stories is that civilization has crumbled, and while the conflict with zombies has merit, the battle with nature should be equally prominent. But these folks apparently live in an idyllic place where it is never too hot, never too cold or wet, and well, if that is the case, who needs civilization anyway? For me this undermines the dystopian themes that it tries so hard to convey, crucial to this kind of story, in my opinion.
Review of Days Gone Bye
