Well... this appears to have gone down like a lead balloon. A two-season spinoff from "The Walking Dead" that explains an aspect of the story that seems likely to feature across the "Walking Dead" universe going forward - that of the Civic Republic. I can understand why the show shook off a lot of viewers, but it does pick up a bit as the season comes to a close.
Two sisters, Iris (Aliyah Royale) and Hope (Alexa Mansour) decide to leave the safety of their University compound, to head towards a North Eastern scientific complex and rescue their father, who was transferred there and has been sending back distress messages. They are joined by two more teenagers, shunned and shy Silas (Hal Cumpston) and bookish Elton (Nicholas Cantu). The foursome have mostly grown up in a world since the Zombie outbreak, and have never seen life in the rest of the world.
It feels, initially at the start, like a YA version of "The Walking Dead". Maybe that's because we're in a high school setting and one that, oddly, seems to be doing so much better than the established colonies of Hill Top and Alexandria from the main series - Indeed life is pretty normal for these kids, provided they don't stray outside the walls. Which, of course, they have to do otherwise there's no story. The cast and their characters are all OK, but nobody particularly stands out as overly interesting. Indeed, the first few episodes are largely forgettable too, as we meet the characters and flesh out their backstories with flashbacks. The most interesting aspect is the Civic Republic - here represented by Julia Ormond. We're no stranger to zealots in the world of "The Walking Dead" but none so far have been as organised as these, essentially the army and government that remains. It's no coincidence that the second half of this series improves when their plans are brought to the forefront and they feature more regularly. It also becomes more like "The Walking Dead" as the season runs on, that the strange reluctance to actually kill the 'empties' goes away too.
I don't think it's as bad as some of the reviews have made out - particularly if you can make it through to the second half. But I'd agree that it feels unnecessary and the whole story could just have been mixed in with the main show.
Two sisters, Iris (Aliyah Royale) and Hope (Alexa Mansour) decide to leave the safety of their University compound, to head towards a North Eastern scientific complex and rescue their father, who was transferred there and has been sending back distress messages. They are joined by two more teenagers, shunned and shy Silas (Hal Cumpston) and bookish Elton (Nicholas Cantu). The foursome have mostly grown up in a world since the Zombie outbreak, and have never seen life in the rest of the world.
It feels, initially at the start, like a YA version of "The Walking Dead". Maybe that's because we're in a high school setting and one that, oddly, seems to be doing so much better than the established colonies of Hill Top and Alexandria from the main series - Indeed life is pretty normal for these kids, provided they don't stray outside the walls. Which, of course, they have to do otherwise there's no story. The cast and their characters are all OK, but nobody particularly stands out as overly interesting. Indeed, the first few episodes are largely forgettable too, as we meet the characters and flesh out their backstories with flashbacks. The most interesting aspect is the Civic Republic - here represented by Julia Ormond. We're no stranger to zealots in the world of "The Walking Dead" but none so far have been as organised as these, essentially the army and government that remains. It's no coincidence that the second half of this series improves when their plans are brought to the forefront and they feature more regularly. It also becomes more like "The Walking Dead" as the season runs on, that the strange reluctance to actually kill the 'empties' goes away too.
I don't think it's as bad as some of the reviews have made out - particularly if you can make it through to the second half. But I'd agree that it feels unnecessary and the whole story could just have been mixed in with the main show.
