So I just finished watching episode two of AMC’s “The Walking Dead.”

This all just my opinion, so feel free to comment, but I feel this show’s in trouble. Or maybe I’m missing things? Maybe I’m just comparing it to the awesomeness of the first season, which was pretty damn awesome. Perhaps I haven’t given it much of a chance just yet? Mull. Mull.

When the show opened up with the flashback and the two wives discussing marriage issues, was I the only one that was thinking “Oh shit, they aren’t really going to do THIS are they?”

I watched all six seasons of Lost. I think it’s a great series, and a great storyline… but they did annoy the hell out of me in two ways. The incessant flashbacks and flashforwards to establish a character’s story. And the burn in hell practice of creating suspense with a 5-10 minute recap of what had happened leading up to the cliffhanger of the previous episode that made you tune into the current show. I never want to see or hear of these two devices for character development and suspense evah again.

Now… TWD had the flashback last night. I have no doubt if they did it once, they’ll damn well do it again. They had the good grace to do it at the beginning of the show, which was nice of them, but again I feel this is a “big toe dipped in the sea” kinda test before they go ape-shit with it. And I hope to smarties they stay away from lengthy recaps when they end on a cliffhanger, like they did in episode two here.

And speaking of character development. I’m not sure whether to like the ways the characters are evolving, or to smack em up side of the head. The cop/sheriff (I can’t even remember his name) is really starting to bug me with his “I’ll do it all” attitude: gotta carry the boy to the house, give blood to the point of passing out, go out and get a respirator, gotta serve up burgers and fries to the hockey crowd, gotta take apart that truck and put it back together before five.

The mother of the missing young girl—from being on the verge of breaking down last episode to going to “yeah, okay” sullenness here? And where the hell is this kid anyway?

The snarkiness of the blonde chick, giving the old guy the glare of death after a simple “Are you alright?” question? I know the history between these two, but… come on.

T-Bone becoming feverish and going on about wanting to leave. Okay, he’s feverish. Fine. But yet another character I found myself rolling my eyes at. Then again… he might be the smart one.

In every series, you’ll have at least one character that you love to hate. That you are just praying he/she will screw up and get their just rewards. Then you have the character that’s just plain annoying. Here, I’m starting to dislike half of these guys. Yeah. I want the zombies to have one enormous chow down on the collective fat. In fact, the only character I’m liking now at all is the redneck with the crossbow, who’s gone from “I’ll git y’all fo mah brother” to actually giving a damn about the people he’s with.

This episode was slow moving as well. Last season, I got the feeling that they were doing things their way, taking their time with things. Thus far, I’m getting impatient with the pacing. The episode’s ending, while not totally unexpected, was a little predictable. We knew they were going to meet up with the dead. They have to get some conflict with the zombies in there every show, else we wouldn’t be watching. And frankly, they needed that “cliffhanger” to get me to even think about tuning in next week.

I read that AMC is going to air half of season two and then the rest later in 2012. At this point, it’ll be interesting to see if they maintain their high ratings after the break. I hope they turn things around, else I don’t see a season three.

I’m writing a zombie book now. Almost done in fact. The second season in TWD is, if anything, a great study of how NOT to do things in a story about the dead. I’ve identified what I dislike about the show and I know what I liked about the first season.

I hope the writers of TWD start reflecting on what got them a season two in the first place.