Talk about an explosive finale – the first season, short as it was, went out with a bang as CDC headquarters was obliterated in a nice fireball of non-nuclear but still blazing proportions (along with two more characters). There were a couple of tense moments inside the bunker including an interesting look at the virus cycle that causes otherwise dead folks to pop up and start chomping on the living and Shane’s confrontation with Lori (the man needs a new fixation, pronto). While this one was superb from start to finish, the episode somehow felt too short for my tastes, as some old ground was retread (we get it – showers rock when you haven’t had one in weeks) and it would have been interesting to see more of the doomed scientist as a character.

Nevertheless, AMC clearly has a major smash with the series and the long, long wait until October 2011 is going to be hugely unbearable yet highly exciting for those of us looking forward to more Dead. Brilliant stuff (and thank goodness for AMC Free On Demand, as I’ll be haunting that channel for as long as they rerun episodes). Still… I’m wondering about the first season on DVD or Blu-Ray (whenever it hits), as a mere six episodes really isn’t enough to justify shelling out for a box set unless it’s packed to the rafters with bonus features… We shall see, I guess…

Score: A-
First Season Score: A