Caught up and the first half of season 1 is over. Some spoilers and here's my generic viewpoint. Non-spoilers in the last paragraph if you're thinking about watching, or maybe you gave up and wonder if it's worth it.
So my thoughts. Starts off with very plain-jane characters. Under-developed and I can see why after 5-6 eps. They want to focus on the events that weren't really understood or shown while Rick was in a coma within the main series. So by design, you're getting to know the characters on the fly in a hot sloppy mess, because the situation is a hot sloppy mess. It goes from an after-school special style of theater to more of what you should expect from the series. Still leaving room to grow. Just enough to keep me watching to see if it gets better. Just watching the first 3 eps will leave you in some state of feeling like this is yet another california-ized show. And yes, it is very california-ized, but at episode 6, they begin to go nomad. So who knows where they will go, which new characters come in to mix things up.
The militarized lock-down period showed how one area could have handled the scenario before getting over-run by rebels, zombies, and those who need care and have a hard time deciding if they should risk alerting others. It's a dull angle of the story, because the writers chose to show how people were left in the dark and were lied to with the intent of control and reducing panic. Not the best for TV, but lucky for entertainment purposes, we see everything change for a different scenario VERY QUICK.
In short, the first 3 episodes were stretched out. We know what is going on as viewers at this point. But the last 3 episodes *might* make it worth while. The scenario is set up for the second half of this season. If that pans out, then the dragged out story to start to series can be overlooked.
