“The Walking Dead” leaves viewers thirstier than ever

The dead have invaded every facet of media: in books, movies, television, and comics, zombies run rampant.

The most notable piece of zombie culture is the television show “The Walking Dead,” a show that, on average, draws in 19.9 million viewers weekly. If you were looking for me on a Sunday night, I would be among the 19.9 million, perched on the edge of my seat and chewing my nails.

But despite somehow managing to maintain a following, the show has become dry. The zombies have lost their appeal (they’re hardly as scary as they once were) and most deaths on the show are met with excitement rather than mourning.

The first half of this season was a slow venture of trying to find medicine to vaccinate those who fell sick in the prison settlement that the main character, Rick Grimes, played by Andrew Lincoln, set up. There was some arguing, some murder, some “what do we do next?” Yawn. I was beginning to grow tired of the all talk, no action. No one wants to watch Rick interrogate a woman for an hour. Everyone tunes in for the thrills, for sword-swinging Michone and cross-bow-slinging Dareyl.

The mid-season finale, however, ended with the prison in flames and the group split.

Each episode focused on a different, small group, making their way along some train tracks to “Terminus,” a sanctuary for all in the zombie apocalypse.

The dynamic of a split group has allowed for far more interesting stories to come forward. We have learned more about the elusive, quiet Michone. We see more about Carl, Rick’s son. In “After,” he walks into a postered room, a big screen TV against the wall and Xbox games piled beside it. He grins at it for a moment, before coming back to reality and stripping the television chord for wire to tie the front door shut. The audience sees how the apocalypse has stripped away his childhood.

Most interesting of all the storylines is that of Daryl and Beth. Beth has just watched her father be brutally murdered, and, the previously hardened “I don’t cry anymore,” teenager, breaks down for the first time in front of Daryl.

Even more stunning is when Daryl, constant bad-ass, breaks down too. “Rick, Glenn, Maggie, you ain’t never gonna see her again,” he yells at her. Maggie, of course, is her older sister, and she may feel this the most out of his list. But Rick and Glenn are more like family to Daryl than they are to Beth.

The audience sees them both deal with the loss of their family, Beth through taking her first drink, Daryl through some screaming and yelling. It ends up being one of the most emotionally charged episodes of the entire series, and as a result, also one of the best episodes of the entire series.

This Sunday will bring the season finale which is guaranteed to be emotional. And if it follows the pattern of the past few months, it is guaranteed to be awesome.

If you’re a previous watcher who gave up the series for lack of excitement and intrigue, now is the time to pick it back up. Never has zombie television been as good as this season of “The Walking Dead.”