Zombies at Downey

Rodas Hailu, Co-Editor-in-Chief

October 23, 2013

As a fan of the zombie horror television series, The Walking Dead, Kevin Perez, 12, wears a shirt based on the show to display his appreciation for the program. The Walking Dead, which airs on AMC, returned on Sunday, October 13. with a record 16 million viewers who tuned in to watch the fourth season premiere.

AMC’s post-apocalyptic zombie drama, The Walking Dead, premiered its fourth season on Sunday, Oct. 13 to over 16 million viewers, some of whom include Downey’s own students who have an affinity to the show.

Senior Crystal Vazquez instantly got hooked to the show ever since its first episode premiered.

“I’ve always loved zombies,” Vazquez said, “so when I saw the previews of The Walking Dead for the first season, I got really excited! Watching the first season really got me into the show.”

The show consistently deals with the gory and bloody aspects of a zombie invasion, but there are still scenes that shock viewers.

“So far on the recent episode which is the first episode of season four, one of the survivors gets sick, dies and turns into a walker [a zombie],” Vazquez said. “But there are no explanations on how he got sick. It left me speechless.”

Senior Kevin Perez, who first started watching the show once the second season ended, enjoyed the season premiere of the show on Sunday.

“I loved everything about it,” Perez said. “They showed how the characters developed from season three. The ending was really good because the writers confuse you so you can guess what happens next, but they want you to be wrong so you can get shocked when the real thing happens.”

Perez believes that the unique storylines keep the viewers coming back for more.

“The writers give you the unexpected,” Perez said. “For example, they’ll take a nerdy guy and a tough guy. They’ll always make the nerdy guy get attacked, but he never dies. Then they get the really tough guy kill a lot of zombies, but then he really gets killed by a zombie, so then the nerdy guy survives even longer.”

For senior Angel Hernandez, The Walking Dead has the whole package.

“It pretty much has it all, from the romance to the action,” Hernandez said. “The story lines has several stories all mixed up so you can be dealing with someone being betrayed one moment and then before you know it, a different person reveals some information about another person. Those moments when someone is about to find out leave you completely involved with the show and you just sit there, watching and wondering if they are going to find out today or later on.”

The series premiere of The Walking Dead originally aired in October of 2010. Based on the the comic book by Robert Kirkman, the show’s premise revolves around police officer Rick Grimes, who wakes up from a coma to find that his whole town has succumbed to a zombie attack. Since the premiere of the show, the popularity and fanbase for the show has grown tremendously in numbers.

Even after breaking a record-number amount of viewers on Sunday, The Walking Dead still has the potential of being a favorite show not just among the Downey High community, but around the world.

About the Contributor

Rodas Hailu, Co-Editor-in-Chief

Rodas Hailu, Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Downey Legend, leads the 2013-2014 staff into a busy and exciting year, introducing them to the journalistic world and all its wonders. The writer and photographer first entered the online newspaper as a junior, landing the position of Student Life Editor and turned heads when her stories revealed a seemingly natural instinct for investigative journalism. One year in newspaper left Hailu craving more: a position of leadership where she could let her ideas flourish and create a more successful website. As this year’s editor, she hopes to lead her team into greatness and provide a comfortable workspace. According to the senior, there is no room for mediocrity in the online newspaper. “I don’t want the writers and photographers to be apathetic at all,” Hailu said. “If they are in The Downey Legend, they are in The Downey Legend.” Full force and with great efforts, the talented student hopes to heighten the newspaper’s popularity and implement new ideas, hopefully capturing a new, wider audience. The senior, who is often described as an old soul, admires classical music and is moved by each powerful note in pieces composed by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Khatchaturian. A violinist of 7 years, her appreciation for works of art extends to cinema, and claims to be an avid movie watcher. “I really love to watch movies with a good script, amazing characters, and wonderful cinematography,” Hailu said. With a sixth sense for different forms of human creativity, she hopes to become a student in a liberal arts college and experience the intimacy of a less populated university. The future awaits Hailu, a force to be reckoned with in the arts field, and she predicts she will be living on her own because of her “innate independence.” Living day by day and constantly telling herself, “whatever happens, happens,” she tunnels her focus on The Downey Legend and its future success. A true leader with a mind coiled with layers of depth, Hailu reveals bits and pieces of her vision through her various works or art, photographs and stories.