Days Gone Bye (TV Series)

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"Days Gone Bye" is the first episode of Season 1 and the first ever episode of The Walking Dead TV series.

Rick searches for his family after emerging from a coma into a world terrorized by the walking dead. Morgan and Duane, whom he meets along the way, help teach Rick the new rules for survival.

Summary
As the episode begins, Sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes exits his police vehicle with an empty gas can. He explores the surrounding area, which is full of burnt-out and wrecked motor vehicles. As Rick moves towards a nearby gas station, he notices a number of discarded children's toys on the ground. Finally reaching the station, Rick spots a sign - "No Gas". As he prepares to return to his car, he hears a scuffling noise nearby. Rick crouches onto the floor and peers underneath his car, spotting a pair of small feet. The feet appear to belong to a lost little girl, who picks her discarded teddy bear up from the ground. Rick calls out to the girl, but as she turns, he realises that she is a horribly disfigured zombie. The girl growls and advances on Rick, forcing him to shoot her in the head. A few days earlier, Rick and his partner Shane Walsh share lunch in their cop car and discuss the differences between men and women. Shane is on a light-hearted tirade, complaining that his current girlfriend has never learned to switch off the lights in his house. Shane enquires about Rick's marriage to Lori, and he explains that their relationship is in a bad state. Rick complains that Lori tells him to express his feelings more, but becomes frustrated by his thoughts and opinions. Shane tries to reassure his friend that the marriage is simply going through a rough patch, but Rick is still furious with Lori for questioning his love for the family in front of their son Carl.

A call comes through on the radio, notifying Rick and Shane of a high-speed pursuit in progress. They speed towards the incident and pull up on the side of the road, laying a spike trip across the car's intended path. They meet up with fellow officers Lam Kendal and Leon Basset, where Leon is excited that the incident could be broadcast as part of 'World's Craziest Police Chases' but Rick reprimands him, ordering him to focus on the dangerous situation. The pursued car speeds towards the officers, but hits the spikes and flips over multiple times, crashing spectacularly. One criminal emerges with guns blazing and Rick takes a bullet to his protective vest. The criminal and his accomplice are both shot to death by the other officers. Rick rises, unharmed, but a hidden third criminal fires another shot, badly wounding him. Shane cries out for an ambulance as Rick falls unconscious. Rick has a vision of Shane visiting him at the hospital, bringing a bunch of fresh flowers. Shane gives Rick his best wishes and leaves the flowers on a side-table. Rick jokingly accuses Shane of stealing the flower vase from his grandmother, but Shane has vanished. Rick notices that the flowers are now dead, implying that Shane's visit actually took place some time ago. Rick attempts to rise, but falls to the ground and weakly calls out for help. Still alone, he stumbles out of his hospital room and discovers that the entire building is a wreck, lit only by a single flickering light. As he explores the hospital further, a terrified Rick discovers a decaying body of a nurse and walls coated in blood. He comes across a door - boarded-up and padlocked - with the message "Don't open, dead inside" painted on it. As a pair of hands attempts to break through the door, a horrified Rick leaves the hospital via the fire exit. In the blinding light of day, Rick finds hundreds of crudely wrapped, decomposing bodies outside of the hospital. All nearby cars and buildings are burnt-out wrecks, similar to the hospital. Rick finds a discarded bicycle, but a nearby corpse of a woman - rotting and with no legs - wakes up and begins crawling towards him. Rick flees the scene on the bicycle and rides to his home, but there's no sign of Lori or Carl. He breaks down and begins to sob. Rick emerges from his house and sits down outside. He spots a figure approaching and waves, but is hit in the face with a shovel. His attacker is a small boy - Duane - who calls out for his father. The father, Morgan, appears and shoots the approaching figure in the head. Morgan points a gun at the injured Rick, demanding to know what kind of wound lies beneath his bandages. However, Rick passes out before he can answer. Rick awakens, tied to a bed in Morgan's house. He explains that his wound was from a gunshot and that he has not been bitten. Satisfied, Morgan cuts Rick's bonds. Rick attempts to remove the sheets covering the windows, but Morgan warns him that his earlier gunshot has attracted a large number of zombies. As they share a meal, Morgan explains to Rick that the man he shot was not really a man, but a "walker". He warns Rick that the creatures will try to eat him and claims that their bites pass on a deadly fever that transforms you into another zombie.

A car alarm sounds outside of the house and Morgan explains that a zombie must have set off the security system. He and Rick look outside the house and spot a female zombie who lurches up the front steps. Duane is upset by the woman's presence and Morgan explains that the zombie is his wife and Duane's mother - she died of the fever some time ago, but Morgan could not bring himself to kill her. The next day, the three explore Rick's house and the police officer becomes convinced that Lori and Carl are still alive, since all of the family pictures and photo albums are missing. Dwayne suggests that Rick's family are likely in Atlanta, since the city houses a huge refugee centre with military protection, food and shelter. Rick, Morgan and Duane break into the police station, which is equipped with its own propane system, and enjoy a hot shower. After cleaning himself up, Rick decides to travel to Atlanta and invites Morgan, but he replies: "Haven't worked up to it yet." The pair enter the station's weapons store and arm themselves - Morgan with a sniper rifle, Rick with a pistol and two shotguns. As Rick prepares to depart, he gives his new friend a police radio to keep in contact. Outside the station, he spots his former colleague Leon - now a mindless zombie. Rick shoots Leon in the head, and Morgan and Duane flee before the gunshot attracts more of the creatures.

Back at home, a tearful Morgan looks through old pictures of his wife and sets up his sniper rifle at an upstairs window. He spots his wife amongst the zombies surrounding his house, but once again cannot bring himself to shoot her. Meanwhile, Rick encounters the paraplegic zombie again and shoots the creature in the head, saying "I'm sorry this happened to you" to the corpse. Returning to his car, he rides on Highway 85 towards Atlanta, sending out emergency radio broadcasts as he goes. A band of survivors located outside the city picks up the broadcast, including Shane, Lori and Carl. They attempt to reply to Rick's call, but the signal is poor and he does not hear them. Lori suggests that they should put up signs outside of Atlanta to warn survivors of the horror inside, but Shane argues that venturing out near the city is too dangerous. In private, Shane consoles an angry Lori, telling her that Carl has been through too much and cannot afford to lose his mother. The pair share a kiss, but are interrupted by Carl, and Lori assures her son that she will never leave him. Along the highway in Tennessee, Rick pulls up at a nearby house in search of gas, but finds that the couple inside have committed suicide. Unable to refill his car's tank, he steals a horse from the house's paddock and rides the animal into Atlanta. Rick discovers that the city is completely deserted, with countless abandoned cars filling the streets. As Rick explores further, he discovers an abandoned tank, with the half-eaten corpse of a soldier lying on top. Rick hears a helicopter above and rides towards it, but as he rounds a corner, he is confronted by hundreds of hungry zombies. The creatures drag Rick from the horse and he loses his gun bag as he falls to the ground. As the zombies rip the horse apart and devour it, Rick crawls under the tank to hide. However, the creatures swarm all around him and he appears trapped. Just as Rick prepares to kill himself with his last bullet, he notices a hatch on the bottom of the tank, leading inside. Rick climbs into the tank, discovering a dead soldier inside. He steals the soldier's holstered pistol, but the man awakens - now a zombie. Startled, Rick shoots the soldier in the head, but the sound of the gun in the enclosed space of the tank temporarily deafens him. Rick climbs onto the top of the tank and spots his bag of guns lying on the street. However, the zombies begin to clamber towards him and he is forced to shut himself back inside. All seems lost, but at that moment, a lone voice is picked up on the tank's radio, speaking directly to Rick: "Hey you, dumbass. Yeah, you in the tank. Cozy in there?"

Production
The episode began filming in Atlanta on May 15, 2010.

Several scenes from the pilot were screened July 23, 2010 during the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International. It then officially premiered on October 31, 2010. It premiered internationally on Fox International Channels during the first week of November.

Almost two weeks before the official premiere on AMC, the episode was leaked online.

Cast
Starring
 * Rick Grimes - Andrew Lincoln
 * Shane Walsh - Jon Bernthal
 * Lori Grimes - Sarah Wayne Callies
 * Andrea - Laurie Holden (credit only)
 * Dale Horvath - Jeffrey DeMunn
 * Glenn - Steven Yeun (voice only)
 * Carl Grimes - Chandler Riggs

Guest Stars
 * Morgan Jones - Lennie James
 * Amy - Emma Bell

Co-stars
 * Lam Kendal - Jim Coleman
 * Leon Basset - Linds Edwards
 * Mrs. Jones - Keisha Tills
 * Duane Jones - Adrian Kali Turner

Uncredited
 * Little Girl Zombie - Addy Miller
 * Tank Soldier - Brian Stretch
 * Black Suited Zombie - Joe Giles
 * Bicycle Girl Zombie - Melissa Cowen
 * Baseball Bat Zombie - Max Calder
 * Unnamed Camp Survivor - L. Stephanie Ray
 * Unnamed Camp Survivor - Frances Cobb

Reception
Nancy deWolf Smith from The Wall Street Journal said that the "pilot episode [is] so good that it has hooked even a zombie hater like me." She said that what made the show so good was that it feels real and looks cinematic. Heather Havrilesky of Salon.com included the show on their list of 9 new TV shows to not miss, giving it a grade of "A", with the author saying "A film-quality drama series about zombies? Somebody pinch me!" The show currently scores 85 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 25 reviews, indicating Universal acclaim.

The pilot received 5.3 million viewers.

Trivia

 * The Walking Dead was the most watched TV premiere in AMC's history.
 * Steven Yeun, who plays Glenn, is credited and didn't appear, though his voice was heard over the radio
 * The house Rick enters is extermly simalar to [|Night of The Living Dead] house

Differences between the episode and comics


Ugo.com makes 18 comparisons between the comic and the episode.

The first issue of the comic book ends after Rick kills the decimated zombie next to the bike.

Below are significant differences between the first episode and the comics:
 * There is no introduction with Rick shooting a child zombie or Rick and Shane talking in the squad car in the comic. The comic begins with the highway shoot out.
 * Shane is shot in the hand by the criminal in the comic.
 * In the comic, Rick has no vision of Shane visiting him in the hospital.
 * In the comic, Rick changes into street clothing in his hospital room before venturing out into the hospital.
 * In the comic, Rick opens the hospital door to the room which is boarded up and confronts a zombie for the first time. The zombie lunges at Rick, and both fly out a exterior door. The zombies is partially decapitated on the stairs going down to the street.
 * In the comic, Morgan does not worry about Rick's wound. In the episode, Morgan is concerned it is a bite.
 * There is no visit from Morgan's wife in the comic and Morgan does not shoot his wife.
 * Rick, Morgan and Duane visit the sheriff's office at night in the comic, during the day in the first episode.
 * Rick does not know and does not shoot the zombie through the sheriff's office fence in the comic.

Similarities between the episode and comics
Below are significant similarities between the first episode and the comics:
 * In both the comic and episode Rick finds a bike with a decimated zombie woman next to the bike.
 * In both the comic and the first episode Rick returns to kill the decimated zombie after stocking up at the sheriff's office. In the comic he drives, in the episode he walks.
 * In both the comic and episode Duane hits Rick over the head with a shovel.