The walking dead...

LOVE that show! If you enjoy it, I highly recommend checking out some back episodes of a podcast called Mail Order Zombie. They had a great summary of the last season and a great discussion on it.
I don't think the zombies can become "smart". The whole point of zombies is that they are a social commentary on the brainlessness we find in group mentalities. You'll see zombies in life EVERYWHERE. Observe a group of people who are fanatical about any 1 subject, religion, politics, consumerism, work, etc, and you'll see zombisim at it's best. It also plays on our fears of becoming lost in the crowd as individuals. To give them the ability to think or have distinct personalities would defeat the purpose of them being zombies. They already retain more of their past life than most zombie portrayals - they can use door handles, and they have hightened senses that make them formitable.

I think the church zombies were a light commentary on religion. I don't think they were seeking answers. (If you watch American Zombie, they'll tell you Jesus was the original zombie - interesting little documentary for the zombie fan.) I think it showed that they were there out of habit. Just like they'd turn a door handle out of habit.

Let's just look at the first episode:
The 1/2 a zombie death scene. The Zombie just wanted to act on instinct and eat. It was eeking out a survival and he put it out of it's misery (assuming it had emotions at all and was miserable - that may be just be personification). I felt that was an interesting moment to examine. Is this our mentality when something is suffering with a situation that is unlikely to improve - we feel we're doing it a favor by ending it's cycle of life? That begs the question regarding how we treat handicapped or senior citizens (the sr. citizen thing was also touched on in a later episode.)
Consumerism is attacked all over the place, literally in the first episode. They could have been trapped ANYWHERE, but they were trapped in a department store. In a later episode, a hot car was seen as just for it's parts and taken apart. In a non-survival oriented world, that "status symbol" of a car wouldn't have been seen for what it could do, but for what it looked like. What better commentary on vanity need there be?
Group vs single mentality - The kid who ran around ALONE getting stuff, was able to survive, was functional. He was doing it FOR the group, but he was also HINDERED in several situations by the group.

UNFORTUNATELY for me, my guy just deployed and I promised I wouldn't watch and more episodes until he gets back, so I missed last night's too, but I can't WAIT to get back to it!

Seriously considering starting a movie review blog after writing this... lol

Walking Dead is a great show. Be sure to watch George Romero's trilogy of zombie movies. Land of the Dead (released in 2005) is his best because the zombies to start to evolve and think for themselves.

I watched Diary of the Dead by Romero yesterday. Love his movies.

The graphic novels for The Walking Dead are awesome. I love the live action of the tv series but I think the graphic novels are slightly more action packed. And, oddly, more gory.

Walking Dead is a great show. Be sure to watch George Romero's trilogy of zombie movies. Land of the Dead (released in 2005) is his best because the zombies to start to evolve and think for themselves.

I watched Diary of the Dead by Romero yesterday. Love his movies.

The graphic novels for The Walking Dead are awesome. I love the live action of the tv series but I think the graphic novels are slightly more action packed. And, oddly, more gory.

If you're into those , you might be interested in a series called "Crossed" . It's not for the squemish.. you've been warned