Then & Now: Why 'The Walking Dead' Season 5 is a Pleasant Surprise

I've been with "The Walking Dead" since the beginning -- or the beginning of the end, depending on how you look at it. I've tuned into the country's most popular show for every episode of all five seasons and, up until the fifth season, I've described my feelings for AMC's flagship program as an abusive relationship: Just when things were getting bad and I was about to leave, it would reel me back in with a gripping plot resolve or the sudden death of a main character.

For the last few years I thought you couldn't have your cake and eat it too with this show. "The Walking Dead" is one of the biggest TV shows in the world, at least when it comes to ratings, but that doesn't mean it has to be good.

But that's changed in Season Five.

All five episodes of this season so far have ranged from spectacular to decent, a huge upgrade from the maddening Season Two or frustrating Season Four. Until now, "TWD" has been dumb, boring, clumsy and reaching for philosophical candor that the writers could not come close to pulling off. Handfuls of episodes tried to go for your heartstrings with monologues about The Human Condition, substituting tedious character development for what "TWD" should be: Gory action. This resulted in more throwaway filler episodes than episodes worth watching. You basically only had to watch four episodes to understand a season (the premiere, the mid-season finale, the mid-season premiere and the season finale).

Season Five has taken a sharp left turn, and "TWD" is actually getting things right. This is thanks to the program's new and third showrunner, Scott M. Gimple. He knows what this show is, where it needs to go, and, most importantly, he knows how to execute his vision while giving the audience what it wants.

After four seasons of treacherous zombies, a.k.a. "walkers," making life a literal living hell for Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his troupe of misfits, Season Five has flipped the script. The cast no longer fears the living dead. The real enemy now is the other survivors -- the people they encounter on their journey through dystopian apocalyptic rural Georgia.

The phenomenal season premiere picked up with Rick and co. trapped at Terminus, a hipster organic cannibal compound, and the episode moved right along, getting straight to the point. There was no bullshit sentimentality building up to an inevitable escape, and Rick didn't weigh the pros and cons of his actions, wallowing in his pre-decision decision.

Episode One of Season Five, titled "No Sanctuary," delivered on a visceral primal level, with everyone acting the way they're supposed to act in a land full of zombies. The cast carried out actions the way you'd expect a group of people to do when their backs are against the wall.

"No Sanctuary" didn't hold back, and the season continued to be strong. Gimple also knows to keep the cast (which is easily one of the most diverse group of people on TV right now) moving from location to location, never overstaying their welcome.

In Episode Two, "Strangers," the group meets a priest, Father Gabriel Stokes (oaky, the show is still a little dumb, but that's why we love it), and they end up at his church. At first you groan, "Oh, no, they're going to settle here," but then you remember Sgt. Abraham Ford. He joined the crew last season, and he's on a mission to make sure his pal Dr. Eugene Porter (a scientist who says he knows the cure for the walker virus) gets to Washington, D.C. in order to fix this whole mess, curing everyone (living and dead), and reverse the apocalypse. Ford is determined to keep on the go and, as if echoing the audience's sentiments, he makes sure the group never stays in one place for too long.

The gore and shock factors are upped, too: One of the main characters is kidnapped and forced to watch as survivors from Terminus eat his leg right in front of him. In the next episode, "Four Walls and a Roof," those man-eating survivors are slaughtered without hesitation by our heroes. This sequence of events would probably take three or four episodes if it happened in season three.

Grantland writer Andy Greenwald makes a great observation about apocalyptic shows like "TWD." Like Greenwald, I watched FX's "The Strain" this summer, and while I initially enjoyed the vampire-zombie show it quickly began to unravel and began to bleed stupidity. Greenwald writes about how "The Strain" "made me newly appreciative of the essential competence of "The Walking Dead." I couldn't agree more. "The Strain" put this newest season of "The Walking Dead" into perspective.

Though the season isn't even at the halfway point yet, each of the five episodes have packed a punch of excitement that actually make me look forward to "TWD," instead of dreading it. It's no longer a joke and something I hate watch. Like the millions upon millions of Americans tuning in each week, I'm engaged and sincerely enjoying "TWD."