Favorite Show - the Walking Dead

Perhaps my favorite show on television at the moment, The Walking Dead has had several episodes that I consider to be non-linear. Days pass between each episode with months even having passed between each season. A majority of this show's episodes begin with a look into the future, or shows the aftermath of a battle that is probably going to take place during the episode. Flashbacks of helicopters flying over the city, of Rick when he was left in the hospital by Shane, and of Rick's encounter with Morgan occurred often during the first season. The most recent episode that showed characteristics of non-linear storytelling was the episode "Internment". This was the fifth episode of the fourth season, and until then we had not heard of The Governor since he went crazy at the end of the third season. The next two episodes then went on to explain what The Governor had done since the incident and why he was stalking the prison yet again.

The non-linear structure enhances the episode because it added a lot of suspense for anyone who had been watching since The Governor was first introduced. Seeing him standing outside the prison, watching Rick, Carl, Hershel, and Michonne, left the audience questioning what was going to happen next. The next couple answered those answered through flashbacks then finally the final episode before the mid-season finale picked up with him outside the fences. Showing him not shoot Michonne or Rick immediately at the end of the fifth episode, then showing how he was abandoned and taken in by a family he seemed to grow attached to in the next two episodes led me to believe that perhaps The Governor had changed. I was certainly wrong by the end of the eighth episode but the way it was shown had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.