Warning: Walking Dead and Lost spoilers ahead.
It dawned on me while watching the last couple of episodes of The Walking Dead, that the current situation in the show bears a striking resemblance to certain periods of Lost. These similarities are not necessarily one for one, but rather in overall feel as well as certainly matching elements of both shows. Granted, I’m stretching a little bit here and there, but just follow along with me.
First, the Governor and his people are the Others. The Governor is Ben. The post-Apocalyptic southern landscape resembles the Island in the fact that danger lurks everywhere outside of protected areas, and that resources are scarce and technology is limited. Like the Others, the Governor’s people live some semblance of a normal life, unencumbered by the constant dangers and shortages faced by those outside (Jack’s group in Lost, Rick’s group in The Walking Dead). The Governor, like Ben Linus, is clearly an archvillain, from the viewer’s perspective, but we don’t know his exact history (at least in the first couple of seasons of Lost), and clearly he didn’t necessarily start out with the intention of being evil (well, neither thinks of themselves as evil, but let’s say, their intents were not purely negative like a true evil villain). Also, it seems that many in Governor’s group don’t know exactly the full story about the Governor’s motives and villain-ness; it also seemed that way for Ben as well in Lost, though that may just be an impression I got, especially in the episode (the first episode of the third season, A Tale of Two Cities) that showed some of the Others at a book club when Oceanic Flight 815 crashed (more of the Others obviously knew something was going on, but I’m not sure how obviously villainous it was to all of them, at least at first, there were innocents, like Juliet). Like Lost, our good guys are composed of a rag team group of strangers who didn’t know each other until a tragic set of circumstances, nad have to band together to stay alive.
The interrogation scenes with Glen and Maggie have no exact parallels, but remind me of not one but two major interrogations in Lost. These are when Jack’s crew had Ben locked up, without knowing his identity, for the last few episodes in the second season, when Ben claimed his name was Henry Gale, and when the Others captured Jack, Sawyer and Kate early in the third season, and particularly when Juliet interrogated Jack (by the way, if we’re really stretching this out, Rick is obviously Jack and Daryl clearly a much nicer Sawyer). As in Lost, in The Walking Dead, we know these two groups are going to clash at some point, as the much weaker good guy crew dares to take on the much stronger bad guys. There’s something not quite right about the Governor and his crew, which is exactly the feeling that viewers developed with the Others, even besides their simply being antagonists – the idea that they’re up to something fishy and underhanded aside from just wanting to defeat our protagonists.
Of course, Lost spent a lot more time developing these groups (the Others are around by the end of the first season, while the Governor doesn’t enter until the beginning of the third of Walking Dead, though the latter is on cable, and the episode count per season is significantly less) and then went way off the rail afterwards (time travel, um, purgatory, nuclear explosions). Lost involved elements of the supernatural that aren’t present in Walking Dead. Walking Dead involves the science fiction of zombies, and that’s about it. Many of Lost’s best episodes were when the Others were still mysterious and when Ben’s creepy stare and constant lies-that-might-be-part-truths were captivating instead of tiring and repetitive (why did anyone ever believe Ben by the end of the show?). The combination of the human dynamics amongst people who don’t know each other yet must work together set against the tension between opposing groups and the continuing plot mysteries that kept audiences guessing, anticipating, and theorizing were what made Lost so tantalizing, and what The Walking Dead does on its best days.
To its credit, I think The Walking Dead has soundly avoided the problem of biting off more than it can chew, plot mystery wise , and having source material, even if it’s not entirely faithful to it, probably helps a lot (I think the lack of limitless supernatural elements helps as well). In addition, it smartly stayed away from the flashbacks, which I, and I realize this is a divisive opinion, always hated. We can learn all we need about the characters from their actions at the present time.
I admit, the comparison is a stretch at times, but I do think Lost viewers will recognize at least a feeling in The Walking Dead right now which resembles some of the magic of the earlier (and best) seasons of Lost. The show, which has had its share of issues over the first couple of seasons, has had its strongest half season so far. Hopefully Walking Dead will continue its positive run of episodes; for the first time in a while, I’m really looking forward to the next episode, the midseason finale. So, kudos, The Walking Dead (and visiting the Lost wikipedia page just reminds me again of how Lost made me crazy (like visiting an ex’s facebook page) but that’s for another day).
Television, the Drug of the Nation 
Excellent thoughts. ‘Lost’ was one of my favorite TV shows, and it just hit me after watching the latest episode of ‘The Walking Dead’ the similarities between the two. I stumbled on your story after a quick google search. You nailed pretty much all the comparisons I had thought of…can’t say I agree with you about the flashbacks though. I thought it was one of the best aspects of ‘Lost’ and would love to see ‘The Walking Dead’ do more back stories of the characters.