As with most TV series, endless padding and filler means that the story not only moves at a snail's pace, but the narrative and character arcs get stretched too thin. It loses its narrative thrust, and eventually just plods and meanders along.

I tried watching this after rave reviews, but the pacing was unbearable.

While there are things to praise, particularly the production values and shot framing, as well as some of the acting, at its core this is nothing new.

The zombie apocalypse has been done over and over, and having it caused by a fungus instead of a virus is not the clever twist the writers want it to be. Especially since that's not how a cordyceps works. It's like someone watched that Planet Earth documentary snipped on youtube and thought "that's a cool idea for a horror franchise". It may work for a video game, but it's still stupid.

The core plot of the grizzled guy adopting an immune girl and protecting her as they traverse the wasteland is decent, but not really creative either.

There's nothing here that hasn't been done better in films that came before like Dawn of the Dead.

The acting is hit and miss. Pedro Pascal is servicable, but overall forgettable. No comparison to the game's original.

I would recommend sticking to the game.