Regardless of its problems, the one thing The Walking Dead has to have going for it is the body count. This is a story about humanity being pushed to the edge of extinction by the living dead, so naturally many characters have to die. Many of them have to be characters we deeply care about; their deaths further establishing the grim reality of the setting. Sadly, The Walking Dead fails in this regard. Yes, there is much death going on throughout the show, but most of it is aimed at expendable characters whose deaths wont shake the foundation of the show too much. The core cast has remained the same since the first season, with the exception of Lori and Andrea, but they were so annoying it wasnt a loss. If youre a nobody or despised by the audience, kiss your life goodbye, otherwise youre pretty safe. Yes, Hershel was killed, but frankly he had to at that point. To put things in perspective, Hershel was the only major casualty in an adaption of a scene from the comic infamous for its killing off most of the cast, including the baby. The Walking Dead is too afraid to kill off major or well-liked characters. However, the irony is that we dont want the characters we like to die because without them there is no one else. Other shows would be able to replace them with equally as interesting characters, but this show has had so little success doing this that the risk isnt worth the loss. Oddly enough, death doesnt mean much in a show surrounded by it.
