Man, Father Gabriel is just the worst. Another character who's turned up this past season, Stokes is a priest that had barricaded himself inside his rural church during the zombie uprising, and had been doing just fine until Rick and his posse showed up. Even then he didn't do too bad, not having to lift a finger to keep his church well-fortified from the masses of monsters outside who wanted to literally pick his brain. But his shelter left him a little...well, sheltered. In the mid-season finale Stokes freaked out when the pews started being cut up for further defences, worried about the immortal soul of himself and his new flock, and then ran into the woods to have the least interesting side-plot since that time Carl Grimes sat on a roof eating a whole can of pudding. Before Stokes was simply ineffectual, a nothing character who was a bit annoying whenever he was on screen. In recent weeks he's become a full-blown irritant, dramatically tearing up his Bible and then babbling about Rick and co being literal demons in an awfully hammy, scenery-chewing performance from Seth Gilliam. Urgh.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
