In terms of the truly abhorrent characters The Walking Dead has provided over the years, Randall is second only to one. And that one is Ed Peletier, your friendly neighbourhood wife beater and probable paedophile who was part of the main cast during the first season. For the most part those disturbing revelations about Ed were played close to the chest, with initially shy-and-retiring Carol not wanting to make anything of it. A lot of Ed's awfulness came in retrospect, his abusive relationship with his young daughter Sophia alluded to long after he died, with Carol praying for him to be punished not only for the way he treated her not only beating Carol, but making her dress in dowdy clothes and keeping her hair short but also for looking at his own daughter, whatever sickness was growing in his soul. It was ambiguous, but given the generally off-putting demeanour Ed had during his brief time on The Walking Dead, quite believable. Actor Adam Minarovich actually did a bang-up job with the character; it's just that he was so irredeemably awful that he couldn't have stayed on the show any longer, and so his quick zombification followed by death-by-pick-axe at the hands of his wife was more than necessary.
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/
