8 Reasons The Walking Dead Season 5 Is The Best So Far

8. Underused Characters Are Finally Being Developed

A criticism often levelled at previous seasons of The Walking Dead is that some of the secondary characters just weren't all that interesting, while a handful were just plain annoying - so much so that some viewers were actually rather pleased once they were killed off. With season 5, two of the most often criticised characters have been transformed into two of the most interesting. First up there's Carol, who has undergone an impressive transformation from a rather ineffective addition to the group who functioned mainly as a mother figure (when she wasn't cosying up to Daryl) to a real kick-ass character whose actions in the season's opening episode No Sanctuary were pivotal to the rescue of Rick and the gang. A similiarly underused character who has spent much of the previous series contributing little either in terms of plot progression or character development of her own is the young girl, Beth. In the space of a single episode, Slabtown, she's been virtually transformed into a fully rounded character - something that virtually all her appearances from previous episodes combined didn't really match up to. It's been great to see previously underdeveloped characters finally getting the attention that they deserve.