One of The Walking Dead's greatest strengths is also one of its biggest drawbacks. The ensemble cast allows for a rotating collection of actors, with characters that provide new and interesting dynamics and conflicts. It's worked especially well this season, with the core group split up to cover more ground, literally and narratively speaking. Getting to know Abraham and company more was vital and entertaining. But now they're all back together again, it's rather difficult to keep track of everyone. A bigger group makes sense in-universe, but as a TV ensemble, it can be a little unwieldly; especially when they're all supposed to be sticking together, and often there are certain characters (like Judith) the audience just doesn't see for episodes at a time. That's only going to get worse from the looks of it. In a lot of ways, the group arriving at this new safe haven is a great leap forward for the series, but in this way? If the cast is going to get even more bloated, especially this late in the season, the show's either going to have the issue of expecting viewers to care about all these new characters, or at least keep track of them, when it's getting difficult enough to do that as it is. Of course, if you listen to the rumours, some of that core cast is going to be thinning a little before the fifth season wraps up...
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/
