The Walking Dead: 10 Things Season 5 Must Do Better Than Season 4
10. Build A Plot
One of the biggest issues of The Walking Dead is that it lacks any sense of plot or progression. It is directionless, which is a huge no-no in the realm of fiction. If the audience has no sense of where all the various elements of the story are going, then investment begins be strain and is eventually lost. Sure, the story of survival amidst a zombie apocalypse is interesting at first, but if things stay the same for too long, what is the point of investing yourself mentally and emotionally any further? Even the comic book is beginning to feel this way; repeating the same dramatic beats over and over. Eventually it just gets boring. Season 4 may have given us better character moments than previous seasons, but it did not fare any better in regards to its plot, or lack of one. Look, of course building a plot is harder when your story takes place in a world where the only goal is survival, but it still needs something beyond that to move the characters forward with a purpose. Season 1 had this, with the characters making the move to the Centre for Disease Control in a desperate attempt to find any kind of civilisation left. Since then the series has lacked any kind of goal such as this, and has suffered for it. Sure this is realistic, but realism is boring. Real life lacks plot and doesnt necessarily have forward progression. This is why fiction exists; it is a heightened reality, and as such needs a plot to give us a reason to watch. In season 5 the writers need to give Rick and the gang a goal other than to just survive. To give them credit, it looks like this will be the case with the introduction of Eugene and the possible cure. That has the potential to really get things going and give our characters a clear and identifiable goal. Hopefully they will follow through with this. Whatever ends up being the case, the simple fact is that plot is the key to not just good television, but good storytelling. Who knows, they could improve on the comic book.
