The Walking Dead: 10 Ways To Make The Show Great Again
10. Make Walkers Dangerous Again
Remember when walkers scared the bejesus out of you? I do, and it was called seasons one and two. Back then, the threat was real. Major characters died from walker attackssometimes by the handful. Who can forget the walker attack on the camp in season one? Its still one of my favorite episodes, not just for the visceral reactions, but also for the brutal way in which the walkers dissected the camp. Back then, walkers were a very real threat, and whenever a main character encountered a group of them, it was white-knuckle time on the couch. The stakes were real. But now? Not so much. Now just about everyone is a walker-killing machine. Darryl doesnt seem to ever miss with his crossbow, Tyrese butchers walkers with hand-held weapons all the time, Michonne chops them up with her katana, and even Carl gets the best of themdespite the kind of clumsiness and fumbling that cost characters their lives in earlier seasons. In fact, who was the last major character to get killed during a walker attack on the show? Again, Im only referencing major characters here, but if you think about it, you have to go back to season three when T-Dog was killed by walkers. Before then? Season two with Dale and the attack on the farm. Yeah, you can make an argument for Andrea, but that was more a trap set by the Governor with a dying Milton in the room than an actual walker attack. I credit the Governor for that kill. But it seems as though weve reached a point where our main characters are no longer in danger of dying from walkers, and this has to change. The audience should never feel safe when walkers are nearby. We should feel real fear and concern for the welfare of the characters, not some here we go again moment where you know no one is in real jeopardy. You accomplish this by killing off some characters through walker attacks. This may not be a popular idea, but the band of survivors were currently watching on television is too large, and more are on the way. Theyre all scattered in forests and small towns with messy storylines anyway. The herd needs thinning, both to reestablish the walkers as viable threats, and to allow us to gain more detailed focus on some characters, rather than sloppy focus on all. Oh, and I just so happen to have a good place to start.
