The Walking Dead: 10 Ways To Make The Show Great Again
5. Stop Insulting Us
Believe me, I understand that for a show like this, suspension of belief is a required prerequisite for enjoyment. But please, dont get liberal with it. Forget, for a moment, that whole thing about the Governor killing Mitchs brother and in the next moment convincing him to join him. Forget how absolutely ludicrous and absurd that is, because Ive got two other examples on how this show has insulted an intelligent fanbase. Okay, actually I have lots of examples, like Carol showing up out of nowhere after the prison was lost, or that ridiculous flu, but Ill just focus on two. First, as fans, were all aware of the weird presence Michonne has, from her checkered and mysterious past, to the use of de-limbed and de-jawed walkers she totes around. Why does she chop the arms off two walkers and remove their jaws? Well, evidently, its so they wont attack her. Okay, Ill buy it. But theres another reason. Apparently, when Michonne uses these augmented walkers on leashes, no other walker anywhere will attack her either. Okaywhy? As a fan I dont need every single miniscule detail explained to me, but I do need something north of nothing. Granted, some mystery adds to the mystique of the show. But why, for all things holy, has no one even asked the question? And why, if this really works (as it seemingly does), hasnt every single character on the show gotten themselves pet walkers on leashes? I get its not quite a vaccine, and nowhere near a cure, but if the walkers wont attack you, why doesnt everyone do this? No, seriously, someone needs to explain this to me. Because in order for this to make sense, either the theory is disproven, or Darryl opens up a Rent-a-Pet-Walker shop outside of Atlanta and cleans up. My brain hurts, so Ill move on to Rick. Remember a couple episodes ago when Rick was hiding under the bed from a group of unknown men entering the home he and Carl found? The episode was Claimed, and Rick was almost dead silent the entire episode from fear of being found out by this group. He was unarmed, he was alone, he was scared. And he was very careful to be extremely quiet. That is, until he snuck into the bathroom and attacked one of them. What ensued was a donnybrook worthy of a hardcore WWE match. The two men slammed into walls, knocked over toiletries, broke stuff, and so on. In other words, it was loud. Very loud. So loud that anyone with, say, a pair of functioning ears, would have no trouble whatsoever recognising that there was something going on in the upstairs bathroom. But, of course, no one checked on the commotion. And why would they? Its only a violent life-and-death struggle in a confined space, inside an otherwise quiet home. Who among us doesnt wake up in the middle of the night to wall-shaking pounding in the bathroom and think, Eh, its probably nothing. Its stupid, its bad writing, and its insulting to the viewer. Its as if the writers threw out the possibility of Rick killing him quietly in favour of a fight scene, because thats what they think we want. We dont. We want coherent story structure in believable settings with reasonable storylines. Enough of this nonsense. Why is it that action is suddenly king and carefully plotted tension is almost absent?
