*SIGH*
I know what you're all thinking. "This is going to be one of those posts about the new big bad every week and how it's cyclical and Jimbo is giving us the same regurgitated line that we've heard everywhere else and I'm just tired of hearing it.."
Nope.
We here at Jimbo's are not all about the same old thing. We are not about agreeing with everyone else simply for the sake of doing so. Don't get me wrong. I'm not about DISagreeing simply for the sake of doing so either, but there are definitely times when I've gone against the grain. My Star Wars posts have occasionally received criticism on Facebook. I am apparently the only person on the planet who liked Another Life. I've also done some stuff that was seen in a positive light. My post about the Ghost Busters trailer is one of my most popular, and everyone else seems to agree with me that it looks awesome and I've been thanked over email for my Stan Lee tribute. I'[m not sure why I decided to make this point on this post, but my point is that I am who I am, I like what I like and I don't rely on others for my opinions.
So here's my opinion on The Walking Dead: It sucks now. It's not because of the new big bad every season. I like that aspect of it. I always have. Every story needs a problem and in a post-apocalyptic setting it makes sense that the problem is someone trying to carve out their own empire. Of course, this completely ignores the fact that The Group was always (well, after the first season anyway) looking to care out its own empire, with Rick Grimes in the lead. Speaking as the guy with the history degree there empire building always has its big bad, whether it's the Soviet Union (they want to take your rights away), the United States(those capitalist running pig-dogs have poor people in their country!), the Carthaginians (they're taking over our trade markets!) , the Romans (OMG they're taking over our trade markets!) or whatever. For the story to progress The Group needed to be up against something that was preventing them from doing their thing and succeeding. Those were usually dictators, because the show is written by Americans and has a huge American following and our history teaches us that Dictators are Bad.
No, my problem is not that The Group fought against others and there was always someone else to fight. That's how the real world works. It always has. It always will.
No, my problem is that there is no one left to root for. I am of the opinion that a story, regardless of setting, or even genre, has to be about people the audience cares about. If the audience loves the characters they will be interested in what happens to them. The story is about what happens to the characters. Ergo character we care about = interest in the story.
I'm not some multi-million selling author. I haven't even built a website to rival IO9. Maybe I'm full of crap, but it seems to me that I just discovered the secret to writing a good story.
My point as it relates to The Walking Dead is this:
They've killed off most of the characters I cared about and made the rest boring.
Seriously: Remember when Carol was a psychotic, gun wielding nutcase who murdered two people and burned their bodies just because they were sick? Remember when she killed that little girls whose name I cant remember because she was dangerous to everyone else? Remember how you felt about her? About how you wanted someone like her on your side... probably... as long as she didn't think you were a threat to her or hers?
And now she's been reduced to negotiating deals using a movie projector. She's not borderline crazy anymore. She has lost the edge that made Carol who she was and really just needs to shuffle off somewhere for a nap and not come back for a season or two.
Remember Herschel? Remember how he was a man who would do anything to protect his daughters? How he helped form the government of the first colony? How he was an advisor to Rick and kept him from going too far? Remember his severed head lying in a field with a bullet hole in it?
Remember Negan? Remember him dancing around in front of his followers? Remember how he used to draw others to him? Do you remember how much you hated him? Do you remember how badly you wanted to see Rick put a bullet in his brain? Now he's some schlub in a jail cell.
Remember Maggie? Remember how much she loved Glenn? How she carried a baby to term during the Zombie Apocalypse? How she was the only one who could lead once Rick was gone? Remember her always trying to do the right thing, but doing the necessary thing when she couldn't avoid it? And she's where again? Now, I heard that she'll be back for Season Eleven, but that means she's MIA for the bulk of this season at least.
Remember Glenn? Glenn was the guy I always wanted to be if the ZA broke out. I even loved the fact that he was always in a baseball cap. He was the gamer. The smart one. The guy with the right moves and the irreverent attitude. Remember Glenn chewing Rick out when he was lost in Atlanta at the beginning of Season One? Remember Glenn escaping time and again using methods that only made sense in hindsight? Remember Glenn loving his woman and protecting her with everything he had? Remember Glenn kneeling in a puddle of headlights and having his skull caved in by Negan?
What about Carl? Remember him barely surviving because he was a kid? Remember him always being slightly off? Remember him delivering his baby sister via C-section knowing it was going to kill his mother but doing it anyway because it was either that or lose them both? Remember hoping that he would finally find his first girlfriend (ok, maybe that was just me.) Remember him dying stupidly in a situation he had faced millions of times before?
Remember Laurie and the mess she was part of that led to the death of Shane? Remember her doing her best to keep things together for The Group before they even started calling themselves that? Remember her carrying Judith knowing it was going to kill her? Remember Rick crying as Carl told him what had happened?
Remember Michonne as an enigmatic loner? Remember her leading two toothless, armless zombies around on chains? Remember her always being off by herself somewhere but somehow always doing something that no one else would think to do or finding something that would save The Group? Why in the blue hell is she a shy retiring type now? How does it make sense for her to be the negotiator? Ok, I'll admit that she isn't boring per se, but dammit she's not Michonne anymore, either.
Remember Daryll? Remember how he was Rick's right hand, the man who carried out the orders, the guy who had the guts to do anything? When is he going to come in out of the woods and matter again?
Remember the Governor? Remember the sick society he had built? The Zombie fights? Ah, nevermind. I was glad to see him get what he had coming. But he's still a missing character that added a lot to the show.
But most of all: Remember Rick? Remember him leading The Group? Remember him longing and struggling to build a place worth living in the ashes of society? Remember how hard he worked to be the man everyone needed to be? Remember him negotiating with Negan to buy enough time to figure out how to defeat him? Remember him flying away in a helicopter that an entire village of people couldn't hear? I get the fact that this one is not the writer's fault. I get that Andrew Lincoln decided to leave the show to be with his family. I respect him for that. I think he made the right decision. It still had a negative effect on the show.
I haven't watched the Game of Thrones TV show because I don't have HBO and I don't pirate but I have read the books. I remember the Death of Sturm and how it made the entire Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy work, even though I hated it at the time. I get that killing off major characters can work. I just question whether or not the show creators have made the right choices along the way.And that, my friends is why I just deleted the Season Ten preview and Season Ten Episode One from my DVR without watching them.
The Walking Dead
A&E, 2010-2019
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