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» A message from Anonymous:

Are you watching the new season of The Walking Dead? Opinion?

I am indeed! My overall general opinion? Even thought it’s only two episodes in, this season so far is six BILLION times better than last season. 

Pros

-THE TREATMENT OF LADY CHARACTERS. This show has never been great at portraying their female characters as anything other than gross stereotypes, so the change this season is REFRESHING. Maggie is both a badass zombie killer yet still vulnerable and in tune with her emotions, and isn’t shamed for it. Carol is exhibiting more agency, and her exchange with Daryl in the first episode had me DYING, it was awesome. The writers have even wised up with Lori; instead of trying to tell the audience that she’s one thing where her actions on screen say another, they’re embracing the huge mistakes they made with her and framing it for her characterization. It’s totally working. 

-The pace is so much better. Let’s be honest, the characterization of their characters has never really been their strong suit. It’s only because of the actors (i.e. Norman Reedus especially) that the characters are memorable. This show is, above everything, about the atmosphere of their enviroment. The show’s best moments are always the action scenes, and they haven’t failed to deliver so far. And with the Governor looming on the horizon, those action scenes are going to be great.

-That being said, even though the show’s strong suit isn’t the characters, they’ve done a MUCH better job with portraying the core group. The characters are not only much more cohesive and know how to work together, the toll that their existence is wearing on them is so much more apparent. I think the time jump has worked wonders and has revitalized the show, giving the audience more layered and complex characters to root for.

Cons

-The framing of the Andrea/Michonne angle. I understand that they’re trying to keep Michonne a mystery for the audience who’s never read the comics, but at the same time, I feel like they could have shown more of her while still keeping that mystery. I know we’re only two episodes in, so this is really just a slight nit-pick on my part. But I don’t think they’ve even revealed what her name is yet? What’s the harm in telling the audience her name so they don’t have to refer to her as the black woman with the sword?

-Again, this is slightly nitpicky, but I’m a little miffed that they gave Hershel Dale’s storyline. But that’s because I’m a canon elitist.

-While the show has been doing better with the characterization of the core group, they still failed with the prisoners in last week’s episode. Especially with the leader of the prisoners, he was really stereotypical. 

-The logistics of the virus spreading within the prison. Obviously we know that everyone is a carrier of the virus; however, one has to die in order for that virus to be enacted, so to speak. So how did the virus take over the prison? Did a prisoner die of some sort of natural cause, like a heart attack, then reanimate? Was a prisoner somehow bitten? There were civilian zombies in the yard, so I’m guessing that the prison was being used as a safe shelter. Did civilians that were bitten go to the prison, looking for shelter, and died? That would explain how the virus spread so quickly in the prison, since typically, the virus is spread through bites, but if you look closely, the prison guards in riot gear did not have any bite marks. How did they die, and then reanimate? It’s just really confusing, and it’s bothering me that the group didn’t question the surviving prisoners about it.

Possible concerns going forward

-The Woodbury storyline. For those who haven’t read the comics, I’m not going to spoil it for you. But really, I am most concerned with how this is going to play out as a whole.

• The Governor is one of the most monstrous villains I’ve ever seen. I don’t even find anything redeeming about him, and I have a history of loving monsters. The actions he commits are horrific, gory, and sadistic, more so than anything we’ve seen on the show so far. I don’t know how AMC is going to be able to pull that off. 
• From what it looks like, it appears that Andrea and Michonne will run into the Governor next week. This is not how it happened at all in the comics, and I’m worried about how they’re going to get the major players involved this story to the community. Again, I’m a canon elitist, and while I’m willing to give this show some leeway with foregoing canon (i.e. Daryl’s entire wonderful existence), I will not be okay with them changing the characters that are involved in this. 

-While the show has been better with their characterization, I’m still terrified that they’re going to backslide and the lady characters are going to be one-dimensional offensive stereotypes again. What can I say, I suffer from TV Show PTSD, I’m always waiting for everything to become horrible.