OK, after my GTA V induced hiatus, I'm back. This will probably be a little more complain-y than my previous posts, so bear with my nerd rants a little.
Warning: This blog post contains SPOILERS, TV and Comic Book References.
(Reader Discretion is Advised)
(Reader Discretion is Advised)
I am a huge fan of The Walking Dead, a comic book from Image comics, created by Robert Kirkman. It is probably my most favorite comic book series to date. The series is essentially about one man, Rick Grimes, and the effect the zombie apocalypse has on him and his family. It deals with how much society and day-to-day life change after something impossible destroys our world as we know it. This is a dark book. People die. I worked it out not too long ago, and there was a rough average of one person dying per issue. This accounts for wars and nameless people too, but still, with 115 issues, that is a ton of people getting killed off. This might not sound like a lot, but this is also the "end times," where people are scarce, and these are people dying "on camera."
All that being said, I am NOT a huge fan of The Walking Dead, a television show that airs on AMC, created by Robert Kirkman. I really honestly thought that Kirkman having a major role in the TV development would make the show amazing. I was way wrong. Where do I start?
I just would like everyone to know that I fully understand that The Walking Dead is cable TV's #1 show, and continues to smash ratings records, no matter how boring (I feel) it gets. With the season 4 premiere around the corner, I figured it was finally time to let the world know how I feel.
My dislike of this show is based solely on the writers' refusal to either: A) fully commit to a plot from the source material (other than the pilot, which was pretty spot on), or B) make this show 100% it's own, abandoning all plot devices already used in the comics. One of the biggest examples of this wishy-washy kind of story telling, is that they kill off a character named Dale pretty early on in the show, who lasts much longer in the comic series (and was way more interesting because he was an old-ass man who started shacking up with a college chick). I thought, "Wow, OK, looks like they are going to do some new shit." Instead, they just took another character named Hershel (who doesn't maintain a presence with the core group in the book, and when he commits to them, bad shit happens to him, and he dies) take over his role. The writers even give Hershel the same handicap of losing a foot, that later happens to Dale's character in the comics.
I get that you want to "keep people guessing" who've already read the comic books, but MOST of the people I know who love the comics, either hate the show, or are indifferent to it. Personally, I'm not really surprised by much they do, because each episode's design kind of lets you know SOMETHING bad will happen. The whole fun of a drama show with a "zombie apocalypse" backdrop, is that for no reason at all, people we know and love will die at any second. That is the exact reason I love the comic book series. That comic book is so brutally depressing, that I can barely get through 6 issues without crying, throwing the book down in rage, or being utterly shocked.
My friend and I met Robert Kirkman once, and I told him that his book was one of the most depressing things I'd ever read, and that I loved him for it. He told us that he secretly hoped someone would commit suicide after finishing an issue, because it "would be great publicity for the book."
He immediately regretted the joke, by saying that if that were to happen, my friend and I would be on the news that night telling the world, "Oh, he wanted this all along."
It made me feel good that he had a sense of humor about this dark world, and that he'd be candid enough to joke about it with a couple of nerdy fanboys who waited in line for an hour to meet him. That is why it pains me that I just don't like the show. I feel like I'm missing something! I continue to watch, only because when I tell people that I don't like it, and they say something like, "But have you seen this season?" I can begrudgingly say "Yup, it's worse than the last."
As far as characters go on the show, I just don't really care if any of them live or die. There are a few people I wished would die (stupid Shane), because they had out-lived being useful to the story. The writers want to keep too many people around, and it bothers me. Really, I was just sad that the character of Rick wasn't important to me. This whole thing revolves around him!
I was very concerned that the character of Tyrese wasn't going to make it into the show at all, because I really liked the relationship that he had with Rick in the comics. Now that he's a part of the show, I'm not so sure they've put him in for the right reasons, and I don't know if their relationship will work this late in the game. Chad Coleman was a good casting choice though, lets just hope they use him wisely.
Introducing The Governor in The Walking Dead comic series was a game changer. This dude was "the group's" first introduction to pure evil in their new world. I mean, the porn 'stache says it all. We saw the Governor for the first time during season 3, and the whole thing was just weird. They didn't make him look like a sketchy meth dealer, and were trying to put him in a relationship with Andrea, basically wasting her for the entire season. They really dumbed down the whole "pure evil" aspect of him, and made him super annoying. You hate him in the comics because he's ruthless and insane, but you hate him in the show because he's boring and under developed.
The coolest part of the Governor, is that he is basically Rick, doing whatever he needs to do to protect his people. Robert Kirkman makes Rick face the darkest version of himself, forcing him to see what he must never become. It was a twisted journey, with Rick, Glen, and Michonne being kidnapped and brought back to a walled-in town named Woodbury, while looking into a crashed helicopter. They meet the Governor, the leader of the town, and immediately Rick can tell that he's not what he seems. This leads to Michonne being detained and brutally raped, while Glen is forced to listen in the next room. Rick is looked after by Woodbury's medical staff to treat an injury to his hand. As soon as it heals, the Governor chops it off to show Rick who's in charge. MIND BLOWN!
I mean look at this guy, he's like the best parts of Major Bludd and Cobra Commander.
Listen up, I'm no advocate for brutal sex crimes, but that was a part of the book I will never forget, simply because it was so terrible, and they took the cheap way out by "faking Glen out," making Maggie scream, while taking her shirt off and leaving her unharmed. There is some sort of weird tension between Glen and Maggie for the rest of the show, that makes little to no sense. Also, they let the Governor live, so he can go on to suck up season 4.
Don't even get me started on Daryl Dixon, the redneck biker with a never ending supply of cigarettes and leather vests. He is America's sweetheart, and I'm just done with him. I know it is weird for me to complain about the one original aspect of a show that I said "lacked original ideas," but I'm not feeling the Daryl love. I also hate that he had Michael Rooker as the obnoxiously racist older brother, which was a character flaw somehow absent from his own personality at age 30. It would have been great for him to die early, because at that point I didn't realize how pointless he was, and would have been way more upset about it. Also, I secretly blame him for the writers not bringing in Tyrese early on, because he was a strong male lead, and since Shane got to live longer than 5 episodes, they already had a ton of dudes weighing down that show.
The good people at AMC have recently announced a spin-off of The Walking Dead, and people kind of groaned collectively via the web. I fell the exact opposite way. This might be the opportunity to do the show right, for nerds like me. This (hopefully) will give them a chance to fix the plot and structure problems, having no source material to pull from. Maybe even a cross over with the original show, you know, to show them how its done. BOOM!
Season 4, prove me wrong. You've got a new show-runner (every year), so show me some new tricks. Don't spend 8 episodes "fixing up the prison," when you are just going to blow it up on the 9th. Give us some relationships between these characters that we believe. Kill the Governor. Be better! I know you've got it in you!
Honestly, I don't normally get this protective over comic book adaptations. I usually assume that there will be changes made that I will not like, and try to judge the project on how well the writers and producers work inside of the world they've made. Here's the thing, I can't quit you, Walking Dead. I love the comics too much to just walk away from this. Sure, my wife will still say, "If you hate it, STOP WATCHING IT!" or, "Please shut up about a show I don't watch, and you don't like," but I'm a nerd, and this is what we do.
Season 4 starts Sunday, October 13th at 8 pm (central time). Will you tune in? I will, begrudgingly.
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