Morgans Fundamental Change?

The Season 5 finale showed us Morgan like we’d never seen him before. His new outlook being that “All life is precious”. Morgan now comes across as being totally zen-like and peaceful. So peaceful in fact that he didn’t even kill the two ‘wolves’ he had an encounter with in the opening of the episode – he simply knocked them out and left them stranded in a nearby car as if to give them a chance. This is a massive contrast to when we saw him back in Season 3 Episode 12 – Clear, even Lennie James (who plays Morgan) said himself on Talking Dead: “Morgan was totally cray cray!”

This makes you wonder – what is it that has fundamentally changed Morgan?

When we last saw him in Clear, Morgan was going through a mental, psychotic breakdown. Back then, Morgan was too busy setting up traps to CLEAR the surrounding walkers – and people if and when it came to it. It’s fair to say he was in an extremely dark place. He literally begged Rick to kill him right after their fight upstairs. Even Rick called him a “Crazy son of a bitch!”

“PLEASE! PLEASE KILL ME…”

Lennie James said on the season finale of the Talking Dead that “Morgan has went through a fundamental change” since that episode in Season 3, and that he now views things differently. He went on to mention that it will be interesting to see how Morgan got to the place he’s at now – mentally speaking that is. This got me thinking. You see, showrunner Scott Gimple recently confirmed at the San Diego Comic-Con that there will be a number of flashbacks in season 6, and that one of the episodes will consist entirely of a flashback.

I’m betting that specific flashback episode we’re going to see will focus on Morgan and show us what it is that changed him – and I think it’s going to happen pretty early on in season 6. The reason I think this is going to happen early on? Because it will show us the massive contrast that now exists between Rick and Morgan and the way they deal with things in this new world. After all, did you see the look Morgan gave Rick as he entered Alexandria to witness porch-dick Pete’s murder? Kinda’ conflicts with Morgan’s “All life is precious” mantra doesn’t it?

"Rick!?"

Morgan stares on in shock as he witnesses Rick shoot Pete. This just isn’t the same guy he used to know.

Rick says to Morgan in the Season 6 trailer “I don’t take chances anymore!” To which Morgan replies “And you shouldn’t!” – I just sense there is a big BUT missing from the end of his reply.

With Rick and Morgan we have two people who we’ve been with since the very beginning. Morgan has only appeared 3 times (excluding end credit scenes that is) and every time we’ve seen him he has been in a fundamentally different place – again, mentally speaking that is!

The question is, what place will he really be in this coming season. And why? Will he be anti Rick Grimes – or maybe the yin to Rick’s yang?

Do you think Morgan really is as zen-like as he is being portrayed, or is it just AMC’s way of trying to throw us off track? If you remember correctly, they did a similar thing with Gareth in the season 5 trailer – they made it look like Gareth and the rest of the Terminus termites teamed up with Rick and co. and headed to Washington, and we all know how that REALLY went down. #OneHellOfAChurchService #PraiseTheLord

Anyway, leave your thoughts and comments below – I want to hear what you guys think!

Five Reasons Why Daryl Is STILL My Favorite

My very first article on this site, many months and miles ago, was a fan girl love fest called Five Reason Why Daryl is My Favorite. After Season 2’s finale, Beside the Dying Fire, I have found that I just gotta’ go there again. Even though I’ve been down this road before, Daryl was, as a character, still in its infancy. He is more of an adolescent now. He’s grown and matured a bit; he’s learned from some of his mistakes; he seems on his way to becoming a responsible, respected member of society. (We only wish we could say this about all REAL children, don’t we?)

My previous reasons for liking this character so much were:

Daryl is a wild card;
Daryl is Mr. Practical;
Daryl calls it like he sees it;
Daryl is decisive;
Daryl has feelings, but he doesn’t let them control him.

Most of those still stand, with slight adjustment. Although he is less of a wild card and his actions are not as unpredictable, he still surprises us frequently. He is still very practical. He still calls things like he sees them. Decisiveness is still a key part of his character, although he is now somewhat less likely to shoot first and ask questions later. He also still keeps control of his emotions, well mostly. He still has some issues with that anger thing.  But having now seen Daryl in a variety of situations and been given clues to his budding friendships with the others, we have a better picture of the man he truly is.

So, I now give you Five Reasons Why Daryl is STILL My Favorite.

1) Daryl’s observation skills are exceptional. Several scenes in Season 2 have shown that Daryl notices damn near everything, even if he doesn’t feel the need to share. The perfect example is when he deduced that Shane killed Otis. Daryl told Dale in Judge, Jury, Executioner that he knew Shane had probably killed Otis because Shane “showed up with a dead guy’s gun” after the expedition to the high school. My husband, Jeff, with his own brilliant observation skills, quickly pointed out that detail when Save the Last One aired. As Shane wrenched Rick’s Colt Python from Otis’s hand, Jeff commented “So how is he going to explain having the gun?” We were both disappointed that no one in the group seemed to notice. Indeed, if events had played out the way Shane claimed, there’s no way he would’ve had the Python. It would still be in the undead claw of walker Otis. But the writers were only biding their time and we eventually had a payoff: someone HAD noticed. I’m very glad it was Daryl, because it added an air of intelligence that wasn’t apparent when the character was first introduced.

Although he seems by nature to be a suspicious guy, more than that makes Daryl’s observation skills so keen. His ability to see what others overlook comes in large part from his skills as a hunter. (Granted, he must be some kind of super tracker if he can notice – in pitch darkness – two sets of tracks, blood on a tree, and that “a little dust up occurred here,” but this is what suspension of disbelief is all about. If you can accept Andrea as an instant sharpshooter, you can accept that Daryl has freaky tracking skills.) Hunters must quietly observe their prey as they stalk it; to make the kill, they must pay attention to minutiae others would miss. It was nice to see Daryl’s tracking skills translated into his catching details about Shane’s story that the others didn’t catch. Both his ability to track things – be they escaped prisoners, missing little girls, or game animals for dinner – and his habit of noticing things about people that others don’t, Daryl’s skills of observation are HIGHLY valuable to the group.

 2) Daryl’s ability to read people and situations is almost uncanny. This goes hand in hand with his observation skills. If you pay close attention to someone’s body language or improbable details in a story someone tells, you will often be able to figure out what people are really thinking or that there are things they aren’t telling you that they should be. In the conversation mentioned above, Daryl tells Dale something that shows he easily identified Rick’s inability to see clearly things about Shane. Regarding Rick’s not picking up on the likelihood that Shane killed Otis, Daryl says “Rick ain’t stupid. If he didn’t figure it out, it was cuz he didn’t wanna.’” Wow… a pretty damn good call on how Rick viewed Shane. Rick, so blinded by what Shane used to be, could not see what Shane had become. Daryl saw that Rick’s long held feelings clouded his perception of his best friend. Daryl also saw that it was Rick’s own fault if he couldn’t or wouldn’t adjust his view of Shane. Daryl just didn’t feel the need to point this out to Rick.

He was not shy however about making it known that he thought Shane was lying in Better Angels. When he asked Shane how Randall was able to get the jump on the former deputy despite only weighing “a buck twenty-five,” it was pretty obvious he could read Shane and the situation for what it really was. Didn’t mean he knew what Shane was up to, only that something didn’t smell right about Shane’s description of events. It also reinforced the fact he calls it like he sees it and he called “bullshit” on Shane’s story.

3) Daryl is willing to help Rick with the “heavy lifting.” In both interrogating Randall and shooting Dale, Daryl showed he is capable of carrying out unpleasant tasks if they need to be done. This is something that others – and yes, I’m talking about Shane here – have not been either willing or able to do. I suspect that even if Shane had remained alive, Daryl would still have become Rick’s wingman and Shane’s role in the group’s leadership would have diminished significantly.

I’ve seen many comments online recently describing Daryl as “Rick’s enforcer,” but I disagree with that assessment. Daryl is not an enforcer by the classic definition of the word. According to Miriam Webster, my favorite dictionary, “enforcer” is defined as “1.) one that enforces 2.) a: a violent criminal employed by a crime syndicate; b: a player known for rough play and fighting.” (There are other definitions, but only one of the 10 or so I could find would fit Daryl’s role as “one whose job it is to execute unpleasant tasks for a superior” and to me, that is a definition by usage, not a meaning that comes from the actual word history. It’s a minor academic point, but I am a minor academic!) An enforcer’s role is to ensure compliance with rules or help maintain rule over a group. Daryl does neither. An enforcer’s role is to be a violent man. Daryl is not. He is simply a man capable of violence. There is a difference. Daryl doesn’t necessarily LIKE violence; he is however very good at it, when he has to be.

4) Daryl gets some of the best lines. If it is smart-assed or sarcastic and delivered dead-pan with a dash of piss and vinegar, chances are Daryl is the one saying it. My favorites in Season 2 include:

“Climb out of my ass, old man!” to Dale when he ask asks if Daryl let Lori go with Maggie in Triggerfinger.

“It ain’t the mountains of Tibet; it’s Georgia!” to Andrea when she asks if Daryl thinks they’ll find Sophia in Save the Last One.

“Look at him. Hanging up there like a big piñata.” To Andrea when they find the tree walker in Save the Last One.

“That’s the third time you’ve pointed that thing at my head. You gonna’ shoot me or what?” to Rick in Chupacabra, followed of course by “I didn’t think you’d do it” when Andrea actually takes a shot at him.

“Shoot me again, you best pray I’m dead” to Andrea in Secrets.

“It’s as good a night as any” to Herschel in Beside the Dying Fire when Herschel tells him “It’s my farm; I’ll die here.”

5) Daryl is part of the group, again. Early in Season 2, he accepted direction from Rick in the search for Sophia. As he put so much of himself into that search, we could see Daryl slowly becoming more a part of the group. He opened up a bit to Andrea and Carol. He defended Rick to his hallucination of Merle. But let’s face it; if they planned to keep Daryl in the series, the writers had to give him greater depth and more back story. They had to give him more emotional ties to the group. (Sadly, they have yet to do the same things for T-Dog, but that’s another article!) To say Daryl withdrew emotionally and physically from the others after Sophia was discovered in the barn would be a huge understatement. Daryl got the bitterness and pain out of his system the only way he knew how: he got mad; he yelled at people; he blamed the innocent; and he stalked off to pout and cool down. But, eventually, he dealt with the situation and his anger about it lessened.

Daryl was still standoffish, but he slowly reintegrated. For example, he told Dale in Judge, Jury, Executioner that the group was “broken” and that he was better off fending for himself, but he didn’t leave. Daryl was also willing to accompany Rick to remove Randall from the farm in Better Angels, even though he was unconcerned with Randall’s fate. His only voiced thought on the situation was that once they were done “this whole pain in the ass will be a distant memory,” adding “good riddance.” A moment later, when Rick specifically asks if he’s “good with this,” Daryl replies “I don’t see us tradin’ haymakers at the side of the road; nobody wins that fight.” This provides a subtle reminder that Daryl, unlike Shane, won’t question Rick’s decisions or challenge Rick’s authority. He showed that despite being a loner who was perfectly capable of surviving without the group he was willing to be a team player. When the group comes back together on the highway after the farm is overrun in Beside the Dying Fire, it was especially heartening to see Rick and Daryl lock hands like they did. To me, that action showed Daryl’s growing connection to Rick as did his defense of Rick to Carol later beside the campfire when Carol appeared to be trying to talk him into either taking control of the group or leaving it. Daryl isn’t interested in her suggestion. Now that it is now longer a democracy, maybe Daryl will become Rick’s enforcer instead of just Rick’s doer of difficult and dirty deeds.

This last point brings me to a very important question: What happens when Merle returns? Merle is said to be returning at some point in Season 3. Daryl, in his new position as Rick’s wingman, you know, the position that Shane, uh, vacated, will undoubtedly be torn between his brother and the group. Yes, Merle is kin, but the group is becoming more of a “family” to Daryl then I think the older Dixon boy was ever capable of being, shared DNA be damned. Hell yes, there will be fireworks between the brothers, that goes without saying. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: watching Michael Rooker and Norman Reedus on screen together is well worth the price of admission. Hell, it’s worth the cost of two tickets!

As the writers explored Daryl’s character over the course of Season 2, Reedus continued to use body language to provide his own clues about Daryl’s personality. At times, Daryl’s inner struggle with being a part of the group versus keeping himself on its periphery – a key element for the character’s development – was almost painfully obvious. We often saw him off to the side of the group, unengaged, which showed us two things: 1.) he was still a loner and not comfortable connecting with people or forming close friendships; and 2.) he was always watching and evaluating his fellow survivors, trying to determine if they were worth his time and effort.

His mannerisms and facial expressions also provided insight into Daryl’s thoughts. Sometimes that vision was cloudy; other times it was as clear as an August morning in Georgia after the haze of dawn has burned away. As Shane told the story about Otis’s last moments, we saw Daryl in the background, saying nothing, just squinting as he listened. Was he skeptical of Shane’s tale or just bored and ready to get the whole affair over with so he could continue the search for Sophia? As the story played out, it appeared to have been both. But when he questioned Shane about his story regarding Randall, there was no confusion over what Daryl was really thinking. His wrinkled brow and “that just don’t make no sense” expression emphasized the fact he wasn’t buying what the other man was trying to sell.

Finally, another important element for the character’s development, the amount of anger he displayed changed minutely. Daryl still had a couple of verbal explosions, but all in all, he seemed to have mellowed somewhat, perhaps because he is more distanced by time from Merle. In Season 2 there were no squirrels thrown at anyone, no knives pulled, fewer veiled threats and angry, arms-folded-across-his-chest stances, and much less glaring. Okay, so there was still a LOT of glaring, but for the most part, it felt less… hostile. Which brings to mind a comment that I once heard Reedus make; he said that giving people dirty looks “kind of turned into a career” for him. Good thing too, because trust me, dude, we fan girls LOVE those dirty looks! Keep ‘em coming.

The Angel and Devil on Andrea's shoulder

As the countdown to the Season Two Finale begins, fans of The Walking Dead wonder which cast members will fail to survive and fight on in Season Three. For the first time since the group left the CDC in Atlanta, I find myself hoping Andrea is not part of the upcoming body count.

Oh, I still don’t like her much. I also don’t like Lori, to the point I almost cringe typing my own name. The argument the two women had in the kitchen of the farmhouse a few episodes ago drove me crazy, because I agreed with every single rotten thing they said about each other. I sort of hoped a walker would lurch out of the pantry and have a bitch buffet.

But now I feel as if Andrea is on the cusp of something, and it could be very interesting. She’s made a lot of transitions in the first two seasons, perhaps more than any other character. She started out trying to be tough, going into town on missions. Still, despite being a civil rights attorney with – presumably – a life of her own, she in many ways remained the daughter who fished with her father and wanted to make up for ignoring her younger sister.

When Amy was attacked and awoke as a walker, Andrea dug deep, searching for the inner strength to do what had to be done to prevent her baby sister from continuing in that dark existence. It was undoubtedly the most difficult thing she’d ever had to do, but that decision came from love, not calculated, strategic violence. The act changed her profoundly, making her doubt her will to live in this new reality.

Dale wouldn’t let her “opt out.” Seeing him as her surrogate father, Andrea saved herself to save him, and eventually regained her will to go on. But in order to protect herself from further emotional and psychological damage, she started pushing Dale away and stomped all her emotional sensitivity down, adopting a stoic, practical persona. And who guided her and nurtured this mercenary attitude? Shane. He taught her to shoot, and he encouraged her to tap into her repressed rage to find the cold, dead attitude he believed she needed to survive.

As the debate raged about deciding Randall’s fate, Dale reminded her of her former role as a civil rights attorney. She cared about fighting for people who couldn’t fight for themselves. By the time a decision was reached, she was wavering, asking if they could find another way to eliminate the threat the boy posed, short of killing him.

Dale was the angel on one shoulder, whispering in her ear about humanity, fighting for what’s right, and not letting the daily horrors change who she is on a fundamental level. Meanwhile, Shane was the devil on the other shoulder, urging her to shed her emotions in favor of a hard, calculating, merciless approach, focused on nothing but survival.

Now, in the space of about twenty-four hours, Andrea has lost her two primary influences. Her angel died, his integrity intact, even if his innards were not. Her devil also died, victim of his own murderous plot and the error of underestimating exactly how far Rick would go to protect his family.

Andrea has alienated herself from much of the group. The remaining men don’t really see her as the warrior she tried to become, and the women see her as a slacker or a cold, distant, delusional guardian wanna-be. Who will become her new stabilizing or destabilizing influence, if anyone? Will she become even more isolated and bitter in the absence of Dale? Will she become more ruthless, stepping up to fill the void left by Shane? Or will she remember her connection to Dale and recover her emotional balance, perhaps even developing into a unifying force in this traumatized, fractured group?

If she isn’t among the dead (or un-dead) at the end of the Season Two Finale, she will be a fascinating character to watch in Season Three.

Death of Innocence

Rick, Lori and Carl

Lori Grimes‘ perception of Carl Grimes is one of innocence on the cusp of corruption. This is a sad, but true assertion. It’s evident in Chandler Riggs’ portrayal of the character, especially in episodes like Secrets and Pretty Much Dead Already.

In the opening of Secrets, we find a completely recovered Carl helping his mother feed chicks on the Greene farm. After some light banter, Carl comments about the location of the mother hens. Lori, in an attempt to reassure her young son, replies that maybe they are off somewhere, implying a necessary and inevitable return.

What Carl says in response surely caught his already ailing mother off guard: “Maybe they got eaten.” Immediately Lori reveals a sense of mingling shock and surprise at her son’s words; no doubt this walker-filled world is beginning to rob her son of his innocence and happiness. What is most surprising is not the accuracy of that thought, but the answer Carl provides to his mother’s worried countenance. “Everything is food for something else.”

That singular statement reveals Carl’s awareness of not just his current surrounding, but of life in general. Whether he lives in zombie land or reality, he is not wrong in his assertion. He is maturing at a rate not yet understood by his parents; now whether or not that is in correspondence with the current crisis in which the world finds itself is debatable.

But what we can be sure of is his desire to prove himself, and to not remain a helpless victim. We see that again in Secrets, after he promises Lori that he understands the gravity of possessing a firearm. Carl is growing up, steadily coming into his own and asking for the opportunity to do what he feels is right for his family.

Carl staring on in amazement at the deer

We can’t forget however, that he is still just a boy, and one far removed from his comic counterpart at this point. It’s this innocence that people like Shane look to manipulate in their favor, a tactic seen in Pretty Much Dead Already.

Shane knows that Carl looks up to him. It was a bond he attempted to break early in the second season, though that failed miserably when Otis shot Carl. So when Carl confronted Shane about his reluctance to search for Sophia, calling it “bullshit,” Shane saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, (metaphorically of course). If Shane could turn Carl over to the dark side, so to speak, he could potentially win Lori as well. Shane used his charm and power over Carl’s remaining innocence and convinced him that saving Sophia meant securing their place on the farm, at all costs. How could Carl disagree?

He couldn’t because he sees the hardship his father has to endure as leader of their group. So Carl wants to prove himself capable of protecting what is his. He is maturing in a world that is all but corrupted by pain, sorrow and death; a world his mother views as being without joy. She struggles daily with the very idea of letting him live in this world because of the havoc that corruption may wreck on his impressionable psyche. We see it already at work on those of considerable experience: Shane, Andrea, even Rick.

Especially Rick, the man that Carl adores and worships like a god among men. When Rick killed Sophia, Carl immediately backed his father’s decision, saying he would have done the same thing himself. What a thing to say to your mother; that you would readily kill your best friend’s walking corpse without a second thought.

It must be difficult for Lori to watch her son lose his innocence this way. How painful it must be for both Rick and Lori, the knowledge that they are unable to protect their child from the horrors of the “real world,” and let him resume his childhood care-free. Sadly, it is a pain they must embrace in order to move on and truly protect him from harm. In zombie land, he could just as easily become a casualty like Sophia.

Now from a parental perspective, especially a Western parental perspective, Lori does not want Carl to grow up this way. She does not want her baby boy to brandish a weapon, let alone a loaded firearm. She does not want him to live in fear of an uncertain death or of debilitating loss.

Carl almost met his end with the swamp walker

The problem is that neither Rick or herself can protect him the way they could in the old days. Hell, even in the old days it would prove difficult to preserve his innocence. The main difference between then and now, is that those that are corrupting her son are the same people that wish to protect him.

Children are very observant; it’s a trait we all pick up early because we are a social animal. We want to understand what is happening around us, to take part in it and have a hand in our destiny. We listen and we learn. Sometimes we pick up bad habits or overhear negative conversations. Since children lack the mental capacity to truly understand “adult” situations, they are left to perceive any given situation as best they can.

Carl sees the nervousness of a group unable to carry weapons; he sees the slow degradation of his father’s indomitable spirit; he sees the anger the grips Shane’s heart. He sees his family dynamic slowly dissolving, and he wants to help fix it. Would you deny him?

"Do it Dad!"

Admittedly, he has a long way to go before he actually proves himself useful for killing walkers and not group members.

Daryl’s Ascendency

In “Judge, Jury, Executioner” we fully see for the first time the new role Daryl is taking within the group. The episode opens with him torturing Randall for information. There is no indication of enjoyment in this repugnant task for Daryl, but instead a willingness to do what is necessary to protect the group, which he has come to view as a surrogate family despite all his protestations. Trusting him with this task shows Rick’s increasing trust and reliance on Daryl to get things done. After all, Rick is waiting in camp to base his entire decision of Randall’s execution on what Daryl has to say. This lets us know several key things.

Firstly, Rick is confident in Daryl’s abilities to get the information out of Randall without going too far and killing him. It would be easy to be caught up in the violence and cause mortal damage. Conversely, if he did not have the stomach for the calculated infliction of pain, the prisoner would gain the upper hand and ruin any chances of getting real intel on the hostile group. That Rick is unable to do this task himself is an interesting thing. Despite his insistence in “18 Miles Out” that he is no longer a good man, Rick shows conflict throughout this episode between the police officer he used to be and what he has to do now to survive.  Shane has proven to be capable of violence, but Rick did not look to him for this.

Secondly, Rick knows Daryl will not be fooled by disinformation or be suckered in by a sob story. We have seen from the beginning that a lot of people underestimate Daryl’s intelligence, whether due to his accent, appearance, or “redneck” background. However, as the show has progressed, it has become quite apparent that Daryl, while socially awkward and emotionally stunted, is very observant of others and we see in this episode especially that he knows a lot more than he lets on.  Daryl was never fooled by Shane’s rather weak story of how Otis died and knew before anyone else that he was not to be trusted.  That he did not share this information with anyone reinforces how isolated he has felt from the rest of group.

Lastly, and most importantly, Rick trusts that Daryl will be honest. Daryl lays out plainly exactly what kind of threat this other group is and what will happen to everyone should they attack. If Daryl was really some psycho he could have lied or left to join Randall’s people, but Rick obviously knows that Daryl is not that kind of guy.  The expressions on the faces of everyone else in camp when they realize how Daryl acquired the information show how little they understand his motivations and it is a slap in the face to Daryl, yet again.

However, Rick is not the only one to show Daryl a new level of respect in “Judge, Jury, Executioner”. When Dale is going around trying to convince others to keep Randall alive, the first person he goes to see is Daryl. Instead of launching right into a spiel, Dale expresses concern and conviction that Daryl is more important than he believes himself to be. Despite claiming to want to get away from everyone, Daryl listens and does not become combative with Dale. Carol is the only other person that has said something like this, but Dale takes it a step further by saying that he is in fact a better man than Shane. Daryl’s frustrated, bitter insistence that he does not have Rick’s ear, that Rick only listens to Shane, shows how much Daryl really likes and respects Rick. He wants to be that right-hand man, but feels inadequate and shunted to the side.  He desperately wants to be part of the group, but by saying it is “broken”, exhibits the fear that it will turn out to be the disaster his real family was.

At the end of the episode we see Daryl’s true colors and they are beautiful. When Dale screams, Daryl does not hesitate a second in sprinting to his aid. Daryl literally throws himself at the Walker to get it off of Dale. There has never been so much emotion towards another of the group from Daryl as in this scene.  Jumping and yelling for the others to come and help, he drops to his knees beside Dale and says an agonizing “Hang in there, buddy”. It is then we know what a profound effect Dale’s earlier words had on Daryl and how much he truly views the group as his people. The angel wing vest has never been more appropriate than at this moment. Daryl is willing to be the angel of mercy in place of Rick, willing to take on the burden of putting Dale out of his misery when no one else could. The compassion and sacrifice Daryl exhibits is heartbreaking.

This is the turning point. There is no denying now that Daryl, though rough around the edges, shows the qualities of a genuine leader, a much more fitting second-in-command to Rick than Shane has ever been, as we once again see Shane not step up when the times call for a true leader to do so. It is interesting to note in the trailer for “Better Angels” that Rick is taking Daryl to set Randall loose, rather than Shane. Despite what Rick said to Lori about Shane no longer being problem, he obviously trusts Daryl more to have his back on this issue than Shane, considering that both Daryl and Shane wanted Randall dead. In the coming episodes, I fully expect Daryl to assume more responsibility and become Rick’s go-to guy. How this will play into Shane’s power struggles remains to be seen.

Post-Apocalyptic Love Triangle: Shane, Lori and Rick

I’ve read a lot and heard a lot about the Shane, Lori and Rick triangle. Here’s my two-cents about it:

Shane

He loves Lori. From what I’ve seen, he has loved Lori for years. Long before the apocalypse drew her to him. As much of a “prodigy, banging 30-year olds on the regular” as he was, I believe he was always jealous of Rick for finding Lori. Of course, modern society left Shane at a disadvantage, because Rick was his best friend. Then Rick and Lori eventually married and had Carl. But I believe Shane always envied Rick because of that, and always saw what Rick had as his.

I mean he essentially saw Rick come into his own as a man and a leader, (this requires some assumption, based primarily on Rick’s authoritative demeanor in Days Gone Bye and Shane’s proceeding subservience leading into Season Two). Shane possesses the drive and natural protective instincts that a leader needs, but he does not have the right attitude nor the much-needed ability to detach his feelings and look at things as right versus wrong. I’ve said it before, and I thoroughly believe it: You need more than guts and determination to live in zombie land. You need compassion and good character. Just because the world’s gone to hell doesn’t mean you need to follow suit. Fair enough?

Lori

Her relationship with Rick was rocky before the introduction of walking corpses. Can you imagine that in your wedding vows? ‘Till death do we part, in sickness, health, and ravenous walkers.’ Married with zombies is a bit of an understatement. I believe she wanted Rick to be more assertive. To “yell at me when he’s mad,” and not take her crap all the time. Hell, she gave him permission to yell at her after the morning after pill fiasco. How twisted is that?

That is one of the reasons why I think she was drawn to Shane after the apocalypse. Yeah, he lied to her about Rick’s death, though in his defense, that hospital was a hell-mouth. But I think she was too quick to believe him. Again, the introduction of zombies kind of forces one to deviate from ‘normal behaviors,’ but I believe it does that for the already weak. I think Lori was looking for a way out of that relationship when Shane offered her salvation.

There’s no doubt that Shane and Rick are two different men; Shane is the aggressive, ‘inherent’ alpha male that reacts; Rick is the passive, unlikely alpha male that thinks. They each have desirable qualities, but as a woman, I think Lori most identifies with Shane as her close to perfect mate. I think she loved him. But when Rick turned up alive, it through everything into question. Does she love Rick because she cares deeply for him? Or because she’s married to him?

I definitely believe she is torn between both men, and while her motives may not be pure, her actions are necessary to push Rick into a final confrontation with Shane. Tell it to the frogs.

Rick

Rick is a man that does not encourage his violent side. He is by no means a coward; he showed that in the closing minutes of Nebraska. But I do believe he needs to brazenly meet confrontation with the same determination he had when confronting Dave and Tony. Namely, those choosing to challenge his leadership; in a word, Shane.

Now just because modern society has vanished doesn’t mean everyone has to follow Rick. They are free to make their own decision to leave. But since no one is attempting to go it alone, they all need to respect Rick. He is making the tough decisions, considering right and wrong in a world where most would pick wrong over right in an attempt to survive. Now I do not agree with all of his choices; for example, I would have shot Randall in the head and moved on.

But I respect what he is trying to do. He is trying to hold on to humanity in a world that forces most to abandon it. Now Rick has been trying to avoid a fight with Shane because Shane is his best friend. He values Shane’s commitment to the group and the necessary skills he brings to the table. But just like a wolf pack, there can be only one Alpha. And when an Alpha is challenged, like Shane has been subtly, (and not-so-subtly) doing, a fight is inevitable. We are, after all, animals.

So when it really comes down to it, this Rick versus Shane issue needs to be resolved. Not just for Rick to reclaim his family, but to show Shane that he needs to either respect Rick and his decisions or get out. I hear Nebraska’s nice.

The Gathering Darkness

I know many of you were hoping for another Daryl-centric blog post. Until the second half of this season begins, however, I feel like there isn’t much to say about Daryl that I haven’t already said. So for this entry, I decided to focus on the character I have come to view as the "anti-Daryl": Shane. I call him that because of the obvious contrasts between the two characters during the first half of the second season. Daryl became (for the most part) calmer while Shane lost control. Daryl began to find himself while Shane began to lose himself. Daryl’s actions allowed him to connect with others while Shane’s actions further isolated him. Daryl became a better man while Shane became a lesser man.

I doubt Shane ever saw this coming. Sure, we could see that he was probably always a little hot-tempered, but we thought and he knew that he was a good guy; he took every step he could to keep safe those whom he was charged with protecting. His sole mission once the world went to hell was to save his best friend’s wife and son from the horrors that surrounded them. But circumstances got the better of Shane and he started doing things that maybe a “good guy” wouldn’t do.

From the beginning, Shane’s comfort level as a big fish in his small pond stood out. Prior to the outbreak, he’d been a figure of authority in his community. Of course, he should lead this band of survivors. He held no doubt in his mind about that fact. When Rick returned, however, he replaced Shane as top dog. The group immediately turned to Rick and rejected Shane as a leader. More importantly to Shane, Lori also rejected him as her mate.

Had Shane really fallen in love with Lori in the, oh, four or five weeks that passed since the outbreak? Perhaps he cared deeply for Lori for years but knew, as his best friend’s girl, she was unobtainable. More likely, the intensity of the situation and his deep desire to protect her and Carl caused Shane to feel what he thought was a deeper connection to Lori, obviously much more than she felt to him. Yet it was obvious once her husband showed up, that Lori was 100% Rick’s.

Shane’s veiled hostility grew as rejections by the group and Lori continued to pile up. We saw red-tinged anger cross his face when Rick’s back was turned. Although Rick was his best friend, Rick also invaded his territory and took away his power. Lori’s rejection? Just icing on the proverbial cake. Every time Shane was rejected in one form or another, particularly by Lori, we saw a little more of the darkness in his soul creeping toward the surface.

Unable or unwilling to lash out at Lori after she told him that her family was “off-limits,” Shane instead beat Ed to a bloody pulp after Ed struck Carol. As a lawman, Shane would have been trained to keep a cool head in such situations, but he threw his training to the wind and took out his frustration over the situation with Lori on Ed.

Shane tried unsuccessfully to convince Lori to back his plan to go to Fort Benning instead of Rick’s plan to go to the CDC. Not long after their discussion, Shane sights his rifle on Rick in the woods and we wondered if he would have taken the shot were it not for Dale’s interference.

While at the CDC, Lori rejects Shane’s advances and we all remember his reaction. Forcing himself on her was the action of a desperate, lonely, and drunken man who would do anything – even sexual violence - to get what he wanted. It gave us foreshadowing for other repulsive acts Shane would also willingly commit. This scene was also the turning point for many fans and their opinion of Shane’s character because it showed what he was capable of doing and made us realize just how dangerous he truly was.

Shane’s acrimony toward Rick’s leadership increased as the first half of Season 2 progressed. He argued about every decision - particularly the one to continue searching for Sophia - and in doing so challenged Rick as the alpha male. It was never clear to me whether Shane’s growing contentiousness was simply because he genuinely disagreed with Rick, because everyone else looked to Rick instead of him for leadership, or because he couldn’t have Lori.

Shane bounced back when Carl was injured, being a true friend to Rick when he needed one most and a good guy again, but this was short-lived. Shooting Otis to ensure his own escape from the walkers showed a man who’d lost his humanity. Fans view this act in two distinctly different ways: 1) “He did what had to be done” or; 2) ”How could he do that?” I suppose including that example here makes it obvious I lean toward the second view. I understand that people will do anything to save someone they love - especially a child. I still view Shane’s action as nothing less than cold-blooded murder. At the point he chooses to shoot Otis he lost, to me at least, the last shred of what made him human, to begin with.

As Season 2 continued, Shane’s leadership continued to be rejected by the group. Although there are no direct examples of this, when Carol told Lori that she was, as Rick’s wife, the de facto “first lady” of the group, it indicated the general feeling among the others as well. Shane would have picked up on these feelings, even if no one directly spoke the words to him. Lori openly rejected both his leadership skills and feelings for her when she asked if he would willingly leave behind a lost little girl in order to keep her and Carl safe. His silence on the matter spoke volumes. These were additional blows to Shane’s fragile ego.

After discovering that Lori is pregnant in Pretty Much Dead Already, Shane tried to convince her that she should be with him instead of Rick. He implied he was better suited to protect her and her unborn baby than Rick, saying that Rick wasn’t cut out for their new world and he, Shane, was the one who saved her life repeatedly. He finally told her he knew he fathered her baby. When Lori replied “Even if it is yours, it’s not gonna’ be yours. It is never gonna’ be yours,” she delivered what should have been the death blow to Shane ego. By denying even the possibility that Shane fathered her child, Lori rejected Shane totally and completely.

Later, after Shane returned with the guns that he found Dale hiding in the swamp, Lori again delivered a swift kick to Shane’s ego and reinforced his place in the leadership pecking order when she told him “Rick said no guns. This is not your call. This is not your decision to make.”

During his drill sergeant routine at the barn doors, as he stomped and screamed “If you wanna’ live, you gotta’ fight for it,” questions about his motivations flew through my mind. Did Shane feel compelled to force this confrontation with Herschel right then and there in order to openly defy and challenge Rick? Was Shane’s lack of concern for the consequences his behavior would have on the rest of the group because Lori wouldn’t acknowledge her baby could be his? Or was he just utterly convinced that his way of handling the situation was the best way

Motivations aside, Shane's actions put everyone in danger when he busted open the doors and let the walkers out. I will leave the debate about whether or not Shane did the right thing to others. Suffice it to say my thought on the subject is that although Shane may have been right in demanding the barn walkers be put down, it should have been handled in a more controlled manner. As Shane did it, the entire group was put in a position of unnecessary risk. Those with dark souls seldom care how their actions affect others.

Yes, Shane took charge of the barn situation, but in the end, all he really did was show his inability to truly lead and just how little of a hero he really was. When Sophia stumbled out of the barn, now a walker herself, he just stood there. A real leader, as Rick showed in this scene, would have done what needed to be done and put down Sophia. Shane was only able to make easy choices - as Lori pointed out previously - such as simply abandoning Sophia, but he was incapable of making the truly hard ones. Has he never been capable of hard choices or has he become unable to do so because of his slipping sanity and inability to see beyond his own wants?

Shane is the character we most love to hate and actor Jon Bernthal does an excellent job making us do so. He seems to effortless display the physical mannerisms of someone on the edge of losing control, his body language painting a frighteningly clear picture of Shane's mental state. The modulation in his voice and emphasis on just the right words makes us believe that he will snap at any moment. And like Norman Reedus's portrayal of Daryl Dixon, Bernthal's facial expressions often tell us more than his dialogue in many scenes. He makes us believe that yes, Shane is one dangerous dude.

Will Shane ever leave the group or will he remain and continue wrestling with Rick for leadership? I suspect in the second half of Season 2 we will see Shane continue challenging Rick’s status as alpha of the group. Too much has happened for Shane to back off now. He will still no doubt think that he - not Rick - was right about everything. The bigger question, the answer for which I can't predict: Will anyone other than Dale - whom Shane on two separate occasions not so subtly threatened - ever see the growing darkness in Shane?

It's Hard To Say I'm Sorry

An apology is defined by Merriam-Webster as “an as admission of error or discourtesy accompanied by an expression of regret.” Dictionary.com provides a more detailed definition: “a written or spoken expression of one's regret, remorse, or sorrow for having insulted, failed, injured, or wronged another.”

The act of apologizing, however, goes far beyond these barebones definitions. In their book The Five Languages of Apology, authors Gary Chapman and Jennifer Thomas call apologizing “a cry for reconciliation restoration of the relationship.” Dr. Claude Steiner, PhD offers an expanded explanation of this concept in his paper Apology; The Transactional Analysis of a Fundamental Exchange. Steiner writes “When, in the course of everyday life, one person injures another in minor or major ways, almost always in the form of some sort of violence - emotional or physical, subtle or crude - an apology, with amends if necessary, is a powerful transaction which can deliver peace of mind and healing for all parties involved.”

Both theories share a common element: We don’t apologize so much because we feel regret; we apologize because we know we have damaged our relationship with the other person and we wish to repair it. I view such a reconciliation motive as Daryl’s primary reason for apologizing to Carol. Daryl isn’t exactly the kind of guy who regrets any of his actions or words; he’d have to apologize in every other sentence if he did. Apologizing to Carol demonstrated that he cared about the connection between them.

In interviews, actor Norman Reedus has often explained that connection as an example of how “damaged people are drawn to other damaged people.” There is no doubt both characters are deeply damaged. Daryl has just begun to build relationships of ANY kind and when his outburst undermined the first one in which he has invested, an apology was imperative to saving it. If Daryl had not done so, the delicate link between these two damaged souls may have been irreparably severed. That he would make such an effort to preserve that bond shows how important it is to him.

We’ve seen many small examples this season of Daryl’s tentative steps toward bonding with others in the group. Yet the final scene of Pretty Much Dead Already demonstrated the depth of his bond to Carol. Just as Rick had to be the one that put down Sophia, Daryl had to be the one that held Carol back. No one else had earned to the right. Daryl held out hope for Sophia the longest and he was the only one who could protect Carol from herself and truly comfort her when the hope they shared dissipated like mist in the morning sun. And it was a move of comfort as much as protection. He held onto her long after she stopped struggling. Perhaps in the face of lost hope, he needed the human contact as much as Carol did. This scene draws me back to the same question I always ask myself when analyzing this character: would the Daryl of Season One have done the same thing?

Some fans have viewed his growing tendency toward bonding as somehow a violation of Daryl’s badassedness. (Yes, I made up that word.) But as the writers have written him and Reedus has portrayed him, being a badass is only part of why Daryl charms us. From the beginning, we’ve seen his obvious tough exterior, but we’ve starting to see a gentler side of Daryl. We’ve seen that he’s not just fending for himself; he’s also capable of expressing himself and connecting with others in the group. A friend tells me that he thinks Daryl has always been capable of these things, they were just things he’d never done because of Merle. This is very possible, but without more back story we’ll never be able to say how much Daryl held his true personality in check because of Merle and how much was an actual change in Daryl’s personality.

Looking forward to the second half of Season Two, how will Daryl react to Sophia being lost forever? Any theory I may had was negated when Reedus said in a recent MTV interview that losing Sophia pulls Daryl back into himself and away from his developing relationships with the others: “It sets him back in certain ways, in that the hope's gone. That little girl that he's looking for, if she's one of them, he doesn't really give a crap anymore...So you find out that Daryl sort of separates himself a little bit. He reacts violently to anything emotional revolving around that story line.” It appears the kinder, gentler, Daryl is going bye-bye and there will be a return to the angry country boy full of piss and vinegar.

Daryl’s return to pure badassery (yes, I made up that word, too) will be welcomed by many viewers. I’m somewhat torn. I love the badass Daryl, but I also see his giving up hope as a huge step backwards for the character. I’ll accept it, though, because it is believable for Daryl. As much as I want my characters to experience growth and change for the better, I want even more for them to react like real people would if they were in the same situations. (As consumers of fiction, we can only truly suspend our disbelief about bigger things like the dead walking the earth because the characters still act in believable ways.) It’s good that the writers are doing this, especially since I’ve openly complained that they were not doing so with other characters. It will undoubtedly be entertaining to watch and I’m confident the best part will be watching Reedus show Daryl’s regression while still giving us the small hints of his humanity that still lie beneath it.

The Roots Of Anger

So why exactly did Daryl fly off the handle and call Carol a “stupid bitch?” I got into a silly, but rather heated, conversation on Twitter about the subject just after Pretty Much Dead Already aired on 11/27/11. That exchange sparked me to look more closely at the causes of anger and examine why Daryl became so angry at someone who was expressing concern for his well-being.

Dr. Leon F. Seltzer, Ph.d. writes a blog for Psychology Today called "Evolution of the Self." In his July 2008 entry, What Your Anger May Be Hiding, he describes anger as a “double-edged sword: terribly detrimental to relationships but nonetheless crucial in enabling many vulnerable people to emotionally survive in them.” Selzer goes on to discuss Stephen Stosny’s book Treating Attachment Abuse, writing “symptomatic anger covers up the pain of our ‘core hurts.’ These key distressful emotions include feeling ignored, unimportant, accused, guilty, untrustworthy, devalued, rejected, powerless, unlovable—or even unfit for human contact.”

Stosny describes anger as a self-soothing emotion because of the chemical process of the human brain. Anger releases the amphetamine-like epinephrine, the hormone that creates the “adrenaline rush” in a fight or flight situation. But it also releases the analgesic-like norepinephrine, which numbs the anger. This combination of hormones is seductive to the human brain, Seltzer says. “A person or situation somehow makes us feel defeated or powerless, and reactively transforming these helpless feelings into anger instantly provides us with a heightened sense of control.“ (Read Seltzer’s full blog entry at http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolution-the-self/200807/what-your-anger-may-be-hiding.)

Many interpersonal relationship experts believe anger is the result of a myriad of core causes and deflected emotions. Those most relevant to a character study of Daryl include fear, frustration, pain (emotional or physical), and bruised pride, all demonstrated by him in multiple ways.

The most basic of these causes for Daryl’s anger was that he was compromised by injury and in physical pain. Pain alone is enough to make anyone cranky. For guys like Daryl - guys who grew up having to prove their toughness - injury and pain create not just physical issues, but also emotional ones centered on feeling powerless. Feeling “useless” or “damaged” makes them feel lesser than everyone else. They get pissed off when people tell them they need to slow down or take it easy because they see the need to do such things as signs of weakness. (It’s that damned “John Wayne gene” that most men seem to have.)

Daryl, as we saw during his ordeal in the woods, also feels as if the others don’t respect him or the skills he brings to their survival; he feels devalued. Shane’s rant at Daryl near the barn at the beginning of this episode did nothing except reinforce this view. Finding Sophia was a way to prove his worthiness and value to the group. In the first episode this season, when Sophia went missing, Rick publicly put his trust in Daryl when he told the group that he’d asked Daryl to head up the search. Giving up that search would’ve been admitting he had failed at the task he took on, that he was unworthy of Rick’s trust.

Guilt and fear are other possible factors. Sophia was Daryl’s substitute for Merle. He looked for her because he couldn’t look for Merle. Daryl never really got the chance and, as his hallucinations in the woods showed, he felt guilty about that. As much as he spouted off about how Merle would shit nails if you fed him a hammer, deep down Daryl likely feared his brother was dead. Finding Sophia alive would’ve quieted that guilt and reinforced his faith that Merle was still alive. Giving up the search for Sophia would be the equivalent of giving into his fears about Merle.

Another significant factor in his meltdown with Carol is his hope. Daryl - a man who would not easily or quickly do so - let himself hope Sophia was still alive. Early in the search, he was focused on the task at hand; he wanted to stop talking and start searching. His comment that "hopin' and prayin' is a waste of time” illustrated that he was a man of action, not of hope. But as the search went on and he found what he thought were clues indicating she may still be alive, he began to experience hope. When Sophia’s mother - the woman who should have held out hope the longest- told him that continuing to hope was misguided, it would have made him doubt himself and feel foolish. Was he wrong to ever have had hope? Did he miss something that other people saw? Just as physical injury is seen by men like Daryl to be a sign of weakness, so is being wrong. If Daryl was wrong about being able to find Sophia, if he had to admit that fact, he feels weak and therefore powerless. If he was wrong in this hope, how bruised is his pride?

The combination of these factors would lead to frustration and be enough to set off many people; such an outburst makes perfect sense for Daryl’s character. We’ve seen it before. In previous blog posts, I’ve discussed that the Daryls of the world often use anger as their coping mechanism. Moments after Daryl’s first appearance, when he heard Merle may be dead, he stifled his tears and quickly shifted his pain to rage and attacked Rick. Later, when returning to Atlanta to free Merle, Daryl doesn’t tell T-Dog “I hope Merle’s still alive up there; I’m afraid he’s dead.” Instead, with a menacing voice and a veiled threat he tells the other man “He best still be there. That’s my only word on the matter.”

Where does this sort of emotional disconnect come from? Why do other emotions often manifest themselves as anger? Conditioning. It is an idea first researched by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov in the 1890s when he conducted his famous experiments involving dogs, food, bells, and salivation. In 1938, psychologist B.F. Skinner expanded on Pavlov’s work and coined the term “operant conditioning.” Basically, this is a way of changing behaviour by using reinforcements for the desired response. Skinner’s research involved reinforcements given to animals, but the concept is often applied to reinforcements - physical and emotional, negative or positive - given to humans as a reward for the desired behavior. Imagine a young Daryl being picked on at school and coming home in tears. Even if Mr. Dixon didn’t do it, surely Merle would slap him upside the head and call him a pussy. So what does young Daryl do the next time a bully taunts him or someone calls him poor white trash? He becomes angry and violent, stomping the offender into the schoolyard dirt. This time, Merle is proud of him for being such a little badass. It is easy to see how the repetition this kind of event would lead Daryl into responding to most situations with anger over all other emotions, no matter what emotion he was truly feeling.

As we’ve watched Daryl grow as a character, we’ve seen Norman Reedus continue using subtle cues to reinforce Daryl’s development. Leading up to the verbal outburst at Carol, his expression was flat, impossible to read. In that instant, as he stepped toward Carol, I wondered exactly what Daryl was going to do. Would he reach out to Carol? Offer her words of comfort or encouragement? Would he tell her there was still hope for Sophia? For a split second, I actually wondered if he would kiss her. But the writers kept Daryl’s sharp edges that I love so much and Daryl did what Daryl does best: he exploded. He threw the saddle off its stand, called Carol a stupid bitch, and stormed out of the stable.

So…we’ve come full circle and I have to ask: how much of his angry outburst came from Daryl simply not knowing how to express his other emotions? We’ve seen tremendous growth in Daryl’s character this season, but no matter how much growth there has been, he is still struggling with the ideas that he is worthy, appreciated, and valued by the group. We saw Daryl apologize in this episode, something many would never have thought him capable of doing. In my next blog post, I’ll talk more about this and other events of the episode that illustrate his character development and what the loss of Sophia may do to undermine his growth.

Sometimes You Gotta' Shoot Your Own Dog

As the final scene played out in the 11/27/11 episode (Pretty Much Already Dead) and Rick was forced to shoot Sophia, I immediately thought of a classic movie I watched years ago. The moment was so reminiscent of Old Yeller that I am afraid this blog post may be telling people what they already know, but I simply can’t discuss the two and how they relate.

Old Yeller, released by Disney in 1957, is based on the book of the same name by Fred Gipson. Set just after the Civil War, it is the story of a rural family and the dog that wanders onto their property. Younger son Arlis loves the dog. Teenage son Travis, the man of the house while his father is away, immediately dislikes the dog, but ends up developing a close bond with it. Yeller is bitten by a wolf while protecting Arlis and the dog contracts rabies. In what is often described as “one of the most tearful scenes in cinematic history,” Travis must put Yeller down, both to put the animal out of its misery and to protect his family. Travis knows that you have to live up the responsibility thrust upon you and do what needs to be done whether you want to or not. Sometimes that means shooting your own dog. In doing so he leaves behind the boy he was and becomes a man.

Like Travis shooting Yeller, Rick steps up and puts Sophia down. He does what we’re not sure we could do. We all thoughtlessly yammer on about how “I’d shoot every walker; I don’t care if it was my Mother,” but this scene forces us to question whether we’d really have the stones to do it. Could we be that kind of man? Even as the scene brings us to those questions, it shows the kind of man Rick truly is. He feels to blame for Sophia having been turned. As much as it hurts him, as much as he doesn’t want to do what has to be done, Rick shuts down that emotion and lives up to the responsibility thrust upon him. This is the mark of a true leader, of a real man.

He does what Shane talked so big about being able to do while teaching Andrea to shoot. Shane yelled at Andrea to turn off her emotions and take the shot, but was unable to take the shot himself when doing so was crucial. When Sophia emerges from the barn, Shane bows his head and does nothing. Rick, who had been on the sidelines in this scene, moves figuratively and literally from observer to participant. He sets his jaw and casts his eyes sideways, in what appears to be Shane’s direction, seeming to acknowledge his duty. He then steps forward, unholsters his Python, and does what has to be done. He shoots his own dog.

This act is part of what sets Rick apart from Shane. Shane is an immature teenager, trying to get everyone to follow him into action by forcing a confrontation with Herschel and Rick about the barn walkers. Rick is a man, trying to stop Shane’s ill-conceived plan and when that fails, stepping in to clean up Shane’s mess. Shane will never be half the man Rick is.

Andrew Lincoln played the scene well, probably better than any other we’ve seen thus far. Lincoln's shifting facial expression - as Rick steps forward and draws his weapon - emphasises the enormity of the action that Rick's sense of responsibility requires him to do. The resignation rolled across his face like a storm cloud rolling across a clear June sky. His face showed - more than any dialogue could tell - that Rick was at a turning point. Does this indicate the much hoped-for shift from the overly cautious, often unsure of himself man we’ve seen in the TV show (childhood) to what readers of the graphic novels say is a much more decisive leader (adulthood)? I hope so. I look forward to a Rick who has more confidence in his leadership abilities, but he still tempers himself with compassion, maturity, and purpose.

It's About Time!

Well it’s about time. That’s all I can say after watching the 11/20/11 episode, Secrets. It’s about time that two things happened: 1) We finally saw women (and men) with some balls, and 2) Several characters finally said things they’ve needed to say for weeks.

In my last post, I complained rather loudly about the fact that none of the women seemed to have any balls, that they were all whiny scream queens doing little more than laundry while hiding behind the menfolk. I should’ve just waited a few days. On Sunday night, I was thrilled to see Andrea had gained control over her new skill. (Did you see that grouping she shot in the “o” on the “No Trespassing” sign during target practice?) She is well on her way to becoming the sharpshooter known and loved by readers of the graphic novels. All I can say about this development is HOORAY! Whiny, angst-ridden Andrea has begun to fade; she’s found her inner warrior now. Once her bad judgment issues are resolved, she’ll finally be of real use to the group.

Andrea’s sexual aggression with Shane showed she’s not stopped at being able to defend herself and the group; she’s taken more control of everything. Why the two of them hooked up has been of great interest to fans online. I believe the reasons Andrea took matters into her own hands with Shane are multiple: 1) The rush of power after proving that you’ve perfected a new skill, especially when releasing so much pain and rage in the process, can be a huge aphrodisiac; 2) Violence and sex can become very intertwined for us humans, especially when our emotions are already in overdrive; 3) Bad Boy Syndrome: even though or perhaps because he’s such a dick, Shane reeks of sexuality. Of course, he was the perfect target for Andrea’s, uh, affections. 4) When we are forced to stare death in the face, we cling even more to that which makes us feel alive. What makes you feel alive more than sex? It is the very act that can lead to life after all. This is something I’ve said for years and that was hinted at during Lori’s conversation Dale when she said she was with Shane because she needed to “feel something, anything.”

But Andrea isn’t the only one to grow a set. We saw even the minor female characters of Patricia and Beth as well as Carl grow some balls too in regard to firearms training. They, and even Herschel with his aversion to guns saw the importance of being able to defend themselves and the people around them. It’s about time.

This was not only the “grow a set” episode; it was also the “get things off your chest” episode. So many characters said things they’ve been thinking but keeping to themselves, both secrets and opinions. The most obvious example was Lori’s secrets, but I think the more important for far as character development were the things Dale said to Shane and Maggie’s ranting to Lori and Glenn.

Dale unloaded on Shane about the kind of man he believes Shane to be and that was the highlight of the show for me. Granted, it was because Dale didn’t like Shane and Andrea becoming involved and Dale probably needs to keep his nose out of most of the places he seems to be poking it. Still, he needed to know someone was on to him. Shane’s response, however, showed that he didn’t care. His character has been at a turning point for some time. The writers need to push him through it soon or it’s going to become the search for Sophia all over again. He needs to decide if he’s going to face off with Rick for control of the group and whether he’s going to accept that Lori chose her husband or continue his obsession with her and Carl. His decisions about those things will determine if he descends completely into madness or if he pulls himself back from that edge. Dale may have pushed him in one of those two directions.

Maggie found her voice as well and watching her stand up to Lori was priceless. It may have felt petty in some ways, but these are the day-to-day conflicts that would arise in such circumstances. Lori struck me from the beginning as spoiled. Maggie’s rant about Lori sending Glenn to get her “lotion and conditioner” showed us that Maggie, seeing Lori from outside the group, thinks of her this way too. Damn near becoming lunch for a walker certainly didn’t quell any of Maggie’s anger about the situation. Maggie’s shift in perspective about walkers was a big point in her character development and I think in the end it will make her character a stronger dramatic element. Her speech to Glenn emphasised that his place in the pecking order of the group is not fair. It was good to see him being told that the others don’t appreciate him for the intelligence and heart that he possesses. Let’s hope he remembers that. Maggie’s turning point about walkers and her verbalization about her view of Glenn are bound to bring conflict with her father. It may even act as a catalyst for her to go with the group when they leave the farm.

Lori and Rick’s scenes were interesting and made for good drama, but I didn’t see real character development in them. Rick stayed level-headed Rick when Lori confessed she’d been with Shane. Regardless of how much he may have figured out on his own, Rick reacted, unlike most men I know would have, no matter how reasonable they normally are. I wanted to see him lose it, yell at her, call her names, and tell her he didn’t care if she’d thought he was dead, but Rick disappointed me. Lori stayed hypocritical Lori when she went off on Rick for not telling her about Herschel’s expectation that the group leave soon while she still was keeping her own secrets from him. “I don’t understand how you could keep something like this from me.” Really, Lori? He should have given you every detail of this situation but you didn’t feel it necessary to tell him that you’re pregnant and the baby may not even be his? I’d thought earlier this season that I might be able to force a little sympathy for her, but that exchange killed it deader than one of Daryl’s squirrels.

And speaking of Daryl, no matter what I try to write about, he always seems to push his way to the front and demand my attention. This episode was no different. Although he was on screen for only 40 seconds - yes, I timed it - we saw a pretty significant leap forward for Daryl. When he told Andrea that he wasn’t holding it against her that she shot him since she was trying to protect the group, it indicated that he is focusing less on his ever-present anger and more on the group. (I can’t imagine the Daryl from season one taking such an event in stride.) Maybe Carol’s words did sink in and he is starting to see that people value him and that he is every bit as important as everyone else. I think Daryl’s assimilation into the group is important for his character to develop because if he continues to hold himself completely outside of it, he will never be able to become what he is capable of becoming. That said, I was still pleased to hear his parting shot to Andrea: “Next time you shoot me, you best pray I’m dead.” It shows that the writers are keeping his edges sharp. Good. We still need Daryl to be a badass.

I for one sincerely hope the forward momentum of character development we saw in this episode continues. After some dry, almost boring, episodes earlier this season, it was refreshing that the last two gave us so much meat to chew on. I am concerned, however, that after what is promising to be an excellent mid-season finale next week, things will drop off again and we’ll have less high drama to entertain us when the show returns in February.

Why Do None Of These Women Have Balls? Gender Roles and Killing Walkers

I have just one question for the writers of The Walking Dead: Why do none of the female characters seem to have any balls? I know I am not the only woman who feels this way. I’ve talked with dozens of female friends and we all agree. We want to see STRONG female characters that we can relate to. Thus far, few of us “real women” can see ourselves acting like the women of TWD. They are too much like 1950’s B-movie scream queens, cowering behind the men when walkers show up.

Women have come so far in our society and our entertainment since those movies were made. Many of the women who are fans of TWD feel cheated that the females on the show don’t seem aware of this development. Yeah, the show paid lip service to women’s rights and equality issues during the first season as the women complained while doing laundry at the quarry. Then they discuss what they miss most since the world went to hell, which included automatic washing machines and coffee makers - items of domestic importance. (I will admit the women were liberated enough to talk about missing their sex toys too. I didn’t really understand this dilemma as there have to still be batteries out there somewhere!)

Personally, I like to think that I would be a very different kind of survivor. I like to think I’d be trying to dispatch walkers if they posed an immediate threat to my survival or that of my children. If it were our lives on the line, I would not wait weeks for gun training. I would demand it as soon as possible. Firing a gun is not always the best option - Andrea showed us that - but it is a skill I would want to master as quickly as possible. Of course, unlike Andrea, I would be smart enough to know that you don’t take a shot from 200+ yards away when: 1.) you can’t get a clear view of your target in the scope, and 2.) four people less than 10 feet away from said target aren’t acting as if he is a threat.

Still, as it looks now, Andrea is our best bet for a woman with balls in this series. She’s decided she’s not going to be a victim anymore; she finally stopped whining and started doing something. Unfortunately, what she did was an exercise in stupidity. My husband tells me that the kind of bad judgment Andrea displayed, in his opinion, is very common among people who have just learned a new skill, especially those who’ve just learned to shoot. They are so eager to show others what they can do now that they often do it at inappropriate times. Yeah, I didn’t like having that pointed out to me by a man, even if I am married to him! I was busy screaming at the TV because of her idiocy; he was genuinely evaluating the circumstances of it.

Carol gets a pass on not having balls. I don’t expect her to have them. She was beaten down by her hellish husband, Ed, and as a result may never grow a set. An abuser often controls every aspect of a victim’s life. In some cases, victims can become unable to make even the simplest of decisions for themselves. Forget about a victim being able to stand up for his/her self. Long after an abuser is gone, serious damage to a victim’s psychological state can remain. So Carol gets a pass. She's earned one after what she's been through.

Since Lori is pregnant, she won’t be growing balls any time soon. I doubt she’ll do much walker-killing for quite a while. I can accept that as realistic. While pregnant or with a young infant to care for, she will be too vulnerable to be of much use in her own or the group’s defense. Granted, Mama Lion syndrome will kick in if a woman’s child is in danger, but it’s still hard to hold a baby and a rifle simultaneously.

Maggie definitely has the potential to have balls, but as long as she is sympathetic to the idea of holding walkers in the barn waiting for a cure, she won’t become a walker-killer.

Now I know that in a zombie apocalypse, it might be very likely that men and women would revert to traditional gender roles by default. (And trust me using the word “traditional” in relation to gender roles grates on me even as I type this. I hate to ever link the two concepts together, but I feel that I must in this instance.) It might be easier if we returned to the roles society seems to impose on all of us, no matter how independent we are. We can redefine those roles later if and when survival is longer our primary goal.

Even a feminist like me admits that the physical differences between men and women cannot be denied. Some things are just easier for men to do then women. (Shooting, however, isn’t one of them.) In a survival scenario, we are likely to revert to the men doing things that require greater upper body strength. Women who are doctors and lawyers in a pre-apocalypse society may well be fine with darning socks and roasting squirrels over the campfire while the men chop firewood and hunt game. I would probably be okay with that, but I would still want to be able to protect myself. After all, there would to be times when the men folk won’t all be there and I wouldn’t want to be a sitting duck.

I’m not looking for the women to stand guard all the time while the men wash clothes and cook meals. I just would like to see the women take a more proactive role in defending the group and, more importantly, themselves. I don’t want the women to all suddenly become kung fu experts or sharpshooters. I do want to see least one of the women charge a walker, taking control of her own defense, instead of hiding behind Shane and Rick.

I know most decent men (i.e. not guys like Ed) are very protective of their wives or girlfriends and their children. Nature? Nurture? Probably some of both. My husband knows I’m no wallflower; he is after all the one who taught me to shoot. But if there was a clear and present
danger, such as a walker, his first instinct would be to shove me behind him in order to protect me. I’d likely let him because I know he is better equipped - both in physical strength and shooting skill - to do things like kill walkers. (I am independent, not stupid!) I could easily see the women doing the same thing in the world of TWD. It would just be easier and life if hard enough already.

I’m not unrealistic. I realize the characters on any TV show aren’t based on me or how I think I would act if faced with what they face. I realize there are dramatic elements that must be included to make a story work. I realize there are physical differences between the sexes that are simply givens in survival situation. I realize that we women who feel this way may just be getting our feminist panties in a bunch. But still…. Please give us some women who will stand up and fight when the need arises. Please give us some women we can relate to.