Defending the 4 Most Hated Walking Dead Characters

I’ve finally caught up with the Walking Dead. While I was out of the loop, I had to hide from the internet a lot, because the fans seem to love talking about which characters they hate. As I was watching I had a ‘check-list’ of characters to watch out for, because they are annoying (as well, as a few I picked up on the way). Now, I am up to date, with the television programme, I thought I would have a little look back at some of the characters and if they are as bad as the fans are making them out to be.

(I will be mentioning spoilers.)

4 – ANDREA

Andrea got pretty much all of the hate by the time Season three was over and done with. Personally I thought she was a pretty interesting character. She attempted suicide, but Dale guilt-tripped her out of it, so throughout all of Season 2, she became a bit of a loose cannon. Sadly, the writers totally messed up Season 2, so this side of her character got lost, somewhere in the plodding storyline. All she ever did was have sex with Shane and shoot Daryl.

Then she lost her way a little in Season 3. She joined up with the Governor, as he found her and Michonne weak in the woods. Michonne felt that something was up with the Governor, because she probably read the comics and knew he is bat-shit crazy. She told Andrea that they should run, but Andrea abandoned her best friend to stay in the Governor’s city. She even began sleeping with the Governor, as he began shooting the hell out of her friends. Hell, she deserved the hate, right?

No caption needed

Let’s break it down. When they first found the Governor, it must have seemed like a dream come true. Sure, he was evil, but Andrea and Michonne had no idea of that. To Andrea, Michonne was just freaking out around people and risking their lives for no good reason. It was hardly an easy call for Andrea to let her friend walk away, but at the end of the day, as Andrea rightfully said, they were unlikely to survive outside of a city with the Walker invasion.

OK, but then she hung around the Governor, as he began shooting up Rick and the group. To Andrea, the Governor was scared of a group of bandits. It was a reasonable fear, as Rick was a stranger who broke into the city, shooting the place up. Bear in mind, only we, as the audience know that the Governor is evil. To Andrea, he is just a guy breaking under the stress of command. She tried her best to help out, giving herself an authority role in the group, but true, it just came across as meddling. But her heart was in the right place. And when it got to the point, where it was impossible to deny that the Governor was a bad guy, she could hardly just up and leave. If she returned to the prison, (bearing in mind, Rick was hardly welcoming her with open arms when she did show up), the Governor would easily shoot her down. Her joining Rick could even be the thing that sets the crazed Governor off. No, she decides she is much more valuable as an inside woman, which she does. Sadly, it resulted in her death, as she tried too hard to solve the problem without any deaths. Her sacrifice wasn’t as emotional as it could have been, because of several fans shouting ‘whore’ at the TV set.

3 – CAROL

The audiences also seem to have a dislike for Carol. Carol, played by Melissa McBride, is the widow of an abusive husband, who loses her daughter to the Walkers and becomes an empty shell of a character. She is the kind of woman, who emotionally breaks down, because of a loud noise. Needless to say, she isn’t much good, when the fighting breaks out and even becomes the annoying person in the group, who meddles with other people’s business.

However, the group needs this kind of person. Personally, I think it is interesting having a natural victim in the group like that. It makes for a good character study. By Season three, she has picked up a bit of fighting sense and becomes a stronger member of the group. Sure, she still screams a lot and breaks down crying for little reason, but hell, not every member of the group can be Daryl. I hope the writers don’t just kill her off, as the fans are screaming for, as I think there is more to be done with her character.

2 – SHANE

I haven’t read much of the comics, but from what I have, I always thought that the writers missed a trick with Shane. He plays Rick’s best mate, who, when everyone thinks Rick is dead, looks after his wife and son. As the months creep past, people dying around them, they end up falling in love, a fairly natural response. And then Rick comes back from the dead and Shane is put in an awkward position. In the comics, his death is the cliff-hanger for the first issue and I always felt that he was gotten rid of, before his character really had the chance to tell his story. In the series, it is the complete opposite problem.

Apocalypse hint: Never trust the guy who dramatically shaves his head in the shower.

Again, season two is to blame here. The episodes just plodded on and the writers seemed to think the only storyline was Shane’s wavering sanity. You just got sick of hearing about it. Go back to season one, which only had six episodes to tell its story. Shane’s character is perfectly paced, being a good member of the group, but at the same time, barely keeping his emotions in check. Sure, he attempted to rape Lori, but he has to come across as a bad guy, just one we can kind of emphasise with. But as Season two got boring, Shane became the audience’s scapegoat and we stopped feeling sorry for him and kind of wanted him to die, so the story could move on.

On a side-note, the writers were also getting lazy. Shane became Rick’s dark side, so Rick rarely ever made a tough choice. Now that Shane is dead, Rick has become a much more three-dimensional character, albeit one that needs to work on his American accent.

1 – LORI

OK, this could be tricky, bear with me.

Shane and Andrea may get a lot of hate, but that is nothing compared to the colossal rage the internet as for Lori. I can’t even find a reason for it, because other article writers have kind of assumed that everyone hated her. Don’t get me wrong, she is my least favourite character too, but I believe there are some redeeming features there.

Again, I don’t even need a caption here.

For one, the comics intended for her to be a bit of a bitch to begin with. While Rick is looking out for the group as a whole, Lori thinks only of her family. This is a fair enough train of thought, even if her ass is constantly being saved by the people she is planning to abandon. Also, she does very little to voice her reasons. She whispers hints into Rick’s ear and hate brews as she corrupts our favourite character. She also becomes one of the main sources for pointless problems in the group, especially the episode she drives off and crashes on the side of the road.

But come on guys, not everyone can deal with a zombie apocalypse that well. She is feeling pretty torn up that she could be having Shane’s baby and she just reacts in a nasty way. The Walking Dead deals with extreme emotions and one of the characters had to portray this side of the human nature. At least, Lori’s bad habits are intentional and not just poor writing like they were with Shane’s.