That is exactly the problem with FTWD. Any one of the characters could be killed off and I wouldn't care much. Maybe a twinge for Nick or Travis but that is it.

Despite its many flaws this season, there are several TWD character deaths that would be devastating to me.

@jonnieblack said:

Maybe a twinge for Nick or Travis but that is it.

True, there isn't a great emotional investment in any character but I'm OK with that. It's probably more realistic in that respect, as it's just like you and I walking (running?) past each other in a freshly erupted zombie apocalypse where the gettin' hasn't gotten tough enough yet like it has in TWD.

Tell you what though, I was pretty happy when Travis' son was finally killed off (little twat) but then all the more happy when Travis went into absolute berserker mode. Way better than Rick did for Corrrrrrrrrrrral.

@larz9 Cliff Curtis really nailed that scene. Up until that point I wasn't terribly invested in him, either.

@larz9 said:

Tell you what though, I was pretty happy when Travis' son was finally killed off (little twat) but then all the more happy when Travis went into absolute berserker mode. Way better than Rick did for Corrrrrrrrrrrral.

OMG, was that kid insufferable or what? So happy to finally see him bite it. Kid was so fkn stupid which was kinda perplexing because they kinda tried to give the impression at the beginning of the series that he had his shit together.

@movie_nazi said:

OMG, was that kid insufferable or what? So happy to finally see him bite it. Kid was so fkn stupid which was kinda perplexing because they kinda tried to give the impression at the beginning of the series that he had his shit together.

Definitely insufferable but hey, a father will do whatever it takes for his son. That said, he crossed the line when he was threatening his stepsister and stepmother with the knife. You never know how you'll be until you're actually in that situation but I would've beat the snot out of him.

Thing is, he did have his shit together in the beginning but I think the idea was to show how people change when faced with a massive change, like a zombie apocalypse in this case. I bought it but I wanted him dead sooner.

@larz9 said:

That said, he crossed the line when he was threatening his stepsister and stepmother with the knife. You never know how you'll be until you're actually in that situation but I would've beat the snot out of him.

He didn't exactly threaten them with the knife. It's more like he walked into the room where they were sleeping while clutching a knife, and got discovered while standing there. I really hated the ambiguity of that. We never really got an explanation or even a clear motivation for what he was doing there. The situation was just used to make some dislike him, and cause Travis to go off with him.

@Satch_the_man said:

@larz9 said:

That said, he crossed the line when he was threatening his stepsister and stepmother with the knife. You never know how you'll be until you're actually in that situation but I would've beat the snot out of him.

He didn't exactly threaten them with the knife. It's more like he walked into the room where they were sleeping while clutching a knife, and got discovered while standing there. I really hated the ambiguity of that. We never really got an explanation or even a clear motivation for what he was doing there. The situation was just used to make some dislike him, and cause Travis to go off with him.

Exactly. Crazy to me that viewers, who saw that he was not there to threaten, are up in arms against him as though they too had only sen him from the mom/sister's pov.

He was a dumb punk but I only started liking him when he went full on survivalist with those dudes.

@Satch_the_man said:

@larz9 said:

That said, he crossed the line when he was threatening his stepsister and stepmother with the knife. You never know how you'll be until you're actually in that situation but I would've beat the snot out of him.

He didn't exactly threaten them with the knife. It's more like he walked into the room where they were sleeping while clutching a knife, and got discovered while standing there. I really hated the ambiguity of that. We never really got an explanation or even a clear motivation for what he was doing there. The situation was just used to make some dislike him, and cause Travis to go off with him.

Well, I think that if I woke up and found someone standing in the room holding a knife, I would feel like that was a threat.

@jonnieblack said:

Well, I think that if I woke up and found someone standing in the room holding a knife, I would feel like that was a threat.

Why would Chris want to kill Madison and Alicia in their sleep? All he did previously was hesitate for a second to fight walkers, when the group was faced by them. It doesn't make good sense to me. Maybe it could be argued that he just wanted them out of the picture, which could be why, I think, he didn't defend Madison against the walker earlier. Later on, he said to Travis something like, "They think I'm crazy." This implies a lack of guilt on his part, which is why the ambiguous scene in question and a lack of clear motivation for it are so maddening.

Earlier in that episode, as I recall, Chris stood and watched as a walker almost killed Madison. She already had reason to suspect him and then he shows up in her bedroom holding a knife. Pretty suspicious behavior and definitely a threat.

@Horus Mazinga said:

He was a dumb punk but I only started liking him when he went full on survivalist with those dudes.

I'm guessing you meant to say disliking him? Yeah, that ambiguity before was piss poor writing. The message I got from it was that the kid was psycho? It made no sense. But then when he meets these shitheads and is all balls out kill or be killed, that's when I was like, this kid gotta go.

@jonnieblack said:

Earlier in that episode, as I recall, Chris stood and watched as a walker almost killed Madison. She already had reason to suspect him and then he shows up in her bedroom holding a knife. Pretty suspicious behavior and definitely a threat.

Kid was acting weird no question.

@jonnieblack said:

@larz9 Cliff Curtis really nailed that scene. Up until that point I wasn't terribly invested in him, either.

Curtis and just about everyone else are slugs! I only like Nick, that's it!

@enigmaticocean said:

Kill almost everyone off and start over again with a few remaining characters.

Rick, played by an entirely different actor, suddenly awakens, having fallen asleep inside a tank in which he took refuge from the dead in Atlanta. We learn that everything we've seen has just been a bad dream and then the show starts over, with an all-new creative staff--one that actually has talent and appreciates the premise, rather than a bunch of hack jobbers collecting a paycheck--and a new cast. Either directly adapt the comics, GAME OF THRONES-style (which would make TWD one of the best shows on tv), or go off in some other direction that is at least as good.

And that's the only way to fix it.

@jridle73 said:

Rick, played by an entirely different actor, suddenly awakens, having fallen asleep inside a tank in which he took refuge from the dead in Atlanta. We learn that everything we've seen has just been a bad dream And that's the only way to fix it.

Nope.

Just cancel it. It's time for something new. (And I haven't even seen the second half of this season. Reading all the comments, it seems I haven't missed that much.)