TWD: The Man in the Mirror and The Monster They’ve Become

[dropcap1]W[/dropcap1]e all have demons. It’s part of being human and alive. One of the shittier parts, if we’re being blunt. To imagine that the impulse towards introspection might diminish or disappear in the Walker era is to imagine humanity fundamentally changed. And yet, it’s easy to imagine. Perhaps because the show has, for the most part, been successful in its world-building. The peril is communicated effectively enough that I can imagine myself killing the walkers. But that’s the easy part, isn’t it? We, the zombie-loving audience, tune in to see the gore. If you’re like me, this wasn’t your first foray into the zombie apocalypse – and it won’t be your last. You knew to shoot for the head. You knew that to be bitten was to die a slow death. You knew to avoid the dark places, the closed places. To be quiet. The hard part, then, is making an audience member root for a living being’s death. And I cannot count the number of times I’ve thrown my hands up in frustration when a human was not killed – or not killed quickly enough. *cough* Jesus when he stole that truck *cough* And if I can root for someone to die, it’s not a far leap to imagine myself in the situation… killing.

Because the stakes are high, the consequences are clear. You don’t kill Ron in the garage, you lose your eye. You don’t kill the Wolf during the siege on the town, Denise gets kidnapped. You don’t kill Nicholas, then Noah dies. It’s easy to scream “Shoot him” or “What does she have to do to get kille…