Last October, I sat poised in front of my TV with bated breath as I eagerly waited for “The Walking Dead” to begin its fifth season. A year later, however, when the sixth season premiere of “The Walking Dead” aired on Sunday, Oct. 11 at 9 p.m., I stalwartly directed my attention elsewhere.
So what changed in the span of a year?
I was sort of a unique viewer in the sense that I stumbled upon “The Walking Dead” by accident. I knew it was around, of course. It was impossible not to know of its existence, with its frequent record-breaking ratings and endless stream of critic ravings. Still, for years, I didn’t see the appeal, and so I never bothered to delve deeper.
When the second half of the fourth season rolled around, I caught a glimpse of a few scenes online. The character dynamics piqued my interest, and I somehow found myself watching the season finale live despite never having watched it before. Naturally, I was left fairly confused by “A,” but it had certainly sent my heart skyrocketing. Shortly after the finale, I dutifully opened up Netflix and binge watched all four seasons.
Thus, the fifth season was the first and last season I ever watched on TV.
“The Walking Dead” had so much potential. It only took a few weeks for it to become my all-time favorite TV show. The release of the season five trailer at San Diego Comic Con last year was extremely intense and built up, promising a thrilling plotline that hinted at the protagonists’ fight against the enemies: walkers, Terminus, and new villains shown in a hospital. Unfortunately, it fell far short. Terminus was wrapped up in a short couple of episodes, while the Grady Memorial Hospital arc was sloppily done and riddled with plot holes.
Media with dark, gritty themes have been growing in popularity over the years, and hit TV shows such as “The Walking Dead” and “Game of Thrones” support this trend. I will be the first to admit that I am a huge fan of fiction that features apocalyptic plotlines (see: CW’s “The 100,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and “Pacific Rim” as several well-done examples). I enjoy seeing how characters handle themselves in these sorts of situations. It’s interesting to watch the way characters fight against incredibly slim odds and search for hope in the bleakest of circumstances.
This is exactly where “The Walking Dead” misses the mark.
In “The Walking Dead,” the characters who are known for their optimism are often times killed off. Such characters include Beth Greene, Bob Stookey, and Tyreese Williams, all of who died just last season.
Beth’s storyline and subsequent death in the fifth season is what prompted me to take a step back from “The Walking Dead” and analyze it critically, rather than blindly absorb the constant stream of gore and violence.
What was the point of Beth watching her family die in front of her, of Beth overcoming a suicide attempt, of being kidnapped and isolated from the rest of her group, of enduring physical and sexual violence in her final days? What was the point of “I still sing” and “I am strong” and “I’m not like you or them, but I made it,” when in the end, she was given an out of character death that was clearly done for shock value and didn’t even follow the laws of physics?
The entire season had been leading up to solving the mystery of Beth’s disappearance, and when she was finally revealed to have been taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, we saw a new side of Beth. Some people claimed that Beth was weak and defenseless, but she proved them wrong in the fifth season. She showed that she was remarkably resourceful, clever, and loyal. She displayed her determination and bravery (and excellent marksmanship) when she helped newcomer Noah escape from Grady and stood up to her captors.
So when Beth, just about to reunite with her group, recklessly tried to kill Dawn in an effort to save Noah, therefore sacrificing herself for him (who died anyway only six episodes later), it felt extremely messy and out of character.
Thus, when the show insists on continuously killing off its hopeful characters, it sends the message that only the cold, ruthless people can survive in their world. It promotes the idea that having faith in humanity is childish, is even a fatal weakness. “The Walking Dead” suggests cynicism is much more “realistic” than happy endings, but I would argue the opposite. It’s all too easy to give up and lose hope in the world. Meanwhile, it takes hard work for characters like Beth, who previously struggled with depression, to retain a positive outlook on life after all the pain these characters have been put through.
Now recently, in the episode “JSS,” viewership jumped down 16 percent after the season premiere. While “The Walking Dead” undoubtedly remains AMC’s most popular program, the decline in ratings is disappointing and has even caused AMC’s stock to drop. I think more and more people are slowly growing tired of the show’s repetitiveness.
Vanity Fair columnist Richard Lawson addresses this issue in an article focusing on “zombie fatigue.”
“Can you have too much of a terrible thing?” writes Lawson. “How much lurching dread can we really be exposed to before we’re numb to it, or worse, bored of it? …Because once you become desensitized to the zombie apocalypse, where the hell do you go from there?”
In an article for Adweek, Jason Lynch observantly points out “as long as the show continues to draw audiences that any other show on television would kill for, AMC isn’t going to shake things up—even though it should.”
“The network’s slogan, ‘something more,’ adequately sums up what ‘The Walking Dead’ is lacking,” explains Lynch. “It needs propulsion and an endgame. The franchise can continue, but the best way to revive ‘The Walking Dead’ is to let it say farewell.”
Casey Tobias is a second-year student majoring in women’s and gender studies. She can be reached at CT822683@wcupa.edu. Her Twitter handle is @Casey__Tobias.