The Walking Dead Coverage: When the Story is Stuck in a Well

Episode Commentary: “Cherokee Rose”

After last week’s episode, it was fair to say that “The Walking Dead” had finally woken up a bit. After weeks of a slow build and barely any action, there were clear plot developments afoot. Shane’s character was finally brought out and Glenn was beginning to shake off the remnants of a clear supporting role. This made it easily the best episode so far this season.

Sadly, this episode wasn’t able to scare or shock nearly as effectively. This week featured three huge developments, as Glenn and Maggie begin their “relationship,” while Lori found out she is pregnant. Carrying a child is a life-changing moment at any time, but in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, and not knowing whom the father is, it appears Lori’s got herself a huge problem.

With Shane still alive and well, it’ll be interesting to see where the creative team takes this story.

The third “event” may not seem as important or recognizable, but the conversation between Malcolm and Rick towards the end of the episode will be extremely pivotal later in the series. Not because of the words said, but for the huge barn in the background during the talk. With Hershel’s hope of a “possible” cure and hatred of violence, it appears that after all of the changes the writing team has made to this show, the exodus off the ranch may end up exactly the same as the comic book. While that may be a factor in many sticking with the show, the lack of real action in this episode is proof enough that the writing team is still learning how these characters work.

Proof of this is easily seen between their focus on developing characters they have created, such as Daryl and T-Dog, while people the likes of Dale and Andrea are so far separated from the group and their personas in the comic book that dedicated readers have a hard time recognizing them. More important is the case of Andrea, who acts more like the character Lori was in the comic book, with her constant nagging and attitude. At times, it feels as if the writing team hasn’t read the trades responsible for the show.

Again, in spite of this, the show is still enjoyable to watch, it’s just such a different experience at times. With the sneak peak to next week’s episode showing Merle alive and well, this feeling is sure to continue.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14262 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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