The Walking Dead is finally tackling morality like it’s smarter than a comic book
The Walking Dead isn’t necessarily known for its nuanced handling of moral complexity. It’s ostensibly concerned with the choices we make and the people we become in a world where law and order no longer exist, but the zombie drama has often treated its right-or-wrong dilemmas as shallow plot contrivances. Characters like Rick or Carl might bemoan their lost humanity in one episode, only to casually slip into killing machine mode in the next, simply because it’s convenient for them to have a sudden change of heart. That’s why it’s often hard to take anything The Walking Dead tries to say about human nature seriously: all too often, it eschews actual consequences or character development in the name of adding some surprise twist or plot...