Oh, I didn't read The Governor novels, so I had no idea. Really, he was never my favorite character in the comics either, but I think he works better - like Michael Myers - when he's just nuts for no apparent reason. Working the whole "Hobo Governor" thing into the storyline in that particular order still doesn't make much sense to me.

To a degree, these Governor episodes remind me of when Family Matters became The Urkel Show. Yeah, I know it's not on the same level, but it's the same principle - an (inexplicably) popular character who isn't all that interesting gets trumped-up screentime because the network is more interested in paying lip-service to the fans than making a cohesive product, or focusing on the core cast of the show. It's like Game of Thrones doing a Hodor episode.

Actually, no. That would be hodor.

The books aren't bad besides the big 'twist' at the end of the first one that was pretty lame IMO. I haven't read the newest one though.

The governor is a character that should just be as bare bones as possible. I guy that had no control in what happens in his "normal" life is suddenly thrust into a position of power. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. "Nuff Said".

La Bibbida bibba dum........

To Quote Walter Sobchak "Once a Plan gets too complex....." I think that is the problem with the show rite now. It needs to be stripped to the basics.

Bo-rilla Grodd wrote: To Quote Walter Sobchak "Once a Plan gets too complex....." I think that is the problem with the show rite now. It needs to be stripped to the basics.

This.

The reason - even with Crazy Shane, The Search For Sophia, and A Million Years on Hershel's Farm - that the second season worked SO well is because they focused on the core cast, and said core cast's survival. It wasn't complicated. The whole thing was a fly-on-the-wall sort of ordeal, and, while it was draggy at times, it was still really intense. Just watch that scene where Sophia wanders out of the barn. It's goosebump-worthy stuff. Frank Darabont (showrunner to that point) may overindulge, but he knew how to build a story and keep everything focused. I don't think they needed to stay on the farm, but Season 3 and 4's tendency to meander and try to flesh out characters who, really, aren't worth fleshing out is kind of killing the show.

Okay, so they developed Carol quite nicely. And we all saw how that turned out.

Really, the fact that we get two episodes this season, plus a huge majority of the last season to flesh out The Governor and NOT A SINGLE ONE that bothers to develop Michonne's backstory...well, it's just a testament to how poorly written this show is. I know that the fanboys love The Gov, but c'mon. There are characters at the prison who haven't had a decent storyline since Season 2 (Glenn, Maggie), and it's getting hard to care about everyone not named Hershel at this point.

As of right now, Herschel is literally the only thing keeping this show at all watchable. I think he is doomed, though. My theory has to do with convention appearances, and could very well be complete bunk. The main cast all appeared at NYCC - except Scott Wilson. He appeared at the very tiny Rock and Shock, along with Michael Rooker, Irone Singleton, and Lew Temple, who all played characters now dead. Incidentally, my wife is convinced the spin-off series will feature Carol as one of the mains. I think a spin-off is a bad idea in general, but if made, I think it should be in an entirely different setting, and never cross over at all.

I think the spin-off is a bad idea as well, but if it focuses on Carol...well, she was becoming one of the most interesting characters on the show before Rick the Dick decided she might hypothetically kill his daughter and psycho-nuts son. I heard that the spinoff was going to focus on the days of the zombie outbreak, but if it's a sister series that doesn't cross over, I'd be okay with that. Maybe have characters actively trying to find some form of escape instead of hunkering down in the prison for an entire season? That'd be pretty interesting, I think. Although it'd really go against the bleakness that the writers like to club us over the head with on a pretty constant basis.

I'm guessing Hershel bites it soon as well. It'll be a shame to see Wilson go if that happens. Especially since nobody can carry the show when he's gone, since DeMunn and Bernthal are long gone and the writers don't really care to develop Michonne and can't keep Daryl straight from episode-to-episode. Maybe Tyreese will get a chance to step up...Chad Coleman was awesome as Cutty on The Wire, and it'd be nice to see him actually get something to do.

While Rick is getting annoying again, I don't think his excommunicating Carol was out of character. I get the impression Rick would kill or throw to the wolves every single person there to save Carl or the baby. Rick had some real potential to finally escape stagnation at the beginning of season 3, but the writers decided otherwise soon enough. I hope more is done with Michonne; I really want to like her, but she needs to do more than stare at people angrily. The interaction between Carl and her was, in my view, well written. It never went anywhere, though. Daryl can go ahead and die at this point. He vacillates between boring and irritating, but the writers still try to play him as being scary and not to be crossed. Herschel, when given good scripts, is one of the strongest characters on television these days, and can carry the show on his own. My wife loves Maggie and Glenn, and she is getting frustrated they aren't given anything to do other than "try not to die".

This season of Walking Dead is brought to you by "some things you just don't come back from." That's "some things you just don't come back from", for when you go somewhere and you just can't get back from there.

I'm starting to think David Morrissey's agent is selling sexual favors to the producers.

They wouldn't be the only thing that blows lately...