3 Times The Walking Dead messed up a chance to make the show better

With Rick Grimes leaving The Walking Dead is huge shoes to fill 

There's no doubt that the writing and character development on the hit show hasn't been as good as previous seasons since the introduction of Negan. So much time has been devoted to one of the most annoying characters in TV history who fans either hate or love that precious few other characters haven't got a look in.

Since Daryl used a rocket launcher on Negan's men he's hardly had a thing to do which seems grossly unfair because he's one of the main reasons the show became so popular. And he's not alone in not having enough to do. 

The show could stand to lose at least half a dozen characters - or more.

But there's also been some great opportunities missed to turn the show around.

I've listed just three but there's a lot more, including not killing Glenn and Carl. 

Negan should have survived, not Negan.

1.Simon should have killed Negan not the other way round. 
The wrong bad guy died. 

Negan should have ended up dead instead of the charismatic Simon. Simon was a far better character who could be threatening with a few words and he didn't go into endless long speeches, waving a bat around and grabbing his crotch.

Would Negan have really got the better of Simon in a one on one fight? I'm not the only one who doesn't think so.

More importantly why on earth would Rick let the sneering sociopath live? This is Rick who's despatched much less worthy victims in the past.

I can see no way that Rick Grimes and the gang would allow a man who terrorized him, his son and his friends and who made a sick pregnant woman kneel as she watched her husband (one of his best friends) have his head caved in by a bat, live. 

Troy would have made a splash in The Walking Dead.

2. Troy should haven't died in Fear The Walking Dead - he should have crossed over into TWD and played the role of Alden at the Hilltop.
***SPOILER ALERT if you haven't seen season 3 of Fear***
In case you didn't watch Fear before Morgan crossed over, Troy was one of the sons of a white supremacist, survivalist rancher, who the main stars of the show ended up staying with in season 3. 

Troy was unhinged, racist, evil but smart and believed he could find a cure for the zombie virus by executing people and timing how long it took them to reanimate. All of his victims seemed to be targeted for their ethnicity. 

His days on Fear ended after Madison killed him with two whacks to the head with a hammer because he led the walker horde to the ranch and effectively got almost everyone killed. 

Troy was excellently played by Daniel Sharman in a season where Fear wasn't just better than ever, but in some people's opinions was better than The Walking Dead, Troy was one of the main reasons why.

Imagine how good it would be if Troy had survived and somehow ended up at The Hilltop and he was the one making eyes at Maggie and not Alden one of the prisoners from Negan's lot? 

Imagine the creeping horror when Maggie  realize he's a monster after folk mysteriously disappear from Hilltop and end up as newly minted walkers? 

Not for the first time, TWD missed a trick there.

Troy would have made the show better. There I've said it.

Cyndie could have been Clementine from the comics.

Clementine could be the darling of The Walking Dead

3. Bring on Clementine
When Tara met the mainly womenfolk of Oceanside who'd been devastated after Simon (without Negan's knowledge) massacred all their men and teenage boys, there was one character who stood out - Cyndi. 

Only we didn't know who she was at first so I got my hopes up and thought, brilliant, Clementine the girl warrior from the excellent Walking Dead game is going to be on the show.

I was massively disappointed when it didn't happen and it was Cyndi. 

Sure she came across as tough and is now the settlements de facto leader but she wasn't the Clementine players of that game love. And that was a pity because Clementine is as good if not better than most of the characters in The Walking Dead.

If the show's runners want to hear us cheering again they should bring Clementine to the show. 

3 ways Rick Grimes could exit The Walking Dead (including where he lives)

He wants to know what happens to Rick Grimes.

If it does happen and the makers of The Walking Dead can't change Andrew Lincoln's mind about leaving the show he made so popular, then they'll need an exit plan for the former sheriff.

So, how might that go down?

Here's 3 ways Rick Grimes could exit The Walking Dead.

1. Rick goes on trial with Negan

Rick goes on trial for the ambush on Negan's men that started the war.

The storyline - Rick understands why Maggie's angry at him over Negan and suggests putting Negan on trial with the death penalty or imprisonment in the jail cell Morgan made for life as the potential punishments.

Negan says he'll only agree if Rick goes on trial too for killing his men whilst they slept at one of the Sanctuary's satellite stations.

Like Morgan Jones once said: "I'm a killer, Rick. I am, and you are too."

Michonne defends Rick - In the comics she's a lawyer so maybe she can do that on the show? The kicker is that she must defend Negan too.

2. Walking Dead started with Rick and Morgan and it should end with Rick and Morgan.

We go back to the start with Rick in a coma

The storyline - Rick gets bitten and ends up in coma. He wakes up years later and Morgan's there watching over him. Unusually for him he's smiling. "When I heard a walker had taken a snack out of someone's arm and survived, I knew it'd be you."

Rick asks: "Where is Michonne, Judith, Daryl everyone?"

Morgan looks at him seriously and says, "Before I answer that I need to tell you a story; a story about how the world we were living in full of fighting and woe and misery and loss ended and a new one free from all that begun."

Once he finishes Daryl walks in with a teenage girl and Michonne.

3. A who shot Rick Grimes? storyline.

Who shot Rick Grimes?

The storyline - It's a dark night and in the woods Rick meets someone to talk. We hear a person emerge from the darkness. A gun goes off but we don't see the shooter's face as Rick goes down after being shot in the head.

Imagine the posters for the second half of the season - the remaining cast lined up with wanted signs. Daryl, Maggie, Jesus, Eugene, even shocker, Michonne.

Not my idea of a fitting goodbye for the mighty Rick Grimes, but what if he's not dead and ends the season in a coma, the same way we first met him?

Like Morgan Jones says: "Everything gets a return."

Or, Rick could just be whisked off in the helicopter we keep on seeing and we will see him again. Maybe when The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead shows merge into one.

Why Rick Grimes leaving should end The Walking Dead (probably)

The Walking Dead has been Rick Grimes from day 1

I love The Walking Dead. When Rick Grimes and the walkers shambled onto my TV screen eight years ago, I was in Heaven. You see I love zombies, walkers, the undead, shamblers, whatever you want to call them - deadites, anybody, or is that just for the awesome Ash vs. Evil Dead?

Finally after so many years of making do with some fantastic and not so fantastic zombie movies (Brain Dead, anyone - I can't be the only one unlucky to see that?), I had the TV show of my dreams.

How The Walking Dead began

The first episode shot by Frank Dabaront, director of the best movie ever according to imdb.com (The Shawshank Redemption) and filmed like 28 Hours Later, was engrossing pulsating stuff. Immediately I was hooked on sheriff Rick Grimes.

I wanted him to survive.

I wanted him to be reunited with his family.

I wanted him to kill Shane who was trying to kill him.

I wanted Morgan Jones who saved Rick's life and his son Duane who was named, I hope, after the main character in the cult classic Night of the Living Dead to be on the end of that walkie-talkie one day after they parted.

The Walking Dead is Rick Grimes.

"You're my brother, Daryl."

He's the beating heart of The Walking Dead. He's the string that ties everybody together, this weird bunch of survivors. He's Daryl's brother. Michonne's lover. Maggie's mentor. Morgan's permanent anchor to this world. He's the one who banished Carol then welcomed her back. He's Carl's dad.

He's the one man who got the better of Negan and before him the Governor. 

He's the man with the plan - even when it's not a particularly good one.

Without him how can the show go on?

Of course I don't want the show to end. Talking with other Walking Dead fans about walkers and how to survive in this apocalyptic hell has been an absolute pleasure. It's gotten me through some tough times including the death of my father. But here's the rub. I love the show so much I don't want to see it limping on and becoming even more of a shadow of what it once was. 

I definitely don't want to see one of the best ever TV characters in Rick Grimes ruined any more. Maybe Andrew Lincoln feels the same way and that's why he's leaving? 

The last two seasons have been pretty terrible. Since Negan appeared, because of some awful writing every character has got a dose of the stupids. Almost everyone got caught by braggart Negan and had to bow down as he set about Abraham and then Glenn with the swing of a baseball bat. Worst of all, Rick was broken. His de facto brother Daryl was broken when he was held prisoner.

Could Daryl and Carol save The Walking Dead?

If as looks likely they do keep on making The Walking Dead, maybe the only two people who could try to replace Rick are Daryl and Carol and together? Side by side they could be the dream team - I hope. 

Magic happens when they're on screen together. They could be the show's only hope, especially if as looks likely Maggie and Michonne do leave - one for a TV show, the other for movies and the possibility of an Oscar one day.

What do you think? Can The Walking Dead survive without Rick Grimes?

Fear breathes new life into The Walking Dead Universe

Morgan and his two new friends

When I heard a main character from The Walking Dead was heading over to little sister show Fear, I assumed because it was going to be filmed in Texas that Abraham would made the journey. This worried me because it's hard to care about a character who's dead in TWD. Finding out it was going to be Morgan was a pleasant surprise.

Apart from maybe Andrew Lincoln who plays Rick Grimes, Lennie James who's been in many of the The Walking Dead's best episodes (the pilot, the brilliant Clear and bottle Morgan episode where he meets the Zen master) is the show's best actor in my opinion. His portrayal of a battled weary apocalyptic soldier suffering from PTSD has been hard to watch at times, but its been mesmerizing.

Its a delight to see him in action in a more lighthearted show.

Fear now has a touch of the Wild West with John Dorie

Place a man like Morgan who's at the end of his tether in Fear The Walking Dead, introduce a gunslinger cowboy called John Dorie ("ie, not y like the fish") and a hard-ass journalist in a customised walker killing machine in the shape of Al, and you don't just have our fave staff wielding hero smiling again, you also have Walking Dead fans who've been weighed down by the misery of the big show grinning away.

Fear by bringing in these three amazing characters has shown us how good a zombie show can be, reminding us of the good old days in The Walking Dead before  the poorly written Negan storyline that turned what should have been a great character into a caricature whilst making other smart characters do dumb things that's lost the show so many viewers.

Althea is a refreshing new character

Ironically this belter of a premiere for season four of Fear The Walking Dead is only ruined by the last few minutes when Nick, Alicia, Strand and Luciana turn up wielding weapons and looking like refugees from a Mad Max movie. 

The low point of Fear was when some of the original characters show up

Hopefully the show won't switch solely back to focus on the Clark family at the expense of the ever excellent Morgan and his fun new friends John Dorie and Althea (call me Al) because the newest members of the Fearverse are more entertaining than the Clarks ever were and that's coming from someone who thought last season's Fear was better than TWD.

Respect is also due to the production team for an episode that was beautiful shot making the apocalyptic landscape look like a Western.

Now give us more Morgan, John Dorie and Althea. Please and thank you for a job well done.

5 Reasons Why Rick Grimes isn't becoming Negan In the Walking Dead

For most of The Walking Dead we've been Team Rick all the way. But since he and his gang slaughtered the Saviors at an outpost as the men slept, there have been accusations that our favourite apocalyptic sheriff is as bad as Negan.

An accusation that was aimed firmly at Rick again after he executed the Hilltop prisoners who’d escaped and that included the man who’d just saved his life.

Killing the Saviors while they slept - is this something Negan would do?

Here are 5 reasons why Rick isn't as bad as his arch nemesis Negan.

Nobody has to go around saying "I'm Rick."

1. People follow him freely. They can leave freely.

He doesn't have a cult like Negan. Nobody except Rick goes around saying. "I am Negan." Rick's in a group: Negan's in a cult. The cult of one - Negan.

Rick discusses his plans. Negan issues orders.

2. Negan has an almost pathological need to be in control.

Rick has constantly said that if anyone else wants to lead that he will step aside. Negan needs to be in control. 

3. Negan delights in sadistically torturing and murdering people.

Hence Dwight's burnt face. Glenn and Abraham getting their heads caved in with a baseball bat. The Sanctuary's doctor Dr Carson getting burnt alive in a furnace. Glenn and Abraham getting their heads caved in with a baseball bat.

Daryl being starved and mentally tortured by some truly appalling music. Easy listening Easy Street ain't when you hear it over and over again.

4. Negan takes women as his wives and puts them in his harem. Rick sees women as equals and doesn't need to bribe, threaten or coerce anyone into sleeping with him.

The fact two of Negan's "wives" tried to get Eugene to kill him shows how much he is despised.

5. Rick has real friends, whilst Negan's has people around him that are terrified of him.

Rick might not always agree with Daryl, Morgan, Maggie, Michonne and Carol, but he respects what they have to say and there's genuine affection there. 

If they disagree with him they don't get an iron to the face.