Remember the group is going to have new members, Tyrese and his team. But no way is the group going to accept Merle if thats the plan. If that is how the story progresses, I can see Daryl at some point killing him, after being torn and wanting to believe his brother is on their side.

And I wonder what they are going to do with or about Michonne. She's grown on me, and I'd love her as an antiheroine, her persona fits that characterization, but they need to give her more motivation and a backstory.

I'm glad the Govenor is going to stick around. He's a fascinating character, sort of a Jim Jones type. He's the kind of villian I like, charming and a believably honorable and brave image, who is a pure sociopath. I like my villians to stay villians so I don't want him reformed and ultimately he still needs to die.

I guess Tyreese will probably be in the middle of all that. Since he seems to be sane (from what we've seen so far) and relatively compassionate, he could easily be the one everyone unifies around, although racist Merle would not go for that.

In the comics, he is Ricks side kick.

Merle is such a nasty racist that I cannot see him fooling Tyreese or the chick with him. The two white guys with Tyreese and Axel might fall for Merle's act, but everyone else either has experienced Merle first hand or loves Glenn and Maggie and will never side with him.

I think either Daryl is forced to kill Merle or Merle sacrifices himself for Daryl. Unfortunately, I also think we get another major death by the end of season. I see Hershel and/or Beth as dead survivors walking.

Watching the first episodes...

"Days Gone Bye" - Morgan's story was the heart of this episode, and was also a clever device to make us care more about Rick's struggle. Will he find his wife in the same state as Morgan's wife? For that reason, I would have kept her status secret until Rick found her. Instead, they seemed more determined to establish her to viewers in the worst light possible - we see Shane caring about Rick, his friend and partner, but all we hear about her is that she trashes him in front of their son. Then the first time we see her, she's making out with Shane. It's just a little weird, because instead of wanting Rick to find his wife you almost want him to take the kid and keep driving.

The guy who plays Morgan (Lennie James, also British!) did a fantastic job. The scene where the walkers were first outside the house and Duane began sobbing because he knew his mother was coming back again, as a zombie, was so perfectly put together. I loved the way they had Rick looking through the peephole. The final moments where Morgan wanted to shoot her but just couldn't do it were heartbreaking. I must say she looked more beautiful as a walker than many people do while living.

Rick waking up delirious and dehydrated in the remains of the hospital was also a brilliant set piece. It did the horror movie genre proud. I don't find the walkers all that frightening, but this scene - the fear of the unknown - was absolutely terrifying.

I know Rick had been near death, and was then knocked out by Duane, but I still couldn't figure out why he thought going to a major city (Atlanta) was a good idea. That would have been an obvious zombie mill.

"Guts" - Again, not quite sure of the logic of having your opening scenes being the hero's wife getting it from behind from her boyfriend. After seeing these opening episodes I understand why Lori was so loathed by viewers. She never had a chance.

Not too subtle writing to have Merle as the lone white man, terrorizing a group of minorities and a white woman, until white male hero Rick saves the day. I know that bigoted white men often get a lot of slack from the public, but I'm surprised at how popular Merle is with some fans, considering how unbelievably vile he was in this episode.

That seemed to be some type of chem test with Andrea and Rick, which hasn't been followed up on, although they did have decent chemistry. She kind of got on my nerves in some scenes.

I liked the little scene of Rick telling them about the man they were about to chop. It was a glimmer into the "good" and "right" life he was rapidly leaving behind. The action scenes were what kept the episode going, as most of the conversations felt a little clunky. And the last scene of Glenn having a blast as he drove the sports car was a great way to end the episode. They got Glenn's introduction just right.

Morales was a very solid supporting character. I wonder why they wrote him out.

I wish they'd let T-Dog leave Merle on the roof by his own choice, instead of losing the key.

Edited December 13, 201213 yr by CarlD2

No way is Merle popular in the online fan communities that I visit. People have been awaiting his return and speculating about its impact on Daryl, but the consensus is that he has an ugly deserved death coming. Now Michael Rooker is exceeding popular because he has been fab as Merle.

Wait, are these your reviews? You are now starting to watch the show?

Edited December 13, 201213 yr by Ann_SS

Yeah, I am sure Merle has his fans - if you look you can find a fan of anyone, charles manson even for a real life example - but he isnt popular at any TWD place i go, outside from as you said - the impact on Daryl

No way is Merle popular in the online fan communities that I visit. People have been awaiting his return and speculating about its impact on Daryl, but the consensus is that he has an ugly deserved death coming. Now Michael Rooker has is exceeding popular because he has been fab as Merle.

Wait, are these your reviews? You are now starting to watch the show?

Yes - I've started watching. I actually started with the third season, but hadn't seen the first two seasons yet. I've seen the first two episodes so far, will try to watch the next two in the next day or two.

I hear a lot of positive commentary about Merle mostly through Daryl, the "brothers Dixon," how he clearly didn't want to hurt Glenn and Maggie, how touching it is that Merle loves his brother, he needs another chance, etc.

Edited December 13, 201213 yr by CarlD2

Shameful Merle fan here. MR does an amazing job and I love this character!

In the comic book,

Rick eventually moves on to a romance with Andrea.

I don't know if they'll go there on the show. Also, Carl

gets half of one side of his face blown off, leaving him usually wearing a bandage - the latest issue has him remove it to reveal a gaping hole with his skull and eye socket exposed.

[!@#$%^&*] like that is why I eventually just walked away from the book. He's alive and kicking and tough, but who needs it?

Yeah, I read about those (although comic Andrea sounds like she'd be too tough to deal with Rick's issues. The Carl trauma just sounds too OTT and grossout - it's an example of why I don't read a lot of new comics.

Shameful Merle fan here. MR does an amazing job and I love this character!

I agree Rooker's a very good actor.

I haven't seen all his season 3 episodes. I assume they toned some of the racism down.

I hear a lot of positive commentary about Merle mostly through Daryl, the "brothers Dixon," how he clearly didn't want to hurt Glenn and Maggie, how touching it is that Merle loves his brother, he needs another chance, etc.

Daryl's comments, hallucinations, and memories about Merle have all been decidedly negative. The writers have gone to painstaking lengths to show that Merle is an unlikable bully who made his brother's life unpleasant. I lurk on all the major Walking Dead boards and Merle is not popular or admired on any of them so I leave it at that.

I think there is a difference between being popular and rootable. Merle makes a great villain, the actor is fantastic, and he and the actor playing Daryl was brilliant casting, in terms of siblings. But if he were going up against Rick or Glenn or even his brother I doubt the audience would be rooting for him. Ultimately on this show, he and the Govenor will both die at some point.

Daryl's comments, hallucinations, and memories about Merle have all been decidedly negative. The writers have gone to painstaking lengths to show that Merle is an unlikable bully who made his brother's life unpleasant. I lurk on all the major Walking Dead boards and Merle is not popular or admired on any of them so I leave it at that.

I probably just end up remembering the ones that like him (mostly on Tumblr I guess) because when I see positive comments about him or the Governor (I don't mean positive comments about the actors), it sort of makes my head spin. But certainly that's not a majority.

I convinced one of my co-workers to give TWD a chance. She had been reluctantly looking at with her boyfriend. She came to work yesterday excited about the third episode in season one. Finally, I have someone to talk about the show at work. Talking to her I realized how much I had forgotten about the first few episodes. AMC is having a marathon on New Year's Eve and New Year Day so I plan to record it and re-watch the earlier episodes.

I'd say the most interesting part is how many of the people in the first episodes are gone now. That's probably true to a situation like this, although I also wonder if that was just down to having some placeholder characters until they started bringing in more permanent players.