I know I have been having Walking Dead withdrawals and October is a long way off, but take heart! The cast is back in Georgia on set. So they’re working on it but in the meantime if you need a TWD fix, check out this video of excertts for the TWD Discussion Panel at Texas Frightmare Weekend.
Who won Ru Paul’s Drag Race?
What did Willam do?
Tune in Monday Night 9pm Eastern to RuPaul’s Drag Race Reunion show to get the answers! And don’t for get that Ru asked us to help her pick the deserving winner of Season 4! Tweet to #Drag Race or Post on Drag Race’s Facebook page to let Ru know your choice to wear the crown; Sharon Needles (Yes!), Chad Michaels (acceptable) Or Phi Phi O’Hara (Should have sashayed away a long time ago!)
For some reason, people seem to think being politically incorrect makes you a 
racist/bigot or that people who are politically correct can’t be. I have stuck out all along that Daryl Dixon is not a racist. He is politically incorrect and blunt too, which seems to be taken as proof that he is a racist.
That’s because people are judging him by his appearance, his family and his speech, not his actions. He has (and will most likely continue to) go out of his way risking his own ass for every member of the group; white, black, female, old, young. If people would judge him by his actions they would understand that his is not racist. He is not a bigot in anyway.
If you want to really know someone’s character watch their actions, don’t listen to their words or look at their appearance. I have known people so politically correct it makes my ass hurt. They go to great pains not to say anything that anyone would find offensive, in public; but let them get behind closed doors and the closet bigot comes out. They may talk a good game but when it came down to it, they were bonafide bigots.
On the other hand you would think someone who flies a rebel flag from there pickup truck is definitely a racist wouldn’t you? I know someone who does and yes he is politically incorrect in his speech. This same person who everyone would call a racist will give the shirt off his back to anyone in need regardless of their race; white, black or pink with purple polka dots.
Maybe I’m better at understanding what a racist is because I was exposed to real racism growing up in the south. I didn’t grow up with this Politically correct garbage that does nothing more than sweep real racism under the rug because people base evaluations on how someone appears or what they say. Actions mean nothing in the world of political correctness. If they did people who are not racist in their actions would be accused of being racist.
You decide who is really the racist
The person who may use ‘colorful’ speech but will help anyone in any way they can,
or
The person who careful to speak and dress ‘correctly’, but when it comes to ‘those people’ won’t lift a finger to help in any way because it ‘those people’.
I think people need to stop harping on how much Carol has done for Daryl, in reality she hasn’t done that much. People are always saying how she has reached out to Daryl and she was the only one reaching out to Daryl, truth is it is Rick that has reached out to Daryl from day one and has continued to do so.
Let’s be honest the Atlanta survivors opinion of Daryl was less than glowing until Rick showed up. Okay I’ll say that maybe they were judging him by what they knew of Merle, but no one in that camp reached out to him not even Carol. They were all perfectly willing to take what they could get from him (For example that deer he was hunting when we first meet him), but they certainly weren’t giving him any respect, fear maybe because he was a Dixon, but not respect.
Rick is the one who changed all that. Rick gives Daryl respect. 
Rick gives Daryl trust. Rick is the first one to do so, he has always treated Daryl as more than just another douchebag Dixon. Lori and Shane show exactly how much they ‘care’ about Daryl when they are sitting there calling Merle a douchebag in front of him and arguing against Rick going back to Atlanta. This is Daryl’s brother, his family; and their actions are both cruel and inconsiderate.
When Sophia is lost, Rick publicly puts Daryl in charge of the search. This is more than just Rick acknowledging Daryl’s skills, but an act of trust and respect. It is a statement to the group of Daryl’s value to them. Even at this point the only one reaching out to Daryl is Rick, Carol isn’t doing a thing except crying and moaning over a child she made no attempt to protect.
Daryl is the one who reaches out to Carol. That’s right Carol did not do any reaching out. Daryl did something nice for her, bringing her the Cherokee Rose and relating the legend of how the flower came to be to comfort Carol. When Sophia is finally found Daryl holds her when Rick puts Sophia down and then sits with her in the RV, again to comfort Carol. Thanks to Rick, Daryl finally begins to feel like he is worthy enough to reach out and be nice for once, to someone else in the group. Carol was the one most in need so she is the one he reached out to.
It is Rick all along that supported Daryl’s growth. I know all the ‘romantics’ don’t want to hear this because they are so set on getting Daryl hooked up with Carol. Daryl has not grown because of Carol, Daryl has grown because of Rick. Nothing romantic about it, Rick just treated Daryl like a man worthy of respect; And that gave Daryl the opportunity and encouragement to act like a man worthy of respect.
If Carol was to die tomorrow, Daryl would mourn her loss just like he mourned the loss of Dale but it is not going to make some profound impression on his life. She hasn’t done anything for him, he has done for her. And anything she does do, is simply her trying to hang on to him.
All Carol really has done is latched onto Daryl as a replacement for Ed and Sophia. That little ‘I won’t let you pull away’ speech was for Carol’s benefit, not Daryl’s. Daryl was completely right when he read Carol the riot act.
We know now that Daryl is not invincible, lets accept the fact that Rick is not omniscient. If he was, he would have known that Shane’s favorite song was Naughty by Nature’s O.P.P and Lori’s favorite song was Creep by TLC. Or maybe he did since he’s not totally surprised by the fact that they had an affair while he was happily dwelling in Comaville.
Rick is thrust into a situation that he is ill prepared to handle and he knows it. For that matter no one is prepared to handle it completely. Some are better prepared like Daryl but that’s it. Rick is doing the best that he can and adapting to the situation as needed.
Rick is not making wrong decisions by any stretch of the imagination, he is making the right decisions but circumstances are making those decisions turn out wrong. The only thing Rick does wrong is letting other people make him second guess himself.
Going back to Atlanta to get Merle and the guns was the right decision, walkers
attacked the camp while he was gone. But Rick was right what they needed was more guns. The survivors in camp were getting their asses eaten until Rick, T-Dog, Glenn and Daryl showed up and start popping off caps in walker brains.
The CDC was the right place to go. It is the CDC that does research into disease and has the mission of containing the spread of an epidemic, not the US Army. Any hope of a cure would have been found in a place like the CDC. It was not Rick’s fault that Jenner spent too much time listening to Insane in the Brain by Cypress Hill.
Not telling a group that is hanging on to hope by a thread that they were all infected was also the right thing since the group would probably have suffered a rash of opting out. A lot more of them would have stayed with Jenner and Jacqui.
I’m sure that Rick has thought about what unfolded those final couple of days on the farm. And he is second guessing himself over what he did in not following his first instinct to kill Randall. He allowed himself to be swayed from a decision by Dale’s pleading and in the end the group still upheld the first decision he had made. The only difference is that Dale and Shane are now dead.
I think that is where the it’s not a democracy speech came from. Had he just executed Randall when he dediced to the first time then maybe Dale, Shane, Patricia and Jimmy would still be alive. Maybe those walkers in the woods would not have heard the gunshot when Carl put Shane down. Maybe they would all still be on the farm and fairly ‘safe’.
Either way no more ‘I want to hear what the group has to say about this or that.’ There are too many people with too many opinions and some of those opinions (like Dale’s) are not conductive to the group’s safety and continued survival. He doesn’t need to hear people’s opinions anymore he needs to do what is in their best interests, whether they like it or not. That doesn’t mean he’s not going to listen to some people, He has been depending on Daryl for a while and listening to him. I’m sure he will be listening to Hershel too if only because Hershel is older and perhaps ‘wiser’. What he will not listen to is people whining, moaning, complaining and criticizing every move he makes to keep them safe.
How any one person can be as lucky as Carol is beyond me. And yes she is overwhelmingly blessed with good luck. Maybe that’s why Sophia had to die, to balance out the wheel of fortune. By all rights Carol should be D-E-A-D now but she is still here. Her entire existence is nothing more than one lucky moment after another.
Lucky moment #1-A group of enablers
This group has done nothing but enable Carol in her helplessness and victimhood. For her, having been abused is a crutch that allows her to dodge any responsibility. The group doesn’t demand anything more from her. They don’t make her stand on her own two feet. What was she doing during gun training? Cleaning the RV? Cooking squirrels for dinner? Everyone in that group needs to be able to defend themselves but Carol gets excused. Dale finally says something during the Randall discussion and Rick shuts him down. Daryl is beginning to show some impatience with her too by the end of the season finale. I’m just surprised it took Daryl this long, since he really is a survivor of abuse and survivors while they empathize with other victims do not enable other victims to remain victims.
Lucky moment #2-Shane steps in
Shane needed to take out his frustration from Lori’s put down on someone and Ed was a convenient target. Ed was about to beat her like a government mule and she avoided that whupping because Shane ended up beating Ed like a government mule. What does she do? She runs to Ed crying and comforting him when he got exactly what was coming to him.
Lucky moment #3-Walkers have Ed Sushi for dinner
Walkers killed Ed gutting him like a deer. In the aftermath of the attack on the camp when Daryl is about to introduce Ed’s skull to a pickaxe, Carol says she wanted to do it. A lot of people saw this as some show of strength on Carol’s part. It wasn’t. It was simply a case of Ed being ‘helpless’ and Carol being able to hit him back without fear of reprisal. Had Ed so much as twitched she would have dropped that pickaxe and ran off screaming like the hounds of hell were nipping at her heels. This was nothing more than her wanting to make him hurt in return even though he couldn’t feel a thing. It takes no strength or courage to ‘kill’ a ‘dead’ man.
Lucky moment #4 Carol is either a kleptomaniac or her memory is totally gone
When Jenner locks them all in the computer room so they can all opt out together (Whether they want to or not), Carol adds her pleas to Rick’s convincing Jenner to open the door and give them a chance to live. Please remember Carol asked for that chance too. When they get topside and can’t break the windows Carol reaches into that old lady purse and pulls out a grenade, Rick’s grenade. “Oh by the way, I found this while I was doing your dirty laundry.” How do you forget you have a live grenade in your purse? It’s not like forgetting that pack of Wrigley’s Doublemint gum that’s been floating around in there for the past 5 years.
Lucky moment #5-Rick goes after her child
Carol has just lost her husband all she has left is her child. She was pleading for her child’s life to Jenner. Come on let’s be real any mother with an iota of maternal instinct is going to protect her child( unless she sees that child as a burden or didn’t want it to begin with). Mothers are hard wired to protect their children, human and animal mothers have this in common. A mother will risk herself to protect her child. She did not make any effort to go after Sophia or protect Sophia but she has no problem pointing the finger at someone else who did.
Lucky moment #6 Daryl holds her back
When Sophia comes stumbling out of the barn, Daryl holds her back. He sits with her while the grave is being dug. He does everything possible to support her and her reaction is to sit on her butt in the RV and not even attend her own child’s funeral. When Dale dies there is this moment when we see Daryl looking at Carol during Dale’s funeral. It’s funny how many romantics read “Daryl loves Carol” into that look. That was not a look of affection it was more a look of contemplation. What I saw was Daryl thinking that Carol couldn’t be bothered to attend a funeral honoring the child that came from her own womb, but a week later she’s standing out there honoring Dale. If anything I think Daryl is finding less to like about her as time goes on.
Lucky moment #7-Andrea saves her ass
This moment really points out how lucky Carol really is. At the CDC Andrea is in a much worse head space than Carol. Andrea is suicidal, she is feeling victimized. Dale ‘forces’ Andrea to choose to live and then Andrea herself makes the choice to do more than exist as a victim waiting for the inevitable. Andrea makes the choice to learn to take care of herself. Carol was asking to live. You know that old saying, be careful what you wish for you just might get it? Carol got it, but she doesn’t seem to want it. She’s not making any efforts to get stronger, learn to protect herself or even make herself less of a burden to everyone else. That board swing of hers wasn’t even a half-assed attempt. Andrea has to come to her rescue and when Andrea has a walker on her back all Carol can do is scream. Remember those gun lessons they didn’t force Carol to participate in? That is what you get for enabling a victim people.
Lucky moment #8 Daryl saves her ass (Again)
Just minutes after Andrea saves her, Carol is completely alone. She had to see Andrea go down under that walker too, and T-Dog with Beth and Lori realizes that if they are going to get off the farm they have to do it now and leaves. Maybe even Lady Luck is getting a bit tired of Carol because Carol ends up in a do or die situation. No one to protect her or save her now. Carol is completely dependent on Carol and what does she do? She stumbles around crying and screaming for help. She makes no effort to help herself. I guess Lady Luck didn’t realize that Daryl is a closet pyromaniac because he’s sitting there watching that barn fire like he’s at a drive-in movie. So he just happens to be close enough to hear screams. Daryl being Daryl knows that someone from his group is in trouble and goes back, saving Carol for the second time in a matter of minutes.
Lucky moment number #9-Daryl doesn’t shoot her
The absolute worst thing anyone can do in a situation where people have to depend on each other for their very survival from moment to moment, is to admit that they are unreliable. Carol makes it a point to admit to Daryl that she is a burden. So she owns up to this fact. Logically speaking if you want to survive in a situation like this you get rid of the dead weight, Daryl doesn’t but he also lets her know that she is getting on his nerves with the snapped “What do you want?” The next time the SHTF, is Daryl or any one of the group going to go out of their way to save a self-proclaimed burden?
Lucky moment #10-Rick didn’t just send her packing (Along with the rest of the ingrates)
Democracy is dead. All hail the Ricktatorship (backed by the Darylocracy). Fair warning to Carol and anyone else, shape up or ship out. No more discussion. I sincerely hope that they now let Carol be responsible for Carol and all stop carrying her. It’s past time; if she can’t fight for her own life, she doesn’t deserve to have anyone else risk their own on her behalf.
Carol has had too many chances Lady Luck, just step back and let nature take it’s course.
I know Daryl Dixon is the resident bad ass of our merry little band of survivors. Killing walkers is like a Sunday stroll through the park for Double D; but as great as he is, he is not invincible.
We have seen Daryl take walkers down with minimum fuss in a variety of ways. Hunting knife, tree branches, crossbow. We’ve even seen him pull an arrow out of his own side to use on a walker, so he’s tough. To use his own phrase “Feed him a hammer and he’ll crap out nails.” Doesn’t change the fact that anyone can have an off day, even Daryl Dixon.
As a matter of fact we’ve already seen him have an off moment with the Randall Walker. Daryl is still here thanks to Glenn. It’s Glenn who stepped in and put Randall down. So even the mighty Daryl Dixon needs help now and then.
This is one thing this group of survivors need to all understand. Even the toughest member of the group is going to have his hands full or just plain need help. They can’t depend on Daryl to always play the savior, they have to be able to be their own savior first, and when needed know that the others (not just Daryl, but everyone in the group) will have their back.
The time for easing into it is way past over, it’s way past time to deal with reality. Everyone has to stand on their own and fight together side by side. No one gets to sit on the sidelines being ‘fragile’ while other people fight their battles for them. I think it’s time Rick and Daryl switch to the Lt Rasczak (Starship Troopers) method of command:
I only have one rule. Everyone fights. No one quits. You don’t do your job, I’ll shoot you myself. You get me?
That would take care of any ‘burdens’ and make the group stronger when they are attacked. And everyone in that group will be be able to trust in the fact that everyone is fighting for their survival together. No one is sitting back slacking. The last thing they need is a weak link hanging around to get them killed.
Andrea has made some mistakes no doubt, but with season two she has redeemed herself as a vital and necessary member of the group. She is probably the best suited to defend the group next to Daryl.
At the end of season one, Andrea was at a low point and ready to end it all at the CDC. Did she really want to end it all? I doubt that; if she had really wanted to die, then Dale could not have made a difference in her decision. Dale simply gave her an excuse to live, another option which she took. She says Dale took her choice away but she certainly fought for her life in the RV killing a walker with a screwdriver.
She applies herself in gun training, but has a problem with moving targets. When Shane stands down and leaves it to her to defend herself from the oncoming walkers, she does it. And she proves that she is willing to do what is necessary to protect the group when she shoots Daryl. Luckily she is not a great shot at this point, but a good shot.
And when the farm is overrun she really shows what she is made of. Unlike someone else who shall remain nameless, Andrea fights for her life with every thing she has and when everything she has is gone, she digs deep and finds a hidden reserve to fight on until it is just physically impossible for her body to do anything else. When she runs out of bullets, she uses whatever is at hand. This is a woman who wants to live.
Andrea is determined not to be a victim and takes responsibility for that decision. She is not sitting around waiting for someone else to defend her, she is defending herself and the group that she is a part of. She understands that she has to do her part and be responsible for herself.
I’m sure she thinks it is a blessing to have a Daryl around willing to save everyone’s ass just like everyone else, but he’s not Superman. Daryl has his own ass to protect too. Andrea understands that you survive by being able to watch your own ass, you can’t depend on someone coming to your rescue when they may very well be in a fight for their own life when you need their help. Andrea has to depend on Andrea if she wants to survive. And she has proven that she can do just that.
Having brothers and sisters seeing the relationship between the siblings on the show is interesting to me. There are healthy relationships and bad ones but there are sibling ties there.
Andrea/Amy
I can kind of identify with this one. Andrea is significantly older than Amy, my sister is older than me (I won’t say how much because she does read my blog now and then and I’d like to live a little longer I tell her age and she might go all Merle Dixon on me lol!). Andrea is never around when Amy is growing up. My sister joined the Air Force so she wasn’t around either, but that didn’t mean that there was no relationship there. We were sisters. When we were kids I was a brat, I admit it but I was the baby and being the baby gives you ‘brat rights’.
Andrea and Amy obviously have developed a healthy sibling relationship as adults, we see this during the time they spend together. Andrea is an affectionate big sister and openly demonstrates that. When Amy is bitten Andrea is devastated to lose her sister, but she is Amy’s sister. She is the one to put Amy down for this reason. She is going to do what she can for her little sister because she wants to be the one to make it right for Amy.
Merle/Daryl
While Andrea and Amy have a healthy sibling relationship, this one is the relationship from hell. Sibling rivalry does not apply here, abuse does. Merle is violent and abusive, an absolute waste of oxygen. When they leave Merle on the roof and Daryl finds out he reacts by going off the deep end. That is because this is how he has learned to react, his anger is the only emotion he really knows how to show. Everything else has probably been beaten into a pulp a long time ago, this is a normal response to him.
Merle probably got the hell beat out of him by bigger stronger daddy dearest, and he in turn beats the hell out of weaker smaller little brother Daryl. It’s not a sibling relationship, it’s a pecking order and Daryl is at the bottom of the pecking order. When Merle disappears we see Daryl start to change. I’m not sure that it is change so much as without Merle or his father around Daryl can start to be the man he would have grown into had he had a supportive family life instead of an abusive one. He finally has the chance to be himself instead of what he was forced to be by Merle and his father.
Maggie/Beth
Maggie and Beth’s relationship is still a bit of a mystery. Maggie is not abusive towards Beth but we haven’t seen that much interaction between them other than Beth’s illness and suicide attempt. Family gets unconditional love, (just look at how Daryl reacted to Merle being left on the roof) so we don’t know if Maggie’s affection toward Beth is triggered by the fact that she is sick. It seems like they are close but until we see more of how they react to each other in a fairly ‘safe’ environment we won’t know.
One Walking Dead character that has been hanging around since day one, but we really don’t know anything about is Theodore ‘T-Dog’ Douglas. IMDB doesn’t tell us much.
Theodore Douglas, more commonly known as T-Dog, is a Atlanta survivor first encountered by Rick early in the series.. He is a man willing to fight for his allies and has a kind heart as seen trying to rescue Merle Dixon, twice but failed to do so.
Poor T-Dog is pretty much just the token black guy at this point, he’s seemed to have no purpose so far except to add a little color to the show (yes that was an intentional pun), and allow Daryl to prove he isn’t really a racist by saving him. But there are a few things we have found out.
We know he has some honor. When he drops the handcuff key on the roof stranding Merle, he takes the time to do what he can to keep Merle safe from the walkers by chaining and padlocking the door. Let’s not forget the first impression we get of Daryl from the discussion around the campfire, the news of Merle would be better coming from a white guy. And yet when Daryl returns to camp, T-Dog mans up and admits his fault in dropping the key.
T-Dog also steps up to make it right by going back to save Merle. But honor aside, T-Dog has some demons to deal with.
He has his own racist streak, “I don’t see anyone else stepping up to save your brother’s cracker ass.” And after uttering his racist statement he has the nerve to make matters worse by saying Daryl doesn’t speak his language. Kind of makes you wonder if maybe T-Dog and the Dixon brothers hadn’t already had some problems prior to the roof incident.
We get a glimpse of that racist streak again on the highway when the group is out looking for Sophia. T-Dog pretty much says that Rick, Shane and Daryl aren’t going to lift a finger for him because he is black. Dale tells him that Rick and Shane have done alright by him and that Daryl has saved his life more than once (Daryl will save him again by giving T-Dog Merle’s atibiotics).
So it’s clear that there has been a lot more interaction between Daryl and T-Dog than we know about. We have seen a lot of ‘changes’ in Daryl over season 2, Daryl has grown beyond being the token redneck while T-Dog is still pretty much the token black guy. It would have been awesome to see some character development with T-Dog and I thing that the writers missed a big one here. Yes Daryl needed to grow but I think they wasted a lot of time focusing on the Daryl/Carol interactions. Carol is a stagnant character that has not grown one iota during the past season.
I would much rather have seen more interaction between Daryl and T-Dog since they really do have a lot more in common than Daryl and Carol. This abuse survivor angle just does not wash because Daryl does not choose to be a victim of his abuse, Carol does. Daryl and T-dog however were both dealing with the issues of tokenism and race. The issues were already there waiting to be explored. Carol however is a non issue, her determination to be a victim should have gotten her killed or ostracized long before now.
Daryl and T-Dog are both determined to survive and would have to deal with their issues to do so. It seems that they magically have, which is unrealistic in my view. Seeing Daryl and T-Dog working through their issues would have been much more interesting than watching Carol prove just how good she is at playing the victim, not to mention provide T-Dog (another character created for the TV series) with some much needed character development.
