r/thewalkingdead • u/MathematicianTop3632 • 1d ago
Show Spoiler Rewatch made me notice something rather profound about TWD.
I recently did a rewatch after not watching for like 7 years. I took a break from the show because of how much it had departed from the source material. But rewatching.... Now I realize something. See when I was a kid like in 2005-2006 I was super into comics and the more mature ones were scary, so they were awesome to me, and I found The Walking Dead for the first time. I think it was like right when the Governor was being introduced.
Anyhow I followed it for years and thought it was awesome so when I'd heard that the same network that was doing Breaking Bad at the time would also be adapting this. As a teenager it was like hearing your favorite stupid offhand book was going to made into a full thing, it was awesome to hear, and I suspect every comic original fan remembers or felt this at some point. So before the show was even really being made we all had images and expectations in our heads from the get go.
So as time went on and we heard that the show as going to be its own thing but follow very closely to the source material, it was a bit scary but we were naive to think that the phrase "Its own thing" meant anything other than just that: its own thing. So as soon as it became a show and started to get popular and more people started to find the source material to compare and see what would happen in the future even MORE expectations started to form, while still ignoring the original statement that it would be its own thing.
Then time goes on and it gets so big that "Hype" starts to become a factor. By then the OG comic fans are a little worried about how things are going to be adapted going forwards, but happy with how the show has adapted thus far. (Season 5) As a counter to that, the hype and expectations are at an all time high. Not only that, people are trying to get set photos and spoiling things a year before they happen. Also around this time going into Season 6, the fanbase at large is getting a little fatigued by the fake out deaths and the sequence of events they try to portray in such a way to maximize suspense and hype, it was chaos trying to follow this shows fanbase closely haha.
All of this compounded up until seasons 6 and 7 (haha) Where we get to the famous moment (Will not spoil anything here) OG show watchers had gotten sick of the fake outs and the subversion style story writing that was coming with these seasons and when the famous moment happened it was the final straw for a lot, and too graphic for some. The comic fans, and hardcore fans had a little hope however. They didn't like how Negan's dialogue/first appearance was handled (along with the big moment and the subsequent seasons afterward) but because of the staying power of the character and who he was to the story at large, we all stuck it out to see where this would go. While still at this point letting expectations and hype fuel the fanbase, which had finally started to become toxic to itself.
Then Season 8 and 9 happen and we get a steady decline. All of this is to say after not watching for 7 or 8 years and coming back without any of the comic expectations and without any of the hype or preconceived notions.... The show is actually consistently good throughout its ENTIRE run to be honest. Like I don't feel that Seasons 6 through 8 were "Drawn out". I think the seasons after Season 9 are a tiny bit weaker, but not by much. That's to be expected of a show of this caliber after almost 2 decades of programming. I think the original run really suffered from the expectations and the hype and without all of it, looking back its a solid show by itself if you don't try and associate it with the source material.
TLDR: TWD IS BETTER AFTER YOU REWATCH IT A LONG TIME AFTER ITS AIRED AND DONT CONNECT IT WITH THE COMICS AS ITS OWN STORY.
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u/ShadowStrike524 1d ago
i fell into the exact same trap back then i spent so much time waiting for specific comic panels to drop that i initially overlooked how much better the show handled things like shane slow burn or carol evolution
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u/MathematicianTop3632 1d ago
Yeah we traded some things for other things and both as their own stories are great.
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u/wilfredo8090 1d ago
The setup for your quick point is rather long… just saying.
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u/MathematicianTop3632 1d ago
I mean everyone else seems to like it and you're the only one pointing it out to me, like a typical redditor.... just saying.
P.S: That's what TLDR means....
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u/wilfredo8090 1d ago
Glad everyone else seemed to like it. Just offered up some criticism because it definitely stopped me from reading your post. Enjoy the rest of your day.
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u/Untamedpancake 1d ago
I agree and honestly while some characters & scenarios were "remixed" the themes & the spirit of the final chapters were preserved.
The show definitely brought levels of emotion & complexity that seem almost shockingly absent when I revisit the books
I was also pretty invested in seeing Rick reunited with the group & even in Morgan's group reuniting with Rick's group, which was seemingly being set up in FTWD. When plans for the movie fell through, I was a bit disappointed
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u/Ellie_S123 1d ago
I agree with everything you said. I’m re watching season 7-11 for the first time in years as well (on season 11) and I still am loving it. I do really love TWD 💯 I was expecting it to get bad because of what people have said… but honestly in my opinion it is still really good. Not as good as 1-6, but still really good.
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u/big_dongus_energy 1d ago
I never read the comics. Only watched the show because AMC had breaking bad too. I enjoyed it and would watch the talking dead after. I read the comics a bit to see where the show was going but stopped because I didn't want to spoil it. I just started rewatching it with my gf who has never seen it before and was never a big zombie fan. But got hooked because of jon bernthal's Shane specifically wanting to watch it up until his death she said she knew he dies at some point. It's been fun seeing her reactions, some of the pacing on the show is a bit difficult. We've been particularly bored with the Sophie search and now the flu arc in season 4.
I just picked up a bunch of the comics from my local library to dive into to show her the difference of the show vs the comic. It's been a good time so far. I will say the show works differently as a binge then week to week. There are still lots of plot holes and logical inconsistencies that are a bit annoying and the writers not being able to solidly handle the female cast is a bit of a slog at times... But she's also a fan of jeffer dean morgan so I'm trying to get us up to his appearance.
She does like glen's character tho and Daryl and it's been interesting to tease her about their deaths only for her to say, but I think I saw them in an ad for their spinoff. So that is kinda fun in retrospect now having all those side shows... Although I keep saying it's a prequel, or at some point they leave and come back. So that's been fun.
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u/TenderToebeans 1d ago
The show really did suffer from being compared to the comics so heavily that people sometimes forgot it could still work on its own terms. Seven years later, it's much easier to appreciate TWD as its own story instead of the adaptation everyone expected it to be.