The Walking Dead: Exploring Blame

In The Walking Dead bad things happen all the time. We’ve heard the phrase dominoes from Bob and Martin in different contexts. Why do we want to assign blame? What does that accomplish for us? Does it help us in our grieving process somehow?

Perhaps it gives is a focus. A place to direct our anger in that stage so we can finally reach acceptance. Perhaps we do this in order to grasp for control. If only. If only he would have done this or I would have said that, it would have turned out differently. It puts things back into the realm of possibilities. Not the certainties that ended in that bad way.

Noah. The Walking Dead – AMC /

I titled this article exploring blame because I have more questions than answers. I wonder. I’ve heard people say that they don’t like Noah because they blame him for Beth being trapped in the hospital because he escaped and she didn’t. That doesn’t make sense to me. Had he gone back into the hospital so neither escaped, that wouldn’t have helped her. She had a better chance with Noah on the outside.

Every time a season 2 marathon is on AMC, people blame Carl for Dale’s death. I suppose because he didn’t kill that walker and maybe because he riled him up. But to me, the blame for the death falls on the walker. Carl was being a kid. Exploring his courage. Seeing if he could start to protect himself. He did the right thing to run away when it got dangerous, Nobody could predict where or when that walker would pop up next.

Tyreese. The Walking Dead – AMC /

Tyreese receives a lot of blame for not killing Martin. But if we’re talking dominoes, Bob was already bitten and because Bob was captured, he got the intel on Daryl and Carol driving away so that was a good from the bad!

Tyreese gets blamed for Beth’s death. The cause of Beth’s death was Dawn. Nobody can guarantee the outcome of a plan. Tyreese’s plan was a good one. Beth’s own last-minute impulsive move caused her accidental death. Noah was going to take her place at the hospital. Tyreese can’t be blamed for that.

Nicholas is blamed for Noah’s death. This one is pretty accurate. While technically not exactly true. The walkers are still the true culprits. Nicholas’ panic was pretty directly related to Noah’s horrific end.

What I wonder about is how far we go back in actions to assign blame. I think we need to stick pretty close to the direct cause of the event when we assign blame. It’s a slippery slope when we start to feel guilt or start pointing fingers at people who aren’t truly responsible.

Hershel. The Walking Dead – AMC /

Is it Rick’s fault that Hershel was killed? I say no. The Governor killed him. He is to blame. You can’t second guess Rick’s choices after the fact. Hershel was proud of Rick and his suggestion to live together. The blame belongs to the person who committed the crime. Not on the person who might have prevented it if they had only known the right thing to say or do to not set off the perpetrator.

Do you believe Morgan is to blame for his own son’s death because he didn’t kill his wife as a walker? Would he be to blame if another walker killed Duane and not Jenny?

See if you can think of other examples of when bad things happened on The Walking Dead and we have a tendency to want to blame people or actions that really aren’t directly the cause. Or do you disagree with me and think that blame should be given when things result much later from things we couldn’t or didn’t anticipate. Dominoes?

Next: Season 5:All Named Character Deaths

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