Fear The Walking Dead Villains: Who ISN’T The Worst, Part 2

Brandon

Of all the candidates thus far, I might say that Brandon is the most sympathetic. Not in terms of we the audience being sympathetic towards him, per se, but the one who possesses the most sympathy. That is what really puts him on this list.

In a world where so many have proven to be cruel, having someone with even modicum of sympathy puts them ahead of those contemporaries.

Granted, by all appearances, neither he nor his friends had any for Mr. and Mrs. Magana. Then again, Michonne didn’t seem to have any for the crazy guy when she, Rick, Daryl, and Oscar were making their way to Woodbury, so, it doesn’t necessarily make them heartless monsters. The fact is, we don’t know how that situation went down. Furthermore, we don’t know how Brandon, Derek, and James reacted to the killings. It might have been eating away at them, but tracking down Chris might have proven more pertinent.

I any event, you see more of what I’m talking about when Brandon is faced with having to put down James.

Now, obviously, this doesn’t absolve Brandon sort of forcing the circumstance in the first place, but, I digress.

As Brandon decides that James is doomed and takes it upon himself to put him down, he does so as an act of mercy.

Look at it from his perspective: They had eaten all of the food, and James was unable to go with them to get more. Even if Travis was right, and James could survive the wound, he might have died of starvation waiting for Brandon, Derek, and Chris to find more food. Brandon may have seen this as a way of preventing James from having a long, slow, protracted death.

Frankly, Brandon’s handling of Chris was even more of a mercy killing than his killing of James.

Chris’s leg wasn’t simply broken. It wasn’t just going to be reset, have a splint or cast put on and have Chris be on his merry way. Chris’s bones were protruding out of his skin.

To put it mildly: Chris was screwed.

What little life Chris had left was going to be painful, agonizing, and horrific…and then he’d have turned.

Brandon did him a favor. He could have simply saved the precious bullet and left Chris to die or be eaten. He didn’t. Brandon did what any good friend would do in that case, and spare his friend the grisly fate that awaited him.

As for the leaving Chris there to rot. While, yes, it seems rather heartless, remember, they did just survive their truck rolling over. In the middle of nowhere. Where infected might have been around. With no shovels to dig a hole.

Trying to bury Chris would have been a labor neither Brandon nor Derek seemed in any condition to complete.

In the end, while Brandon wasn’t perfect, he wasn’t totally heartless, either. He might not have been too good to strangers, but, if nothing else, he tried to do right by his friends. He wasn’t perfect at that, either, but, as I said at the beginning: In a world so full of vile people, those who still have some humanity are better than those with none.

Brandon was still human. He still cared about people, which is more than can be said for other characters we’ve seen in The Walking Dead universe. And, that still counts for something.

Next: The Prodigal Son