Ars Technica’s Nathan Mattise article “The Walking Dead is now where brains are eaten, not used” examine’s what he considers an unfortunate dumbing down of “The Walking Dead”. He offers up both an intriguing defense of the position and an alternative. As much of a fan of the show and the comic as I am, I have to admit: the man has a good point.
One of the recurring themes you’ll see in my “Random Thoughts on the Walking Dead” posts is a lamentation that the survivors rarely seem to learn from their mistakes. After the events at the farm, why was there no evacuation plan at the prison? Why are we still improvising weapons from materials at hand instead of constructing specialized tools to deal with the situation? Why does everybody still walk around in tank-tops and short-sleeves when even duct-taping a magazine to your forearm could save your life?
Clearly there have been steps forward, but we’re still seeing most of our hero’s victories coming from luck rather than preparation (and most of their defeats coming from a lack of both). In short, why haven’t our survivors adapted better?
