The Walking Dead’s Black Characters Make Us Groan Then Cry (Spoilers)
After watching the latest episode of The Walking Dead tonight, a part of me said, “Thank God T-Dog was put out of his misery!”
Let me explain.
T-Dog on the Walking Dead is played by IronE singleton.
He gets one or two lines every other episode, usually stating the obvious.
He has no connection or real attachment with any of the other characters. He is just “part of the group.”
When the show first started, he was portrayed as a character with a strong moral compass. Back in season 1, he risked the Zombie hordes of Atlanta to return to free Redneck Merle Dixon. This was after Merle openly declared his dislike for all Blacks, and attacked T-Dog on that basis.
Since then T-Dog has been underdeveloped.
He shows up right when you’re about to ask your watching buddy, “whatever happened to that Black guy?”
This pretty much sums up my feelings on T-Dogs career.
There’s a video on YouTube called all of T-Dogs Lines From Season 2 of The Walking Dead. It’s less than 5 minutes long. And it’s not very good.
Watch it here:
Danai Gurira as Michonne is severely underused.
Michonne has a brief exchange with “the Governor” early on in this episode. However, this season, her job has been mainly to scowl and squint at anyone who talks to or near her.
When she’s scowling and giving dirty looks, she pulls it off with such a warrior spirit that you wouldn’t really notice she’s not getting any lines. That is unless you’ve been anticipating her character as much as I was pre-season.
Danai Gurira spoke in interviews about the intensive sword training she retrieved for the Walking Dead. I couldn’t wait to see her in action. In the season all she’s done is use the sword to kill to Zombies who were chained, and had no arms.
According to fans of the comics, Michonne is an epic character.
In the show, Michonne has no story of her own. She seems to be propping up Andrea’s character.
Her background is hidden. The explanation is that she is a solitary, closed off person. I’m afraid this might be a convenient excuse for the writers not to give us her story.
I can’t see her connecting with any of the other characters besides Andrea.
This doesn’t bode well for her character’s longevity.
In my opinion, we need more information about her character revealed. Michonne needs to be more likable.
She can still be a butt-kicking warrior at the same time.
