Right common complaint I've seen on this thread is character development! How on earth can people say there has been no / poor character development?? A number of the characters have completely changed from the people we we're originally introduced to! Are you blind or something?
I'll give a few examples:
Glen: He started out as a shy and easy going guy who was used as an errand boy, basically bullied into all the crap jobs that no one else wanted. Since then he has fallen in love with Maggie and feels he has something to live for and refuses to take the stupid risks now, unless..it involves maggie! Hardly the same guy we we're introduced to is it?
Daryl:
Similar to Glen in some respects, he was quiet and shy enough at the start. Only showed anger in the earlier scenes. Allowed himself to be manipulated by his older brother, Merle. He had no friends and basically didn't trust anyone but Merle. The more time that he spent in the camp he realised the error of his ways and saw what his brother was doing and has forged bonds within the group, very strongly with Carol and Rick, Rick now seems to be like a brother to him. How is this not character development?
Hershel:
A quiet and deeply philosophical man who had strong religious beliefs, refused to accept the insanity that surrounded him and his daughters, he felt shielding them from the outside world was best for their futures. He refused to believe an epidemic has destroyed the world and in time he has since come to accept that things are as bad as everyone had tried to tell him in the first place. While he held on to his religious beliefs, he became a leader and done whatever was necessary to protect his family.
Carol:
Probably the character with the biggest change in her character. She started out as an abused wife, who was too afraid to speak up. Now she is independent (literally in the last season), fights for herself and showing she can survive. From one extreme to the other!!
Thats just few examples of how characters have changed, I could easily do this for each main character within TWD!! People have to remember TWD is not just a zombie killer show, its about human struggle, its about survival, its about the heartbreak and hysteria you would probably feel if this was actually what you faced.... I'll give an example: I've seen people pi$$ and moan about some stories dragging out for too long... one was looking for Sophia early on in TWD... While it did drag out for a number of episodes, it felt like they might find her at some stage....they dragged it out to develop Carols Character, to show her breakdown, then that moment they opened the barn........bam!!! That scene when she walked out was amazing!! If they wrapped that up in say one or two episodes then you would not be invested in it at all!
For anyone who has lost a loved one, you should know that we all react differently to it. The emotions / reactions of the characters in TWD have varied a bit, mostly I think they have gone with showing no emotion when a characters loved one has died... For example we haven't seen Maggie show genuine emotion at the loss of her father Hershel being murdered yet, she is focusing on Glen, whom she has fallen in love with (ok she hasn't mentioned her sister as yet I know, bear with me) maybe the idea is that because she lost her father whom she loved, she feels she must find Glen before losing him also.
The key thing about TWD and people have to remember is the show is about Survival, zombies are secondary! Practically every episode to date pushes the survival struggles to the limit, be it scenes of rummaging in empty store houses, low ammo, food or having to kill a loved one to survive. Its all about human survival!!
... and have since followed the show. I got very close to giving up on it again after that terrible writing with the Governor magically escaping the warehouse full of zombies.