TWD fails, again (spoilers for character death)

The producers of The Walking Dead always state proudly that no one is safe. Maybe so. But if you are a gay character in a relationship, you are more than unsafe -- you are doomed, because there is basically a target on your back, or on your partner’s.

Let’s recap the most visible gay relationships in TWD. As a new character, Tara had a brief, zero-heat relationship that ended with her girlfriend being shot in the head. Later she had a sweet, awkward, talky relationship with Denise that lasted a few more episodes before Denise was killed off. (I also felt that the two characters had zero sexual chemistry, but that’s subjective, so it’s possible I’m in the minority.)

More recently, there was the relationship between Aaron and Eric, who were an established couple when they were introduced on the show. The show made it clear that they were deeply in love, then the couple had Daryl over for spaghetti, then Eric effectively disappeared for a long stretch, only to re-appear a few episodes ago to remind viewers that he existed before they killed him off. 

I imagine some people could say that this is simply holding the gay characters to the same standard as the straight ones -- life is cheap, and characters die, including ones who are part of a couple. After all, Maggie just lost Glenn. But when a show has shortchanged characters in a specific demographic as consistently as TWD has, it needs to make a conscious effort to break this pattern, and that means having a gay relationship on the show that is consistently visible and realistically portrayed.

Vanity Fair disagrees -- they think Eric’s death was respectful and poignant, and they point out that compared to earlier seasons where there were no gay characters, right now there are three. To VF, the fact that these three aren’t in relationships doesn’t mean as much considering that right now there is only one relationship in the show -- Rick and Michonne. I say that it’s easy to give a character a moving death scene -- it’s an easy way of showing you respect gay relationships without actually having to write one on an ongoing basis. On a personal note: I will be updating this Tumblr infrequently for a while -- my significant other has cancer and I’ve been focusing on this and making sure our kids are OK while we deal with it. I debated whether to provide this information because I’m not big on personal drama, but I have been trying to be matter-of-fact about this in all areas of my life, including online.

That Maggie Speech

The last few minutes of the season finale was accompanied by voiceover from Maggie, who muses on how far she (and the group) have come. She is specifically responding to Rick thanking her for making the decision to come and fight against Negan. Maggie says that the ultimate credit goes to Glenn, who reached out to help Rick in Atlanta, simply because it was the right thing to do. Ultimately, she concludes, “Glenn made the decision. I was just following his lead.” Even though I loved Glenn and was happy to see a tribute to him, especially in light of all the screen time Abraham got, this speech was a little troublesome because it gave so little credit to Maggie’s personal journey and the toughness that allowed her to become a leader in the ZA. However, this is part of Maggie’s mourning process. Glenn’s role in creating this community of survivors is part of his legacy, and something she wants to honor. Her focus on her lost partner at this point makes sense for her character. Maggie’s peers have already acknowledged her leadership qualities, and furthermore, Maggie has stepped up to assume power in the interest of the many people she cares about. Right now, her attention is elsewhere, but at some point we should expect her to acknowledge her own power, and become very comfortable wielding it. 

The Michonne We Deserve

We got to see a fair amount of Michonne in the season finale, and more than anything, it showed us how much her life has changed since previous seasons:

In earlier seasons, her roles in the group were limited (stoic lone warrior, protector of Rick’s children, confidante/coach of Carl). In this episode, we see her as a fighter, an integral part of a large community, and someone who is a beloved family member of Rick and Carl. If previously her role with Rick’s family was thankless, it’s not anymore. Rick and Carl clearly cherish her and want to protect her the same way she does for them. She’s the heart of the family.

We also were given a chance to really worry about Michonne. In the vast majority of the series, we’ve never really doubted that Michonne would survive. If anyone was going to make it, she was -- she was practically a superheroine. In this episode, though, it wasn’t so clear that she was going to win. And although it was really hard to watch her getting the worst of a fight, it was also an illustration of how much more vulnerable the show has allowed the character to be. 

What a huge change it has been  -- Michonne has gone from a combination of tropes to a nuanced character, and from a loner to a role model for healthy romantic and family relationships. The evolution of this character has been a pleasure to watch, and TWD and Danai Gurira deserve credit for taking her where she deserved to go.

We’ll miss you, Sasha (and Sonequa) (Feminist Walking Dead)

Well, the show lost a strong female character and a great actress. Sasha sacrificed herself for the group, and in doing so, provided the element of surprise that allowed the group to fight back against Negan. 

There was a great deal I didn’t like about this last episode as far as Sasha was concerned. The fact that so much of it was about Abraham bothered me (I would have loved to see Tyreese), as did her OOC reasons for sacrificing herself, which I didn’t think the writing ever made plausible. I think ultimately, it was a combination of the actress wanting to leave and the show’s unfortunate tendency towards trying to force iconic moments from the GN into the show at the expense of characterization.  In the plus category, the show gave Sonequa Martin-Green an opportunity to flex her acting muscles. Her face and, in particular, her eyes, are incredibly expressive, and as we’ve noted, that ability to say so much without words is a crucial skill for TWD actors. It was also nice to see acknowledgment of Sasha and Maggie’s friendship, something that was reinforced throughout the show rather than just being trotted out for dramatic purposes. I also liked how she didn’t cater to Negan’s ego, or even pay him a lot of attention once she made up her mind.

The show did allow Negan to deliver an epitaph of sorts, which I would normally ignore but it is just too perfect: “You are smart, hot as hell, dignified as shit and you don't suffer one goddam fool.” (Yeah, it would have been better without the “hot as hell” but at the same time, SMG is incredibly beautiful, IMHO, and it would be out of character for Negan NOT to say something.)

Sasha will be missed a lot. However, a lot of the sting of her death is removed because the actress is about to gain a special place in Star Trek and science fiction history: she’ll be the first African American woman to head up a Star Trek cast. It’s well deserved, and those of us who have watched SMG on TWD know to expect great things.

Spoilers for this blog (how to handle) -- Please advise

Hi everyone,

It’s the season finale and I’m pretty sure we’re going to lose a character or two. I’m writing up something that I had hoped to send out immediately after the show airs on the West Coast. The title would definitely contain spoiler information. What’s the general feeling on spoilers like this? Should I assume that people who don’t want to be spoiled will stay away from Tumblr? Should I use a spoilers tag? Should I wait? Thanks for your advice here.

Tara’s new ally

I’ve seen a few posts/articles trying to create some controversy over Tara’s decision to break her promise to the Oceanside community -- that’s she’s a traitor. I’m not really buying that -- yes, she broke her promise, and yes, she chose her group, but if anything, it showed how very decent Tara is, and how much priority she puts on doing the right thing for everyone involved. As she sees it, making sure Rick and the group succeed is the best way for Oceanside to survive, so she really reluctantly agrees to get their weapons and attempt to get their support. Recent episodes have been illustrating how alone Tara is -- not physically or romantically, but in terms of her belief system.  She still has a code she tries to live by, and although she would probably never say this about herself or her actions, being an honorable person is clearly important to her. There’s really no one else who is in that same headspace, where there is still so much idealism at play, except for maybe Father Gabriel, but his whole worldview is still suspect to me. Until now. Cyndie is very much like Tara in important ways -- she’s brave, she cares about others, and she loves the people in her community, but there’s nothing expedient, cynical, or ruthless in her personality. Maybe she’s naive -- maybe she and Tara are both too naive -- but it seems that Tara has found at least, a confidante, or at best, a kindred spirit. She certainly deserves one.

"Rape is against the rules here” (Feminist Walking Dead)

So Negan executed the man who was attempting to rape Sasha because “rape is against the rules here.” We’ve discussed this already but here’s a recap of exactly why Negan is a rapist, and more than that, rape is an institutional practice within his group of survivors.

RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) points out that definitions of rape vary from state to state, but that consent is a key component in determining that a crime has been committed. Their broad definition of consent contains three components: consent has to be freely given without threat of violence, expressed overtly in actions or words, and has to be given by someone who has the capacity to consent.

Did these women say that they would have sex with Negan? Yes. Did they have the capacity to consent? Presumably, yes. But their consent wasn’t freely given, and that negates the other two.  

Negan has a group of women who are kept physically apart from the rest of the group and who are his designated sexual partners (hence the institutional nature of rape among the Saviors’ community). To ensure their cooperation, he offers them the alternative choice of being assigned to dangerous, and presumably deadly, jobs alongside their loved ones. In other words, these are sexual relationships based on the threat of physical violence, which makes them rapes.

Rosita (hopefully) moves forward and we (hopefully) hear nothing more about Abraham

We get some interesting background on Rosita in this most recent episode, which is that she hooked up with a series of guys in the early days of the ZA, learned what she could from them, then bounced. As she says to Sasha, these guys thought she couldn’t make it on her own (correctly, at the time, much to Rosita’s chagrin), but she ended up surpassing them. The upshot of these relationships was that Rosita has a lot of top-notch survival skills.  I’m so relieved that Rosita wasn’t depicted as trading sex for protection, which apparently is the way it went in the GN. Instead, she’s just sex-positive and figures that in the ZA everyone should be getting their rocks off. As I dreaded, Rosita and Sasha did end up bonding over Abraham (among other things), and Rosita expresses her disappointment that she was never able to tell Abraham that she was glad he was happy, a point she clearly hadn’t reached at the time he died. (That’s a little too noble for my book, really, considering the slimy way Abraham broke up with  her, but ultimately it says good things about Rosita’s character.)  It seems like this experience has helped Rosita to move on, or at least hopefully it will when all is said and done. That’s a big relief, because it was becoming more difficult to like this character. Also, maybe it means we will stop hearing Abraham discussed with so much admiration by women he didn’t remotely deserve.

Sasha’s Choice, TWD Season 7, Episode 14, “The Other Side” (Feminist Walking Dead)

I found myself watching last week’s TWD with a dawning sense of WTF.

At the beginning of the episode, we see a montage of Sasha watching the people around her -- people learning knife skills, Jesus conferring with Maggie, Enid drawing schematics. From this, we eventually learn that Sasha has come to the realization that she’s not needed anymore. So after some bonding on the road, Sasha ultimately sacrifices herself rather than letting Rosita, because people need Rosita.

This just isn’t good enough. Sasha is not stupid. She doesn’t have false modesty. Why would she dismiss her own value to the group when she’s the best sharpshooter and an impressive soldier? It’s not even like Rosita, where she is presumably so angry and bitter that she’s making rash decisions -- Sasha thinks about this -- a lot, and presumably calmly -- before making this decision that her life is not as important as others’.  What a stupid way for her to go (if, in fact, she does go). Sonequa Martin-Green has a lot of lines, but she does so much more with her facial expressions, which is her stock in trade as an actress (and a hallmark of all of the best actresses on the show). If she is, in fact, doomed to go, I hope they give this actress something to showcase her talent. 

Season 7, Episode 13: TWD moves forward (Feminist Walking Dead)

Well, this was an episode where Carol was the only woman who had more than a few lines -- I don’t love that, even though Carol’s storyline highlighted her character development and importance to the group. However, of the other women who had lines, one of them made a major impression: Nabila. I’m very impressed that TWD introduced a Muslim character, especially in a context that was unrelated to her religion. Don’t get me wrong -- if her faith comes into play later on, that will be a very interesting component, but I liked that she was originally brought into the story as a character, rather than a representative, if that makes sense. Nabila comes across as having a thoughtful perspective on life, but she’s also very human -- she’s terrified of Sheba and admits it freely. Apparently it’s not the last time we’ll see her, which is good news.

So, back to Carol. She turns a corner this week -- she sees Benjamin, who is little more than a boy, die at the hands of the Saviors, and then she learns the truth about Glenn and Abraham. (Also, even though it’s not stated, it’s instantly clear she doesn’t blame Daryl for hiding that from her.) However, unlike the other situations where Carol has come to the rescue, she doesn’t go cold -- she helps to find a solution that keeps a disturbed Morgan from going on a suicidal killing spree, and when she enters the Kingdom to take Morgan’s place, although she tells Ezekiel they need to fight the Saviors, she takes the time to help him and Benjamin’s little brother to re-plant in the Royal Garden. She’s reached an equilibrium, it seems -- we’re looking at the next stage in the evolution of Carol.

The Walking Dead, Season 7, Episode 12,“Say Yes” (Feminist Walking Dead)

Sorry I missed last week.

The show is doing a great job with Rick and Michonne’s relationship. The two characters have great sexual chemistry, work well together, respect each other, and are also genuinely friends. I admit I was a little surprised to see Michonne come very close to dying when she thought Rick was dead, because she’s always been able to detach and switch into killing machine mode. If it were any other character, I’d be fairly disappointed that a strong female character would stop fighting because her lover had died, because all of the long-term surviving women have learned to “fight now, mourn later.” However, Michonne already knew how to detach, and she decided several seasons ago that wasn’t the life she wanted to live. Her emotional reaction to Rick’s death is a sign of how much her life has changed, and how successfully she has put connection above survival, something that was her choice. 

On the other hand, I’m not feeling the new Rosita and Sasha rapprochement. It’s great that Rosita is no longer acting OOC and petty, but this is the bottom line: the two characters met at Abraham’s grave and agreed to ally so they could kill Abraham’s murderer. This storyline once again puts Abraham, a secondary character at best, at the center as the primary motivation for both their alliance and their actions. I am dreading the inevitable development where the two women will bond more over reminiscences of Abraham while they travel. What a waste of screen time for these two characters, especially Sasha. The writers are squandering an asset -- Sonequa Martin-Green is a really strong actress, and Sasha is a character with a lot of potential.

“Sex with the Same Dead Guy?” No. Just NO. (Feminist Walking Dead)

Just when you think TWD has solved most of its issues with female characters, you get an episode like this week’s. I’m referring, of course, to the moment in the episode when Sasha is discussing her frustration about the group’s failed negotiation with Ezekiel and the Kingdom, and Rosita’s response is to tell Sasha that just because they both had sex with the same dead guy, it doesn’t make them friends. What??????

So Rosita is supposed to be so devastated over the loss of Abraham that she’s unwilling to speak with the woman he left her for?  I don’t care how angry and on the edge Rosita is, her reaction to Sasha is completely out of character. She has always been a clear-eyed realist, and to have her suddenly being so short-sighted and petty doesn’t make sense. Even her sudden elevation to explosives expert doesn’t make up for the fact that the writers have performed character assassination, not to mention revived a love triangle that nobody wanted and that demeaned the women involved in it.

Olivia deserved better (TWD 7x8), Feminist Walking Dead

I want to talk about Olivia.

Considering the prevailing television weight standards for women, there have only been two featured actresses on TWD who did not conform to them: Olivia and Denise. Both of them were introduced as part of the Alexandria group. Both of them were depicted as naive and inexperienced. Both of them are dead.

Denise evolved somewhat during the course of the show, and was learning the ropes. Olivia, though, was depicted as practically helpless and emotionally fragile, particularly at the end. She was, frankly, and it kills me to say this,  pathetic. She came across as clinging to the pre-AZ way of life, something reinforced by her duties in Alexandria. Even her responses to Negan reinforced her powerlessness -- slapping him across the face when he propositioned her, and bursting into tears when he sneered at her.

The show made her a target of Negan’s snarky comments about weight, including his amusement at the fact that of all people, Olivia was put in charge of guarding the supplies. In her final episode, they had her deliver a softball pitch so Negan could hit a insult home run when she complained that the people in Alexandria were starving. You can only hear so many of these comments before you have to wonder if the writers didn’t want to have it both ways -- illustrate how awful Negan is while at the same time sneaking in a few fat jokes. (Don’t forget, Negan also made fun of his henchman Fat Joe.)

The bottom line for me is that the show took the first actress who didn’t conform to the TV size standard and made her into a helpless victim who was the subject of fat jokes.The reality, though, is that even in the ZA not everyone would be whip-thin, and there would be women of size kicking ass and taking names. That’s a demographic that deserves representation on the show.

Negan is a rapist by any definition (Season 7, Episode 7)

Sorry I missed last week!

There is still a lot of social media discussion about whether Negan is really a rapist because he gives women a choice. I sincerely doubt that anyone who follows this Tumblr believes it, but let’s take it apart. 

RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) points out that definitions of rape vary from state to state, but that consent is a key component in determining that a crime has been committed. Their broad definition of consent contains three components: consent has to be freely given without threat of violence, expressed overtly in actions or words, and has to be given by someone who has the capacity to consent. 

Did these women say that they would have sex with Negan? Yes. Did they have the capacity to consent? Presumably, yes. But their consent wasn’t freely given, and that negates the other two.  

Negan has a group of women who are kept physically apart from the rest of the group and who are his designated sexual partners (the word harem springs to mind). To ensure their cooperation, he offers them the alternative choice of being assigned to dangerous, and presumably deadly, jobs alongside their loved ones. In other words, these are sexual relationships based on the threat of physical violence, which makes them rapes.

Negan’s attitudes and behaviors towards women are universally terrible and grotesquely sexist, and they are interwoven with his consistent  use of violence to enforce his rule. His proposition to Olivia illustrates exactly how interwoven sex and violence are in his psyche. This doesn’t bode well for assertive women like Maggie, Sasha, Rosita and Michonne (and Carol, if she ever gets back into the group’s orbit again). I have to admit, I’m concerned about where this is heading.

Feminist Walking Dead, Season 7, Episode 6, “Swear”

It only took six months, but we finally saw Tara learn of Denise’s death -- for about a minute. She took it pretty well, all things considering -- but that’s how it goes in the ZA -- everybody else picks themselves up and moves on. In Tara’s case, though, it feels like a cheat. Her relationship with Denise got so little screen time and had so little heat/romance that her response seems indifferent. Couldn’t Alanna Masterson have had a minute to react on-screen rather than us seeing more of Eugene’s emotions than hers? It’s official -- the Tara/Denise relationship was an unmitigated, embarrassing failure from start to finish, and a textbook example of how television mishandles lesbian relationships. (If Vanity Fair is calling you out, you know you’ve messed up.) So on to this community of women, Oceanside, Tara encounters. They exist because Negan killed all the men. (Considering Negan’s complete blindness in this area, I really, really want a woman to be the architect of his demise.) The remaining community members fled and found a geographically isolated location to live/stay beneath the radar. On the bloodthirsty/messed up scale, Oceanside actually ranks right in the middle -- below the Wolves, the Governor and Negan, but above the Kingdom, Hilltop and Alexandria. To be honest, I didn’t find them that interesting, although I did like Cindy, the teen who helped Tara to escape. I hope we see her again.

So what was good about this episode? Well, lots of Alanna Masterson, for one. She’s a really likable, engaging actress, and she makes the most of every line she gets as Tara. Also, it’s nice to see that Tara still has a moral code, even if she has to work harder to make sense of it.

Finally, it was too bad to see Heath go missing, but frankly, I was worried that he was showing signs of “too decent to live in this immoral world” syndrome that Tyreese suffered from. TWD has a big problem with creating black male characters who aren’t strong enough to face grim necessities of this world -- Tyreese didn’t even want to kill walkers, Noah was literally hobbled, Father Gabriel lives in La La Land, and Morgan was reluctant to kill even the most cartoonishly evil humans. With his objections about killing the Saviors, Heath appeared to be heading in that direction.