Why did I stop watching the Walking Dead?

This was intended to be a short article. But then something happen that I found rather intriguing so I included it.

So let’s start with the question from the title: Why did I stop watching the Walking Dead?

The short answer: because I ran out of comics!

When the Walking Dead first started I, being a big fan of Frank Darabont, decided to give this show a go. So…I watched the first season and then I immediately went to the comics to see ‘what happens next’.

I lived that way up to, a little bit more than, issue 100.

That’s when Negan showed up and, to me, that’s about the time this new world ‘settled’.
The comic continued. Abraham died, Glenn died. Suddenly we were at war with humans and occasionally some zombies showed up. It’s basically The bold and the beautiful non-so-beautiful.

This is by the own admission of the writers.

In fact –to their admission- even Rick is fair game.

Which strikes me a bit strange because why then would he be the main character?

My favourite storyline came and went.
So why did I keep watching the show then? (I mean, if I knew what was coming up?)
That’s because one of my favourite storylines of the comic is when Carl loses his eye. That was something I wanted to see for myself.

To elaborate a bit this storyline is actually better fleshed out in the comic.

In one issue Carl kills a boy because the boy has lost his mind and killed his twin (much like that ‘look-at-the-flowers’-girl in the show). Then a few issues later Carl is in ‘Alexandria'. There another boy challenges Carl about his father Rick courting his mother. Now, this new boy doesn’t have the first clue about Carl and what he's been through. So Carl  dismisses the other teenager with some harsh words. The boy leaves the room crying.
This is a boy that never lived beyond the walls. This is a boy that never once had to make a hard choice. Carl had (to).

During the (now) legendary second season –

when the kid couldn’t sit still for a second-

poor little Carl started popping up on all kinds of Internet lists of ‘actors that has to be removed from a show a.s.a.p.’

Which always struck me a bit as ‘grownups being mean to a kid’.

I think the producers decided to have some fun with this ‘Coral hatred’

because ever since the opening credits have this wonderful phrase next to the actor’s name.

Then, in issue 99 (I believe), all comes to show. This new boy has no experience going through a zombie-maze and thus dies (in a gut wrenching tragic way). And due to this Carl loses an eye.
I liked this in the comics. The fact that Carl is so messed up that he, unknowingly, set the events that would cost him his eye.

So I stayed on the bandwagon for that to happen on the TV-show and then I stayed some more. Get myself a dose of some Negan smugness. Which was/is enjoyable. But at the same time you also get filler episode after filler episode. So when the show returned this year I figured I’d postpone the episodes until I feel like it (never a good sign). And I still haven’t gotten around to it.

But what happened?: the haircut spoiler.
Having said all that doesn’t mean that I stopped reading the online comments about the show. And then the mid-season finale happened. Spoilers from this point on:

Spoiler

Coral got bitten! There you have it. Now there are several ways this storyline could go. Carl dies (turns into a zombie or goes out on his own terms). Or Carl lives (it was a Whisperer who bit him, the boy is immune, a spacecraft lands and cures him – take your pick).

What I find interesting here is the fact that the actor playing Carl (Chandler ‘I hope he was named after Mathew Perry’s character in Friends’ Riggs) is planning to go to college. So he might be written out because he wants to move state. Or, perhaps, this whole ‘college and shooting a TV-show aren’t combinable’ is just a charade to keep the audience guessing and Carl will be back this year.

The thing I wish to point out here, though, is the ‘haircut-element’.
Carl has long hair so it can cover his lost eye. So there’s a reason for him looking like Bigfoot’s twice-removed cousin. Now a few years back when Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) ‘died’ on Game of Thrones. The actor joked that he could finally have a haircut – which he, then, did not take because he was set to return. Carl/Coral/Chandler, however, did take one...

Anyway, we won’t know for sure until the next episode. 
I guess I’ll read about it how it all goes down. It’s a lot less frustrating to read a summary here and there than to sit through another poorly written Sasha/Rosita episode.

UPDATE: The character died!