Why Nerds on Earth is Walking Away from The Walking Dead

Here at Nerds on Earth, we have talked about some of the various issues that surround the current world that we live in. We have talked about it being peak nerd, about how we will never be able to consume all the awesome nerdy things that are being created now, much less the beautiful things from days and generations gone by.

But tonight, I personally hit a spot and space that I haven’t hit in a long way: the time to walk away. As a nerd, you have to know your own limits.

Season 7 of The Walking Dead began. It is well known that I was not a fan of the terrible cliffhanger nature of the end of last season, where someone is killed in such a way that we are unsure about who it is, because it was told from an odd perspective. Tonight, in the new season, we see that not one major character but two major characters are killed and because of a hallucination of Rick, we see other characters hit and presumably killed by the baseball bat as well. (Which furthers my personal take that they filmed ALL of them being hit with the bat and then used it as leverage in terms of contracts for this season. And if you don’t think the show and AMC are capable of that, you haven’t read the Frank Darabont lawsuit information.)

And halfway through the episode, I knew I had reached my limit. And I am pretty sure I am walking away from this show that I have liked mostly and loved occasionally. I have reached my limit with it for a variety of reasons. The storytelling isn’t compelling to me. There are deep flaws in the mechanics of the show; that guy hanging on the chain off the overpass? He has been there for 4-6 hours. No way his head should pop off like that! The gore level is now even more gratuitous and pointless; it has moved into the realm of horror porn and I am just not interested in that kind of story or storytelling.

And I hate that the show is now written in such a way that the episodes don’t stand alone. They are meant to be consumed alongside the 60 minute interpretation of the show that happens on The Talking Dead. So they get an hour to tell a story and an hour to justify that said story is good, even when it isn’t.  The mechanics of the empire are out of control.

Need more proof? They tried to ask critics to embargo the episode, meaning that they cannot talk about it until a certain point. It is a standard practice when a show provides screeners to preview episodes. So why is that so bad in this case? AMC wasn’t providing screeners. They tried to embargo critics who were watching the show at the same time and place as you and me.

So, for all of those reasons, I am at my limit. It happens. In the 1990s, I walked away from the X-men; the truth is that it got sideways with itself and I wasn’t gaining any joy from reading comics anymore. So I left. I even missed out on the 90s cartoon because of that. I have given up on film franchises, books series and more when I have reached the end of it for me. You have to know your limit. It is okay to be a fan of something, even for a long time, and then not be after a certain point.

And personally, I want to follow and watch things that give me great joy. That has been an abiding principle of our site since we started it: we want to enthusiastically cover things that are nerdy and bring us joy. Now, there are certainly times when we here at the site disagree on those things. Something that Clave loves may elicit a “meh” from me. And Clave and I both have yet to understand Adkins Dragonball Z fascination. But, we write, share and promote things that give us joy. And for me to keep writing about The Walking Dead would violate that principle.

When Fear the Walking Dead started, I covered it because it was coming out of The Walking Dead, which I loved greatly at that time. And I powered through the first season, writing weekly recaps. And I regret it. About midway through that season, I was simply hatewatching the show, watching it to shred it apart and post a scathing recap. Others liked the show. I didn’t and I wish I had walked away then; I had hit my limit but I just didn’t realize it.

Tonight, I have hit my limit with a franchise and I know it. So I am walking away from The Walking Dead. I may come back to it at some point and realize I have made a mistake. (Hello? Season 2 of Friday Night Lights everyone!) But for now, I’d rather find new things that I do love and nerd out about them here and share that with you.

So, what’s next? Help me find the thing that has slipped through that I should be reading, watching or listening to that will bring me joy and I can share about here!