February 09, 2012|By Andrew Conrad, aconrad@tribune.com
This one was going to be "Hershel Greene pays the ultimate price," but then I remembered in the teaser for the new episode that they showed Hershel turning to the bottle. What Hershel really needed all along was to lighten up some, so who knows, he could end up being a pretty cool guy after all! As long as he's a fun drunk, like Dudley Moore in "Arthur," and not an angry drunk, like anyone who's ever been on Cops.
7. More Merle Dixon
Oh man, Merle Dixon (portrayed by Michael Rooker) is so cool. He's like Daryl Dixon except without all the namby pambiness and pussyfooting. Yeah he's racist, sexist, boorish and homophobic, but he comes up with lots of good cutdowns and the camera loves him! I think that if he and Shane ever went toe-to-toe the fireworks would be as good as what they have at Disney World. And if they happened to join forces...?
8. Better product placement
We get that in the zombie apocalypse, Hyundai vehicles and Gerber knives are your key to survival. But I'd like to see the survivors stumble across an abandoned Arby's and throw some delicious curly fries into the deep frier, crack open a few tall boys of Miller High Life that had been chilling in a teeth-cracking cold mountain creek, or find some really cool Von Dutch trucker hats to shield their domes from the blazing hot sun.
9. Comedic sound effects
"The Walking Dead" sound effects team does a great job when someone smashes a zombies head open with a hammer (*KAA-CHUNNKK*) or pops off a few rounds from an automatic handgun (*KLATT-KLATT-KLATT*). But I'd like it if they added humorous sound effects, too, like if someone slips and falls on some zombie blood (*WUBBA-WUBBA-WUBBA-SHWEEEEE*) or has a tree branch fall on their head and knock them out cold (*BONNNK*). While they're at it, a laugh track might not be the worst idea in the world either...And, it couldn't hurt to throw in heavy metal music during all fight scenes, like in "Wild at Heart"!
10. More gore!
Remember when there was that big, fat, naked zombie that lived in the well on the Greene farm? And they tried to pull it out with the horse and the rope, and it ripped in half and all this gunk spilled out of it back into the well? More stuff like that please. Thanks.
Well, that's it! Be sure to check back here Sunday night and Monday morning for weekly recaps each of the next six weeks. Oh, and I promise to never use the euphamism "bumping uglies" again in my recaps.
What do you want to see more of or less of during the next six episodes of The Walking Dead? Add your suggestions in the comments, or just think it to yourself quietly!
