Warning: Spoilers for The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1, Episode 2
A missing story from The Walking Dead’s comic ending is finally told The Walking Dead: Dead City. Various elements from the final chapters of Robert Kirkman’s comic series were adapted The Walking Dead’s final episodes. However, due to differences in the progression of the two stories, not everything from the comic made it into the show.
The Walking Dead ended on a happy note for the majority of its main characters, who look towards a bright future in the final scenes of the series finale. In this sense, it was faithful to the source material, but some things were left out. Rick Grimes did not die and no one else received his comic death in his place. His killer in the comics, Sebastian Milton, met his end before the finale. There’s also the matter of Pamela Milton, who didn’t end up putting aside her differences with the main characters like she did in the comics. Since the franchise has moved on from the main series, many of these untold stories won’t have another chance to happen.
Hershel Rhee is finally terrible in The Walking Dead television universe
A development in The Walking Dead: Dead City episode 2 shows that a certain character arc from the end of the comic hasn’t been completely abandoned. In the episode, a flashback sequence sheds light on the relationship Maggie shares with her son, Herschel Rhee. He was characterized as a normal, sweet kid in the main show, but Dead City succeed in destroying that image. In the episode, Maggie tried to talk to her child about him skipping gun training. This resulted in an angry outburst from Herschel, who made it abundantly clear that he has no interest in such things. Furthermore, he rejected Maggie’s attempts to be understanding towards him and crumpled up a drawing as soon as she expressed interest in his art.
This cruel and disrespectful side of Herschel is new to the series, but is actually reminiscent of the comic character’s portrayal. IN The Walking Dead comics, adult Herschel was depicted as an unlikeable and selfish jerk. Having grown up in a safe environment, Herschel enjoyed a life of privilege, which influenced the way he treated the people around him. He was also proven to be a manipulative liar. Thanks to Dead Cityhis TV counterpart has begun to share some of these traits, such as his vicious demeanor and lack of appreciation for how dangerous zombies are in the apocalypse.
Hershel’s Walking Dead Comic ending may still happen on TV
Granted, Dead City’s Herschel is still a long way from becoming the despicable character that he is in the comics. But the show has set him on that path. After all, it is important to note that Herschel is still a teenager and therefore significantly younger than Maggie’s son in the source material. Of course, his behavior could always change for the better, but it might not. If Dead City is a multi-season show, it will have the opportunity to continue Herschel’s story and perhaps bring him even closer in line with the comics’ approach to him. It seems plausible, especially given how he’s been used in the spinoff so far.
Most importantly, he already possesses the quality that made him the jerk he was shown to be in the last issue. Partly because he didn’t experience the harrowing early years of the zombie apocalypse, he was a very self-righteous character, not unlike Sebastian Milton in Walking Dead season 11. If this aspect of the TV version of Maggie’s son worsens over time, he could develop into one of the franchise’s most hated characters.
What Hershel Being Awful In The Walking Dead Really Means
It would undoubtedly be a sad way for their stories to unfold if Maggie sees her son turn out to be such a disappointing scoundrel. The Walking Dead franchise. But it wouldn’t be an ending without its perks. What happened to Herschel represented one of the inevitable consequences of the protagonists finding safe haven in the zombie apocalypse. With kids growing up sheltered from the zombie threat, there was no way that at least some of the kids formed these mindsets and didn’t understand how amazing their lives really are. In his own way, Herschel is a reflection of that problem.
A downward spiral for Herschel would also be an unpleasant reminder that not all children in one Walking Dead the hero is destined to follow in their parents’ footsteps. As things stand, The Walking Dead builds a world where the children of the franchise’s biggest characters (ie Rick’s and Morgan’s daughters) prove to be heroes in their own rights, demonstrating bravery and kindness despite their youth. Herschel becomes a thorn in Maggie’s side The Walking Dead: Dead City would emphasize this idea, being the son of two Walking Dead heroes should not be taken as a guarantee that he will follow the same path.
The Walking Dead: Dead City continues Sunday on AMC.