Alas, Poor Scrappy: While Lori wasn't well-received by the fandom (which may be the reason why she was killed off, not because the actor wished to leave the show (for example, Dale), even her haters can find her death to be depressing.
Andrea also suffers a similarly depressing death, but one can argue that she was rescued from the scrappy heap by that point.
Shane -- the most effective leader in the group, who can make tough decisions quickly, or a Complete Monster who is slowly becoming more and more insane?
At the news that Frank Darabont, maker of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, two of the greatest films of The Nineties, was the executive producer. And at the fact that Robert Kirkman was directly involved as a part of the creative team. And at the fact that AMC is not holding back one bit on the violence. Really, just about every announcement that came out of the project was met with this reaction.
A more minor one, but Bear McCreary getting the job of composer raised some enthusiasm.
The Governor from the comics appeared in the 16 episode long Series 3, played by David Morrissey.
The series 2 finale revealing at the end Michonne and the prison.
Arc Fatigue: The search for Sophia, while not as ridiculously long as other examples, certainly tested the fanbase's patience during season two's first half. Lack of plot progression was mostly blamed on the search, and with all of the subplots, looking for Sophia could potentially take forever. This led some fans to cry out "Kill Sophia already!" Funny how that worked out for everyone.
Award Snub: Despite getting positive reviews from critics (though generally regarded as being inferior in regards to pacing, characterization, dialogue, etc in comparison to AMC's otherseries) and gaining great ratings from audiences, the only Emmys it received were two nominations for Visual Effects and Sound Editing and a win for Makeup (which was really impressive, but still...)
Awesome Music: Bear McCreary's music for the series; also, the use of John Murphy's "The Surface of the Sun" in episode five, "Wildfire", and Wye Oak's "Civilian" in the season 2 trailer.
Complete Monster: Simon manages to stand out, even in a universe where people have gone to extreme measures in order to survive. Whereas his boss Negan wishes simply for other communities to submit to him, Simon wishes to wipe out entire communities. An example of this is when he decides to wipe out every last man in the Oceanside community. And while Negan generally doesn't kill people unless he finds it to be necessary, Simon's perfectly willing to engage in unnecessary cruelty. And he's not truly loyal to Negan, even though he happens to be his second-in-command. It's actually possible to root for Negan when he and Simon fight, and cheer when Negan wins.
Though a minor villain, Jocelyn proves herself to be one of the most horrifying villains in the series. A former friend of Michonne, Jocelyn is revealed to have brainwashed children into being psychotic killers, and plans to abduct children from Alexandria in order to do the same. She attempts to do the same to Judith but is ultimately unsuccessful. She also attempts to kill Michonne despite their former friendship. Unsurprisingly, the title of the episode she appears is called "Scars", referring to the trauma that Michonne goes through.
Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy: After awhile, the abject horrors are thrown at the audience with such extreme regularity that they eventually cause a sense of dull "Oh like I didn't see that coming" instead of shock or sadness. Not all deaths in the series are cruel and unusual though.
Designated Protagonist Syndrome: Literally. The moment Rick meets up with the group, he proclaimed their leader evidently solely on the basis of his being the Sheriff. He does survive a horde of zombies, but only Glenn is there to see it.
Ensemble Darkhorse: Daryl Dixon. In the first season he was a mildly-racist Jerkass (though not to the extent of his older brother), but when he made the switch to a heroic Badass in season 2 his popularity exploded and he has become possibly the most popular character on the show. This is likely the reason his character has lived on, even though his brother Merle was killed off by the end of Season 3.
Evil Is Sexy: If the Governor weren't sexy, Andrea probably wouldn't be sleeping with him.
Also Negan, but his wives don't seem terribly happy with him, unlike the comic.
Harsher in Hindsight: There are several people in Season 2 who come very close to dying and whom are nursed back to health in Hershel's farmhouse, with the exception of Dale who simply can't be saved. Then comes the revelation that everyone who dies without suffering brain trauma comes back as a walker, and Rick may have known this all along and kept it secret from the others...
Also, the reveal that Jenner knew every human was already infected by the virus to some extent puts his Despair Event Horizon in a whole new light.
Homage: When walkers overrun the farm in S2, the expected "hide in the fortified farmhouse" homage to Night of the Living Dead is subverted. The group immediately realizes it would be suicide and flees.
Ho Yay: Between Shane and Rick. Especially in season 2, episode 2, when Shane is comforting Rick when Carl is badly injured, telling him to be strong. Shane does eventually decide to kill Rick so that he can be with Lori, however.
If the highway is packed bumper-to-bumper with abandoned cars pouring out of the rumored safe haven, it shouldn't take running into the zombie horde to make you realize you should stay away. Lampshaded by Glenn, who calls Rick a dumbass shortly thereafter.
Who brings a crazy redneck who's gonna jeopardize a scavenge mission with them? If Rick hadn't come along, Merle certainly would've killed them or gotten them killed.
Rick aims a gun at the aforementioned redneck's brother's head, so where does Shane stand? Right opposite of said brother, in line with where the bullet from Rick's gun would go had he actually pulled the trigger. Neither of the cops who are supposed to be trained in Gun Safety think anything wrong of it.
This would be a case of what camera angle looked good and dramatic to the creative team, who didn't stop to think that it'd look really stupid for two cops to stand opposite sides like that.
Morgan, driven to despair over his wife's reanimation, retreated to the attic and started popping shots at several zombies in an attempt to attract his undead wife's attention. While he intended to kill his undead wife, not only did he ultimately fail to follow through with it but he had alerted every zombie within earshot to his and his son's presence. This after he had warned Rick about gunshots attracting zombies, too. Duane ultimately dies because of his decision.
While searching for Sophia, Andrea blindly wanders far enough away from the group that when she is ambushed by a walker, nobody is close enough to help her. She's only saved by a Big Damn Heroes moment.
Andrea again. She has a gun and is atop Dale's RV and apparently eager to prove herself. When she spots a walker and calls it, Rick, Shane and T-Dog all go out to meet it with weapons, but she brags she can nail it from where she is. And she can; the problem is, it wasn't a walker. It was the still-living Daryl, who was walking like a zombie because he was tired, sore, and badly injured.
The whole group when they decide to bring the kids along when they scavenge through a maze of abandoned cars. When the massive walker herd comes along, Sophia loses her nerve and gets spotted, which leads to her running off into the woods and sparking off the arc to find her. If they just kept the kids safe in the camper, Sophia wouldn't have been zombified.
The bigger problem could be argued to be letting the kids wander off knowing that there are zombies and not knowing whether there are any in the area. If they had kept the kids next to them, Sophia probably wouldn't have left cover.
Lori deciding to drive off alone in search of Rick, not knowing exactly where she was going. And thus looking at a map instead of keeping her eyes on the road.
Carl must've got it from his parents. After being a relatively smart kid, he steals a gun from Daryl, goes deep into the woods where Sophia was lost, and decides to taunt a walker who's stuck in the mud. Wouldn't you know it, it gets free... and this eventually leads to Dale's death.
Merle is a Jerkass, of course then also portrayed as "racist", but once he's handcuffed to a pipe and left to die, crying as zombies start breaking through the door, you can't help but feel a little sorry for the guy. He later has a Redemption Equals Death moment. He doesn't kill the Governor, but the intent to save Rick and his friends is still there.
Another family trait, as Daryl seems to veer into this territory. He gets more likeable as the series progresses.
The Terminus survivors are also this to some extent, as it was established that some survivors decided to take advantage of their hospitality in the worst way possible, leading to them becoming evil. Rick and his group weren't unjustified in killing them though...they most likely would have continued luring unsuspecting victims to be eaten otherwise.
The Scavengers, while not this case initially (they betray Rick to the Saviors since the Saviors offered them a better deal), but it's actually not hard to feel sorry for them once Simon decides to kill almost every last one of them. Rick decides not to kill Jadis after that, though he also decides not to take her with him to Hilltop.
Rick Grimes himself has shades of this. He's done a few questionable things throughout the series, but considering he lost his wife and his friend Hershel, it's understandable that he would those sort of things.
Moral Event Horizon: Shane's could either be kneecapping Otis, rather than just shooting him in the head, to distract the zombies in "Save the Last One", attempting to kill Rick without hesitation in "18 Miles Out", or brutally murdering Randall and trying to disguise it as a self-defense kill. He's definitely hit it once he tries to murder Rick for the third time.
As the title of the episode would imply, Season 4, Episode 8 has the Governor turn down his chance of redemption and kill Hershel. Rick tried to reason with him, but he simply wouldn't listen. He's killed by Michonne shortly afterwards before being shot in the head by Lilly to prevent reanimation.
The Claimers cross this when they decide that they're going to rape Carl (without drugging him, no less), though Joe did have a friendship with Daryl up until that point.
In-universe, while their backstory is tragic, Rick decides that the Terminus survivors have crossed the line (presumably for their cannibalism), and doesn't show Gareth mercy.
Officer Gaemon crosses this when he rapes a woman to the point she wishes to commit suicide. He also planned to have Beth have sex with him as part of a deal, even though she's eighteen at the most. Regardless of whether he was willing to uphold his end of the bargain, it's just plain nasty.
Gregory crosses this when he decide to kill Maggie. Before, he had basically been a jerk, but this is where he slides into being downright evil.
Negan comes close to this when he burns Alexandria to the ground...but he doesn't quite cross it.
On the other hand, Simon definitely crosses this when he massacres the Scavengers. That is not something Negan wanted him to do.
Nightmare Fuel: The walkers, obviously, but also present are the evil survivors that Rick and his companions encounter the show. The Governor in particular proves to be the first major threat to the heroes.
Shane goes from Rick's best friend to being Rick's worst enemy. The turnabout is really remarkable. And before he tries to kill Rick, he decides to betray and kill Otis, who dies a horrible death.
Regarding the Governor, he successfully manages to kill a group of soldiers. Yes, even soldiers who presumably have military experience are killed by the Governor. And then he decides to attack the prison Rick and his companions are holed up in. It's rather unfortunate that the prison happens to be close to Woodbury.
The Claimers aren't quite Governor caliber, but they're still frightening. They spend their time looting houses and raping women. And they're not safe from each other's wrath (Len at least doesn't care if you're his comrade, anyway). Rick Grimes was lucky to escape the house he was staying in alive, especially when Tony attempts to point out Rick to Len before he strangles him into unconsciousness over a dispute over who got to sleep in the bed Rick was hiding under.
While Terminus may have a tragic backstory, it's rather scary what they do in order to survive. Specifically, they engage in cannibalism. They don't manage to kill any members of Rick's gang, thank goodness, but they still eat Bob's leg.
There's also the Wolves. Essentially they're a bunch of lunatics that kill other survivors. They're not unlike the Claimers, but unlike the Claimers, there are actually female members in the group, curiously enough.
Negan is introduced bashing Abraham and Glenn's skulls, though he at least apologizes before he kills Glenn, citing that he had warned them in advance not to anger him or the Saviors any longer. He later kills Spencer by cutting his belly open. Yes, even without support from the Saviors, he killed Spencer with hardly an effort on his part. Thankfully, Olivia gets off easy after that.
And of course, there's the Saviors themselves, who extort supplies from communities and react violently when one isn't up to their standards. Rick at least was willing to stand up to them, but not Gregory.
Though at first it seems that Alexandria can handle them by themselves, it becomes apparent that they are vastly outnumbered by the Saviors. They did manage to kill everyone in one of their outposts, but they still had plenty of Saviors to spare.
Jocelyn just might be the most evil survivor in the series, aside from Simon, that is. What she does would make even Negan's eyes widen in fear. Specifically, she takes children and corrupts them into becoming psychotic killers. She does this to the children living at Alexandria, including Judith. And she throws her friendship with Michonne to the wind when she decides to have her child soldiers kill her. And there's the implications that Jocelyn might corrupt Judith and have her kill her own father so that Jocelyn could take control of Alexandria.
Unfortunately, simply killing Jocelyn doesn't free them from her grasp. Michonne has no choice but to clean up Jocelyn's dirty work by killing them. On the lighter side of things, Judith manages to avoid being corrupted.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Andrea. Though she's by far the most useless, and annoying character in Season One (except for maybe neglectful Lori), Season Two shows her slowly developing into a much more level-headed character. Slowly becoming closer to her comic incarnation as well. Unfortunately, she meets her maker in Season 3.
Screwed by the Network: AMC allegedly decided to cut the budget for the second season while doubling the number of episodes. Then Frank Darabont was fired.
Squick: It's a show about zombies. Of course this is going to pop up from time to time.
In the second episode, when Rick and Glenn hack up a zombie body with an axe and paint themselves with the guts. Glenn and the other survivors react appropriately, with someone vomiting at the sight and smell.
In the first episode of the second season, Rick and Daryl cut open a dead zombie's stomach.
All zombies are pretty squicky, but special notice must go to the zombie the group finds in a well on Hershel's farm: after sitting in the well for who knows how long, it has become extremely bloated. When they manage to pull it out of the well it rips in half, with a huge torrent of liquid organs pouring out as well as what very well might possibly be a whole lot of maggots.
And then the zombie trying to get at Lori when she's trapped in an overturned car. It starts pushing its head through a hole in the windshield, peeling all of the skin and flesh off its face in the process so all Lori sees on the other side is a set of bloody, exposed jaws clamping at her.
Andrea has become this after the events of "Chupacabra" where she (admittedly accidentally) shot fan-favorite Daryl after whining for the whole season. However, she seems to have redeemed herself somewhat in the second half of Season 2, taking leaps and bounds towards her comics characterization. She does sleep with the Governor, but that's only because she doesn't realize that he's evil. And she does a surprisingly good job of defending herself from him, though she still gets captured by him in the end and is ultimately bitten by the zombified Milton.
Shane's becoming this, especially after the mid-season finale. Though one could argue that he was designed to be hated.
Many viewers feel this way about Lori, viewing her as the most useless character on the show, citing her as a neglectful parent, something that would inevitably spell disaster in a world as dangerous as The Walking Dead. One might still might find her death by childbirth to be depressing though, especially by what she tells Carl that she loves him.
People aren't very happy with Carl, due to him setting the walker from the marsh free, resulting in Dale's death. He does at least show remorse for his actions, but that didn't mean he didn't cause the walker in the first place. Thankfully, he becomes a fighter in Season 4, where he successfully defends himself from walkers and even lampshades it.
Carol can be considered this one of these to some, at least if you don't consider the abuse from her husband Ed to make her sympathetic.
The Woobie: everyone, really, but Helen from the webisodes deserves some special recognition.
Sophia now too when you realize just how much she's suffered over the course of the series. She was raised with an abusive and potentially pedophilic father, witnessed the world ending and the dead coming back to devour the living, been on the run as everything fell apart, living in mortal terror every step of the way, and then It Got Worse.
Most female characters winds up playing damsel-in-distress far more often than not and don't mind sitting around doing more than domesticated roles. Lori explicitly calls Andrea useless because she is standing watch and scouting with the guys rather than performing domestic duties with the women in "18 Miles Out". One can argue that Season 3 fixes this by adding Michonne, who while technically a damsel in distress in the eighth episode of Season 4 still proves herself to be a badass in the same episode.
Lori wanting to effectively Stay in the Kitchen is probably justified what with her being pregnant and all, Andrea does want to help, as mentioned, and, well, time will tell with the others. Of course, Lori showing this attitude before that spoiler is probably harder to excuse, as is her wanting to project those gender roles onto others.
Andrea's pretty incredulous when Lori says that, and more or less tells her that's a stupid attitude and that Lori's lucky she's been sheltered enough to be able to keep it this long.
T-Dog is a serious offender. He's only known by the type of nickname normally associated with rappers. After Morgan, he's one of the only major black characters, and yet stands around doing next to nothing, in some episodes saying next to nothing, adds no real value to the group, and only seems to be in the show for Anvilicious moments (i.e., Merle's racist rant) or to say "black guy" things (his statement about "not doing that gangsta shit" during a firing range training). This may be the reason why he was killed off in Season 3.
The show seems to go out of its way to portray its female characters as foolish, stupid, and impulsive whenever they dare to act on their own initiative. See Andrea's shooting of Daryl, and Lori's crash in "Nebraska". None of the male characters, even the barely trained civilians such as Dale or Glenn, ever face such problems. This is averted in Season 3 where Michonne turns out to be absolutely correct in her judgment about not trusting the Governor, who was secretly a mass shooter.
