Lurker's Corner

Okay, it only took half a dozen surprisingly entertaining novels of the zombie apocalypse before I finally wondered if I might like The Walking Dead TV series.

I have just watched ten episodes as back-to-back as sleeping and working for a living allow, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say...I like the show. :D

Question: is it just me, or is The Walking Dead basically the zombie apocalypse version of Camelot? Because I have to say that even before I discovered slash fiction and the joys of triosmut, I always wondered what the problem was in Camelot. Arthur and Lancelot: best friends, in love with the same woman. Guinevere: in love with a pair of best friends. Srsly, what's the dysfunction? (Oh, right. There's not multiple seasons worth of basic cable angst and drama in "and they all boinked happily ever after and their brilliant, beautiful babies saved teh world." WhatEVER. But OMG what pretty babies would come from that threesome.)

And another thing: I find myself strangely reluctant to engage in a new fandom; not just for the time sink, but because I don't want to read what must be a metric f#ckton of crap about my emerging favorite character: that Platonic Ideal of a redneck, Daryl Dixon. If you've ever wondered why the urban South hasn't just quietly smothered all the rednecks in their sleep, it's because we know they're good for situations exactly like the one in The Walking Dead, or any other time there's a societal breakdown. The key to effective redneck relations is to get them on your side, and you don't even have to be a redneck to do it. Yes, I am still facepalming nearly every time he interacts with two specific members of the cast, but the character of Daryl Dixon is one of the best illustrations for why it can be useful to tolerate the intolerant.

( Three reasons, cut for spoilers. )

Yes, the fact that there are plenty of sunburnt necks in my ancestry detracts from my objectivity on the subject of rednecks. No, I am in no way proud of the racism (nor the near glorification of ignorance) that still clings like a limpet to the subculture. I'm still very pleased with the AMC portrayal of the post-apocalyptic redneck, and don't plan to change my mind (unless they change theirs) because I think there is a vast fund of pragmatism we can all learn from our redneck kin.

edited to add:
Oh, and for prime slashbait in season 2, start here and just scroll through the second season, second episode screencaps for a couple of pages. If you haven't seen, and plan to see, the episode, stop when they turn to go in the house.

edited FOR THE LAST TIME I SWEAR to add:
Yet another series of prime slashbait screencaps from the same episode.

One shot gratuitous pretty screencap: Did John Sheppard run a School for Sexy Leaning before setting off for Atlantis?