SPOILER ALERT!!!!! If you
haven't seen the most recent episode of the "The Walking
Dead"...don't read this! I have no
wish to ruin anyone's enjoyment of the best zombie drama ever made.
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So. I was actually
starting to like Merle. I realize that
the writers of the show more or less have to cut down important cast members on
a regular basis...that is actually one of the fundamental realities of The
Walking Dead. A la "Game of
Thrones," anyone can be killed. And
sooner or later they probably will be.
But I was actually starting to like Merle, despite the white-trashy
racist overtones and drug abuse and semi-sociopathic violence he was enamored
of. His death at the hands of the
Governor...who is a lot more authentically sociopathic and at the same
time reminds me of every crappy boss I've ever had...well, it was
unfortunate. Merle deserved better than
that, even if he was intending to destroy himself. He deserved to kill the Governor.
Merle's tactics against the Governor and his brute squad
were sound, sort of. The idea of firing
when other people's bombs/mortars/artillery/gunfire provide masking noise is
actually very smart. Snipers have been
abusing this boon for a long time, especially during high-intensity short range
urban conflicts, like say the battle of Stalingrad. The problem with Merle's delivery of the
technique was that he was much too close.
The 5.56mm round used by M4 carbines like the one he was carrying is a
potent little thing...it'll fly on a flat tragdectory out past several hundred
yards. Which means there's no reason to
do your nifty sniper attack at point-blank range. Merle should've gone into the woods and fired
only at the Governor, if he got the chance.
Even if his purpose (which seems to be the case) was to die, he should
have selected a spot that would've allowed him to slaughter more of the
Governor's people.
The actor who plays Merle, Michael Rooker, probably knows
this, since he owns (unless I'm mistaken) a gun-range somewhere in
California. I've seen him shoot, in
character and otherwise, and Mr. Rooker clearly knows how to use a gun. The unfortunate fact is that Merle and one
other person with some sand could have probably wiped out the entire
dork-militia brought out by the Governor to ambush Rick. Even if they were pushed back, the nitwits
that the Governor employs lack the skills to track down a pair of determined
individuals fighting their way through broken territory. Even the best people under the Governor's
wing are not particularly competent...take for example Rodriguez, the guy with
the aluminum bat and the Heckler&Koch MP5K...K for "kurtz," or
"short." That weird little gun
has gotten a lot of play time from Hollywood for a lot of years. I don't know why, other than it looks
interesting. But in the apocalypse, it's
a really bad idea...there are no extra magazines, it isn't particularly
accurate...you could find many better things to equip yourself with. Yet Mr. Rodriguez continues to use his MP5K,
always on full auto, despite his magazine dillema.
The entire concept of ambushing Rick's group, as the
Governor has invisioned it, was put together by a three-year-old,
apparently. I can see this, and I'm only
an academic. Ask a few ex-soldiers, and
see what they'd recommend. The people in
the prison should have wiped out the Woodbury militia by now. Originally I would have argued for a defense
of the prison, followed by a counterattack.
But after the last episode, I'd say that the group should be broken into
a handful of small teams, and each of them should launch simultaneous attacks
on the Woodburyians, just like the Celtiberian warriors who proved to be so
troublesome to Rome (in Spain, or Hispania) in the middle of the second century
BCE. The best defense is a good offense,
if your opponents are the dinks from Woodbury.
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