The Walking Dead: How Some Changes Can Make Things The Same

This year, there have been a number of changes made to the comic book source material, most of which haven’t had a long-term impact on the story but have helped to keep some of the suspense alive for readers of the comic books who often feel they know what will happen on the show.Still, many of the key beats from the comics are still happening, either exactly as they were on the page or sometimes in a modified fashion (as with the death of Lori)…and hardcore fans tend to expect that most of the major beats, especially the ones that directly affect the action, will come pretty close to what they were like in the comics.

What if this scenario is what gives Andrea her scar and facilitates Andrea’s late entry into the battle as in the original Battle of the Prison?Recall that Andrea and Dale were originally [in the comics] bugging out with the young twins when the Governor attacked. Her return, shooting from the top of the RV, probably ended up saving at least Rick’s life. It would be pretty cinematic and give her a more heroic aspect.

That heroic aspect is what’s needed for a character who’s inspired a lot of hate this season. The fans dislike Andrea so much that when last week’s episode ended with the character duct-taped to a chair in the torture dungeon of the series villain, dozens of fans on Reddit, Twitter and elsewhere were pretty nonplussed with the whole thing.As far as the facial scar that the character has in the comics (which she got when one of the surviving inmates tried to kill her–a scenario that didn’t happen on the show in part because Andrea was never at the prison while any of the inmates were alive),  another regular reader and occasional contributor to the site, Kevin Allen, pointed out that on Talking Dead this weekend, comic book artist Todd McFarlane pointed out one of the items in the Governor’s torture bag was medical twine. That suggests he probably plans to cut Michonne (and now Andrea) then stitch them back up… so they don’t bleed out right away.That’s a fine plan, of course, provided that you don’t have anyone around who’s willing to rescue her and send her on her way–like, say, Tyreese or Milton. Given that Tyreese has already expressed a disdain for the war the Governor is going after and was, essentially, benched and sent back to Woodbury to stay with the women, there’s a not-half-bad chance he could be left relatively alone behind the city walls when the Governor goes to start the war.So…once she’s out of there, shellshocked by the torture and knowing that she passed up the chance to kill the Governor at least twice that we can think of since she’s known he was a maniac? Who wants to bet we see some stylish shootin’?