The original post: /r/television by /u/N0r3m0rse on 2025-12-08 20:57:54+00:00.
Dale was one of the better characters on the show, and Jeffery DeMunn played him so good damn well. The last episode he’s in features a moral dilemma where he gets to shine, but of course it ends with the most forced and needlessly gruesome death up to that point in the show. And for what? Shock value? “Oh no the good hearted one died!” I know Frank Darabont was out by this point iirc so him staying on may not have been in the cards but holy fuck that’s the best ending they could come up with for that character? And his fate is the first in a long, looooong line of stupid shock value moments like that throughout the shows run. He was kind of like the beginning of the end for the show (even though I’d say TWD was still mostly a good show up until like season 5 or 6).