This show is a guilty pleasure for me. When I started watching it, it would stress me out and almost make me nauseous to the point where I completely quit watching. But then I found myself back into it and I've found the show's writing has improved greatly. There seems to have been a decision to focus a lot more deeply into the characters for the drama rather than focusing on the violence.
I find that when the story zooms in on the characters more, there are some beautiful opportunities for spiritual lessons. Some examples of blatant power-under/Christ-like servitude rather than the typical worldly power-over way of doing things.
For example there is a discussion between a woman and a young girl where the adult woman is trying to convince the girl that she needs to be stronger and meaner to survive. But the girl refuses to give in to that, insists on being kind and loving to people no matter what.
Later in that same episode a character confesses to a guy that the character's actions resulted in the loss of that guy's loved one, knowing full well the guy has been seeking revenge on the perpetrator of the offense. The guy's reaction? Forgiveness. He flat out says "I forgive you".
Another theme is coming to terms with your actions. Survival in an extremely hostile environment leads to some nightmarish actions. And many of the characters struggle with who they've become after the realize what awful things they find themselves capable of. Others gleefully follow that path without remorse. We find these characters in a land where the walking corpses are the lesser of the threat. The real threat are the living people that have no morals.
The Walking Dead is ultimately garbage. Not in production quality or especially the writing, there it is top of the line. Few shows are this good. But in a sense of one's spirit, you don't need it. Garbage in, garbage out. That's why I consider it a guilty pleasure. I am glad to find some well made spiritual lessons in these later seasons of the show.
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