In defense of Andrea
Nov. 25th, 2012 07:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mfirefly10/
+ Before tonight's new episode, I wanted to talk a bit about The Walking Dead's Andrea. Andrea has once again become the fandom punching bag thanks to the choices she's made this season. On the one hand, I don't disagree that those choices were awful. But when you look at things from Andrea's point of view, all her of decisions make sense.
+ The Governor vs. Michonne:
I've seen a lot of people boil Andrea's actions down to choosing a man she barely knows over the woman who has watched her back for months and I think that idea is just plain wrong. Andrea did not choose to stay in Woodbury for the Governor. She did not choose him over Michonne. Andrea's choice was about choosing a safe haven and a community over a life on the run. Andrea loves Michonne. If it had been as simple as Michonne vs. the Governor, there'd be no choice because Michonne would win, hands down. Michonne is Andrea's closest friend and the one person she trusts to have her back. Whatever feelings she may have developed for the Governor in the short time she's known him cannot compare to that.
+ Woodbury vs. the Wild:
Andrea chose to stay in Woodbury rather than leaving with Michonne because Woodbury could offer things Michonne and the outside world could not. In Woodbury, Andrea has a place to sleep, food to eat and basic medical care. During her zombie road-trip with Michonne, none of that was guaranteed. Andrea got sick, seemingly with something like the flu and it almost killed her because her body didn't have time to recover while she and Michonne were running for the lives. After a short time in Woodbury where she had regular meals and a chance to rest, Andrea's health turned around rather quickly. You've got to figure that was a huge selling point on staying put.
The other thing Woodbury offers that life-on-the-run does not is a sense of community, which is something Andrea's clearly missed since being separated from Rick's group. I feel like one of Andrea's biggest fears is being left behind again. She all-but says so as Michonne's getting ready to leave. Andrea's afraid Michonne is going to disappear. If Michonne died or they got separated, Andrea would be alone again. (Likewise, you could interpret that to mean that Andrea is afraid Michonne will lose herself and her humanity to the violence surrounding them, thus stripping Andrea of the one friend she has left.) So while she may not know the people in Woodbury, I think Andrea's hoping she can come to care for some of them the way she did with her first group and re-gain the sense of community and family she's lost.
+ Rose-colored glasses:
For those saying Andrea is being naive when it comes to the Governor, I completely agree with you. Andrea is choosing to believe that the Governor is a good man. But part of that is because Andrea doesn't know what the audience knows. She hasn't seen his aquarium of zombie-heads. She didn't see him murder a group of people in cold-blood. She doesn't know he's taking care of his Walker!daughter or that he ordered his men to kill Michonne. And while the zombie fight club was certainly something to side-eye, it's not going to be a deal-breaker for everyone.
Another point to make is that Andrea's been pretty lucky in the people she's wound up with, post-apocalypse. For the most part, the people in her original group were decent (Ed, Merle and Shane...not so much.) That group could mostly be trusted to watch your back and help take care of you if you were hurt. Likewise, Andrea met Michonne, another good person worthy of her trust. Andrea hasn't really been exposed to anyone as evil as the Governor before now. So again, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Andrea would choose to believe she's found another decent group of people to be a part of, as she's been mostly right on that front in the past.
Now I think the writers did Andrea a huge disservice by revealing the Governor's true nature so early-on. Of course the audience is going to think Andrea's crazy for being attracted to him because we've seen what's he's capable of. Andrea really hasn't and what she has seen, he's been able to explain away in no time flat. The Governor is pretty damn clever and manipulative and charismatic so it's not incomprehensible that Andrea and the other people in Woodbury would be taken in by him.
I also think Andrea's more interested in a physical relationship with the Governor over some great romance. She finds him attractive and they have chemistry so she sleeps with him. Did it gross me out beyond the telling, because of who the Governor is? Absolutely. But do I understand it? Yeah, I do. (And I felt the same way about her little fling with Shane last season, though I will grant you that Shane's brand of crazy was nothing compared to the Governor's.) But I love that Andrea is a woman who likes sex and has no problem acting on that. Maggie was the same with Glenn last season but she just happened to luck out on her choice of partners. (Glenn ♥)
So while I get why Andrea's choices seem ridiculous to us and I understand people's frustration with her storyline right now (after all, a lot of us assumed we were signing up for the Andrea/Michonne BFF road-trip of awesomeness and we got this crap instead), I don't think she deserves the hatred and criticism fans are piling on her. But who knows? Maybe the canon will prove that everything I just said was wrong and I don't understand Andrea at all. However, for now, I choose to believe all of the above.
.
+ Before tonight's new episode, I wanted to talk a bit about The Walking Dead's Andrea. Andrea has once again become the fandom punching bag thanks to the choices she's made this season. On the one hand, I don't disagree that those choices were awful. But when you look at things from Andrea's point of view, all her of decisions make sense.
+ The Governor vs. Michonne:
I've seen a lot of people boil Andrea's actions down to choosing a man she barely knows over the woman who has watched her back for months and I think that idea is just plain wrong. Andrea did not choose to stay in Woodbury for the Governor. She did not choose him over Michonne. Andrea's choice was about choosing a safe haven and a community over a life on the run. Andrea loves Michonne. If it had been as simple as Michonne vs. the Governor, there'd be no choice because Michonne would win, hands down. Michonne is Andrea's closest friend and the one person she trusts to have her back. Whatever feelings she may have developed for the Governor in the short time she's known him cannot compare to that.
+ Woodbury vs. the Wild:
Andrea chose to stay in Woodbury rather than leaving with Michonne because Woodbury could offer things Michonne and the outside world could not. In Woodbury, Andrea has a place to sleep, food to eat and basic medical care. During her zombie road-trip with Michonne, none of that was guaranteed. Andrea got sick, seemingly with something like the flu and it almost killed her because her body didn't have time to recover while she and Michonne were running for the lives. After a short time in Woodbury where she had regular meals and a chance to rest, Andrea's health turned around rather quickly. You've got to figure that was a huge selling point on staying put.
The other thing Woodbury offers that life-on-the-run does not is a sense of community, which is something Andrea's clearly missed since being separated from Rick's group. I feel like one of Andrea's biggest fears is being left behind again. She all-but says so as Michonne's getting ready to leave. Andrea's afraid Michonne is going to disappear. If Michonne died or they got separated, Andrea would be alone again. (Likewise, you could interpret that to mean that Andrea is afraid Michonne will lose herself and her humanity to the violence surrounding them, thus stripping Andrea of the one friend she has left.) So while she may not know the people in Woodbury, I think Andrea's hoping she can come to care for some of them the way she did with her first group and re-gain the sense of community and family she's lost.
+ Rose-colored glasses:
For those saying Andrea is being naive when it comes to the Governor, I completely agree with you. Andrea is choosing to believe that the Governor is a good man. But part of that is because Andrea doesn't know what the audience knows. She hasn't seen his aquarium of zombie-heads. She didn't see him murder a group of people in cold-blood. She doesn't know he's taking care of his Walker!daughter or that he ordered his men to kill Michonne. And while the zombie fight club was certainly something to side-eye, it's not going to be a deal-breaker for everyone.
Another point to make is that Andrea's been pretty lucky in the people she's wound up with, post-apocalypse. For the most part, the people in her original group were decent (Ed, Merle and Shane...not so much.) That group could mostly be trusted to watch your back and help take care of you if you were hurt. Likewise, Andrea met Michonne, another good person worthy of her trust. Andrea hasn't really been exposed to anyone as evil as the Governor before now. So again, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Andrea would choose to believe she's found another decent group of people to be a part of, as she's been mostly right on that front in the past.
Now I think the writers did Andrea a huge disservice by revealing the Governor's true nature so early-on. Of course the audience is going to think Andrea's crazy for being attracted to him because we've seen what's he's capable of. Andrea really hasn't and what she has seen, he's been able to explain away in no time flat. The Governor is pretty damn clever and manipulative and charismatic so it's not incomprehensible that Andrea and the other people in Woodbury would be taken in by him.
I also think Andrea's more interested in a physical relationship with the Governor over some great romance. She finds him attractive and they have chemistry so she sleeps with him. Did it gross me out beyond the telling, because of who the Governor is? Absolutely. But do I understand it? Yeah, I do. (And I felt the same way about her little fling with Shane last season, though I will grant you that Shane's brand of crazy was nothing compared to the Governor's.) But I love that Andrea is a woman who likes sex and has no problem acting on that. Maggie was the same with Glenn last season but she just happened to luck out on her choice of partners. (Glenn ♥)
So while I get why Andrea's choices seem ridiculous to us and I understand people's frustration with her storyline right now (after all, a lot of us assumed we were signing up for the Andrea/Michonne BFF road-trip of awesomeness and we got this crap instead), I don't think she deserves the hatred and criticism fans are piling on her. But who knows? Maybe the canon will prove that everything I just said was wrong and I don't understand Andrea at all. However, for now, I choose to believe all of the above.
.
