The Walking Dead has seen significant success in its day, but one thing it is not praised for is its consistency and continuity. Characters are driven by the plot and given the arcs that are most convenient at the time.
The storylines that most of the Walking Dead characters wind up getting are never ones that seem true to their character. Sometimes, they don't even make much sense. Walking Dead logic can be pretty hard to follow, and sometimes it seems that even the writers themselves can't keep up with all the questionable decisionmaking. The Walking Dead is a fun show to watch and remains a smash-hit despite having more than a few glaring flaws and faults. Let's take a look at the many times the series ignored its own canon.
WHEN RICK DIDN'T KNOW WHY CAROL WANTED TO HELP A DOMESTIC ABUSE VICTIM
If you're a fan of The Walking Dead and you watch the show on a regular basis, then you've without a doubt witnessed a few scenes that left you wondering if the writers forgot what was happening in their own show. A prime example of this was a particularly laughable moment that took place between Rick and Carol in season 5.
The group had just arrived at Alexandria and Rick had fallen head-over-heels for Jessie Anderson, who was of course in an abusive relationship with her husband, Pete. When Carol gets word of this, she, of course, wants to help Jessie and her children, because something we've known about Carol since the beginning of the series, was that she's a domestic abuse survivor. Except, when Carol confides in Rick that she wants to help Jessie, Rick looks at her questioningly and asks her why.
WHEN THE FLU OUTBREAK AT THE PRISON WAS JUST FORGOTTEN
Season 4 kicked off with viewers brimming with anticipation after season 3 had ended on a great note. The season 4 premiere was one of the most viewed episodes in Walking Dead history, and many fans thought this season was going to be the best...until it turned out to be one of the worst.
There's no denying that season 4 had some incredibly memorable, iconic episodes, but dragging the Governor storyline on and separating most of the survivors proved to be a bad move. At the beginning of season 4, the Prison was hit with an outbreak of a deadly flu. Several people died or just narrowly survived this, but after the Governor infiltrated the Prison and everyone had to evacuate, the show conveniently forgot that everyone should probably still be sick.
WHEN THEY FORGOT ABOUT THE WOLVES
Almost every antagonist who has ever appeared on The Walking Dead, but the Wolves were an exception. It's believed that this pack of villains were meant to mirror the graphic novel's Scavengers, but that's up for debate.
The Wolves were introduced in The Walking Dead during a time when the show's quality had begun to suffer and decrease. The whole storyline actually perfectly epitomizes the start of TWD's decline and was promptly forgotten and swept under the rug later on.
INCONSISTENCIES WITH WALKERS
The art of creating and portraying zombies is one that originated from esteemed filmmaker George Romero. Zombies have evolved significantly since the days of cult classic Night Of The Living Dead - some aspects changed for the better, some for the worst.
The Walking Dead has never technically dared to attempt a unique style with their zombies. They're the slow-moving, brainless creatures that you see in most movies and TV series. But in the first season, The Walking Dead actually did present a different take; the walkers seemed to have shades and flickers of the person they once were (e.g. the walker Rick encounters in the series' very first cold open). And they were even capable of using objects and weapons to their advantage; a walker in a season one episode picked up a large walked and smashed in a storefront window to get to the survivors. Some might say that the quality of the walkers followed suit with the quality of the show.
THE MANY FACES OF RICK
Every Walking Dead character is pretty inconsistent from one season to the next - even from one episode to the next - so you can never really predict what they're going to do because their personalities change whenever it's convenient for the plot.
Inconsistencies were especially emphasized in Rick's character, as he couldn't seem to ever make up his mind on whether he was out for blood or world peace.
CARL SHOOTING THE WOODBURY KID
Carl shooting a young boy named Jody at the end of season 3 was a Big Thing at the time. The media and shows like Talking Dead were filled with in-depth interviews and discussions about what a turning point this storyline was for Carl.
Fast forward to the premiere of season 4, which took place after a time jump of several months, and this supposedly major storyline had completely disintegrated.
HEATH
If you are a casual viewer of The Walking Dead, there's a good chance that Heath's character has faded from your memory. The character was first introduced in the sixth season and would go on to vanish and be presumed dead in the seventh.
The thing about the storyline with Heath disappearing was that it could have been interesting if it had ever gone anywhere, but for some reason, The Walking Dead crew only used this to "hype" viewers for upcoming seasons, with probably no intentions of ever bringing this character back.
HENRY'S CRUSH ON ENID
Henry's tragic death came in the penultimate episode of season 9, and while this was completely heartbreaking, Henry's character was portrayed in such an infuriating way prior to this, that the blow was somewhat cushioned.
Henry temporarily took on one of Carl's comic storylines, in which he falls for Lydia. Just shortly before this though, Henry is shown to have a huge crush on Enid. The show makes a point of depicting him pining after her on several different occasions, but Henry moves on pretty quickly as soon as Lydia shows up.
EUGENE'S BETRAYAL
It might be all fun and games now, with the writers choosing to take Eugene back to his original goofy, nerdy personality. The Walking Dead completely disregarded the fact that Eugene actually stabbed all of his people in the back in favor of joining Negan's side.
Eugene became a completely different character once he set foot in the Sanctuary, but this is something that The Walking Dead seems to have forgotten about.
TARA'S PROMISE TO OCEANSIDE
Tara was severely underutilized throughout most of her time on The Walking Dead. Season 7 presented a more significant storyline for her when she discovered the Oceanside camp. Tara made multiple attempts to reason with the survivors, and finally succeeded, and then the show promptly forgot about the entire thing.