[Not_Undead]

Here is what dictionary.com says:
1.
a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel.
2.
a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.

[Singlyme]

Oh, for God's sake. Here it is, dictionary definition.

EVIL: 1. Wicked.

WICKED: Morally bad, sinful, vicious, repugnant, vile, harmful, dangerous

I think both root words describe Merle in full.

[theglassintheguvseye]

IMHO, Merle simply does not have a moral character. I wouldn't call him 'evil'. He is doing what it takes to survive and is being led by someone who I would consider evil, the Guv. He is a sociopath and likely was one pre ZA. Sure, he's 'protecting' the people of Woodbury but his motives are not benevolent. He only seeks to control the residents to the point where he actively seeks out threats to his power ie: the Ntl. Guardsmen. His town was fortified. He didn't need their equipment, he just wanted them gone and had his men murder them. Merle knows that no one leaves Woodbury alive and has acted accordingly in order to survive. He certainly wanted out (if only to find Daryl) but had no mechanism by which to escape until Maggie and Glenn came along. As despicable as the beating/assault on those two was, it's the only way Merle saw to find his brother. And, it worked! Merle is a bully. Bullies are cowards and rarely do the right thing. In this case, I think his cowardice will be his ultimate downfall. I don't think he'll last 3 more episodes unless the group has a change of heart and I find that unlikely.

[DJ_HYDRAulics]

Here is what dictionary.com says:
1.
a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel.
2.
a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.

https://www.google.c...iw=1366&bih=639

[DJ_HYDRAulics]

a great example is the prisoners. They are all technically villains who commited a crime but would you call oscar, axel, or big tiny evil? i doubt it. The truly evil ones were the sociopaths, tomas and andrew.

[thelastpaul]

in the ZA, opportunistic murders are sadly a part of everyday life. if merle is evil for doing this, than so are a lot of people in the ZA. it all chalks up to survival. Merle doesn't need to kill people to feel happy about himself like a truly evil person does. An evil racist person would be like hitler or pol pot. or maybe even the DC snipers or the KKK members

Did you see how happy he was hunting michonne, trying to kill her? How much he relishes killing walkers?

Majority of people don't enjoy killing walkers if you notice. It's a sickening task.

Merle has clearly enjoyed it since he was introduced in season 1. Sick man, a bully, an asshole, a murderer. To me that equates to evil. Especially on TV.

The Guv for all intents and purposes is the bad guy. The evil to Ricks good. Merle loved it in Woodbury, knew everything the Guv did, and was his right hand man, happily so.

[theglassintheguvseye]

Did you see how happy he was hunting michonne, trying to kill her? How much he relishes killing walkers?

Majority of people don't enjoy killing walkers if you notice. It's a sickening task.

Merle has clearly enjoyed it since he was introduced in season 1. Sick man, a bully, an asshole, a murderer. To me that equates to evil. Especially on TV.

The Guv for all intents and purposes is the bad guy. The evil to Ricks good. Merle loved it in Woodbury, knew everything the Guv did, and was his right hand man, happily so.

We all have different concepts of what words mean. And I agree w/ most of your assessment. In season 1 Merle was a meth head. That stuff does a lot of weird crap to a person. So, he gets a pass from me morally there. Merle is a lot of things, a nice guy not being one of those things. One thing he is is smart. He's a survivor. And, I think, a chameleon. Without knowing whether he killed pre ZA, I try not to judge him post ZA. The situation these characters are in is not something any of us have experienced. Are soldiers pumping themselves up for battle against Jihadists evil? Not trying to get political here AT ALL but until we've been in a situation like this or that, I reserve judgment. I don't like Merle. He's a racist POS bully but I hesitate to label him 'evil'.

[DJ_HYDRAulics]

Did you see how happy he was hunting michonne, trying to kill her? How much he relishes killing walkers?

Majority of people don't enjoy killing walkers if you notice. It's a sickening task.

Merle has clearly enjoyed it since he was introduced in season 1. Sick man, a bully, an asshole, a murderer. To me that equates to evil. Especially on TV.

The Guv for all intents and purposes is the bad guy. The evil to Ricks good. Merle loved it in Woodbury, knew everything the Guv did, and was his right hand man, happily so.

i'd say he doesn't enjoy it, he's more like used to it. It's no secret that he's a big dumb redneck. He's turned killing walkers into some kind of game. Daryl, glenn, t-dog, and rick have also gotten used to killing walkers. They don't make the same disgusted faces they did in season 1. again, a product of the ZA
and once again, try to name people in the show who can't be classified as a murderer. I can guarantee you, the number is small. why do you harp on merle than?
The guv is the true evil person. He kills people out of pure enjoyment and keeps trophies of their heads in fish tanks in his room so he could relive their deaths and how he killed them. Murdering people actually brings pleasure to his life and he uses the safety of woodbury as his excuse to do these despicable acts.
A good example of how merle is not a sociopath that just enjoys killing people is how he pulled off T-dog on the roof when he had him pinned down and put a gun to his face. T-dog was already no threat to him. he already demeaned t-dog and broke him down. no reason to kill him. we have never seen merle kill somebody that wasn't an opportunistic murder. the simple fact is, I cant classify him is pure evil until he does.

[GirlsDeadMonster]

I've always thought Merle was an interesting character. His redeeming quality is that he does what it takes to survive and we found this out when he cut off his own hand. He would be hard to get along with in a group setting and I thought it was curious how the Guv was able to have Merle do his bidding. It made me wonder what kind of guy the Guv really was from the begining because of that.

[BigEd]

speak to a lawyer friend of yours if you have any. Tell them to define self defense. They will tell you something along the lines of taking the life of someone who poses an IMMINENT threat to yourself or others. If someone does not listen to your orders, takes a swing at you, unleashes a rabid dog on you and chases you accross the block and you go over to his house and shoot him in the face and kill him, that is not justifiable homicide or self defense, it is MURDER.

It would not be called murder. It would be called Manslaughter given the circumstances.

Under life threatening circumstances one (Rick) trying to do the right thing, confronted with someone (Tomas) impeading the cause will turn ugly. Hence the manslaughter. Note: The only individual who was at odds with Rick after killing Tomas was Andrew. (Perhapse a coup de ta)

[BigEd]

Merle loved it in Woodbury, knew everything the Guv did, and was his right hand man, happily so.

You mean Left hand man.

Had to say it...

[DJ_HYDRAulics]

It would not be called murder. It would be called Manslaughter given the circumstances.

Under life threatening circumstances one (Rick) trying to do the right thing, confronted with someone (Tomas) impeading the cause will turn ugly. Hence the manslaughter. Note: The only individual who was at odds with Rick after killing Tomas was Andrew. (Perhapse a coup de ta)

k. manslaughter. still not justifiable homicide or self defense. sorry

[BigEd]

k. manslaughter. still not justifiable homicide or self defense. sorry

Under normal circumstances there would be due process trial by peers. However it does not currently exist in the TWD universe...
Some would call it manslaughter, others would call it justifiable homicide.

Same conundrum with Shane shooting Otis in S2. (Not trying to open up another wound/debate, just trying to make a point.)

[theglassintheguvseye]

I've always thought Merle was an interesting character. His redeeming quality is that he does what it takes to survive and we found this out when he cut off his own hand. He would be hard to get along with in a group setting and I thought it was curious how the Guv was able to have Merle do his bidding. It made me wonder what kind of guy the Guv really was from the begining because of that.

I agree completely. The Guv saved him from the brink of death (much like Andrea), gave him a place in his group and made him 2nd in command. So, he probably liked the stability. He was afraid of the Guv but was also so afraid of Michonne that he risked punishment by not going after her once 2 of his men were killed. Had 'Neil' not balked at turning back, he may not have killed him. We'll never know. Merle is, as I stated earlier, a coward and only looking out for his own interests. Primarily, staying alive and finding Daryl. He's accomplished both things now. And I feel that he's not long for this world now that he's succeeded.

[DJ_HYDRAulics]

Under normal circumstances there would be due process trial by peers. However it does not currently exist in the TWD universe...
Some would call it manslaughter, others would call it justifiable homicide.

Same conundrum with Shane shooting Otis in S2. (Not trying to open up another wound/debate, just trying to make a point.)

what shane did to otis was not justifiable homicide. it was murder plain and simple. unless that person is putting your life in imminent danger, if you murder someone, it's not self defense. if you kill someone for a crime they might commit against you in the future, it's not self defense. tomas didn't have a gun to rick's head and was not attacking rick at the moment when rick killed him. if anything, rick killed him out of revenge. "you tossed a walker on me, i put an axe in your head" either way, murder for revenge is still not self defense. I dont consider rick evil for what he did to tomas.it had to be done to survive in a zombie apocalypse. same with merle's kills. They were all murder, not self defense and all had to be done for the killer's survival

[DJ_HYDRAulics]

Not to nitpick but Gargulio is Italian, not Hispanic. Just sayin'.

hmm. how do you know? did it say anywhere in the episode? i didn't hear
Even if he was italian, merle defintiely assumed he was hispanic though. he called him "amigo"

[Valleyaggie]

hmm. how do you know? did it say anywhere in the episode? i didn't hear
Even if he was italian, merle defintiely assumed he was hispanic though. he called him "amigo"

I know because I live in an area that is 98% Hispanic and that's not a Hispanic surname. I assume Merle called him "amigo" because Merle is racist and sees all minorities the same, whether or not they are. Besides, "amigo" has become fairly Americanized. It's kind of like "Hasta la vista" from Terminator 2 or "Come on, vamanos" from Dora the Explorer.

[Singlyme]

Merle's mouth alone qualifies him for execution.

[DJ_HYDRAulics]

Merle's mouth alone qualifies him for execution.

yeah. seriously, f*ck the 1st amendment. we should start executing people who say racist stuff. good bye every comedian on earth

[theglassintheguvseye]

yeah. seriously, f*ck the 1st amendment. we should start executing people who say racist stuff. good bye every comedian on earth

Bwahaha! There IS NO constitution in the ZA. It's total anarchy!

[DJ_HYDRAulics]

Bwahaha! There IS NO constitution in the ZA. It's total anarchy!

lol trust me, if you executed everyone who said racist or assholish stuff in the ZA, you'd be killing people for days. Even daryl said to glenn "you got some balls for a chinamen" implying that chinese people are usually weak and spineless. let's execute him too!

[theglassintheguvseye]

lol trust me, if you executed everyone who said racist or assholish stuff in the ZA, you'd be killing people for days. Even daryl said to glenn "you got some balls for a chinamen" implying that chinese people are usually weak and spineless. let's execute him too!

Oh, you know that I agree w/ ya. Just pointing out that the 1st amendment don't mean shit when the SHTF in the ZA. Hell, even the 10 commandments flew right out the window in the heavily Christian state of Georgia in this scenario. It is ironic that people allow Daryl to say politically incorrect things but think Merle's a monster for doing so. Daryl's cuter and less abrasive so he gets a pass, I guess.

[Not_Undead]

Oh, you know that I agree w/ ya. Just pointing out that the 1st amendment don't mean shit when the SHTF in the ZA. Hell, even the 10 commandments flew right out the window in the heavily Christian state of Georgia in this scenario. It is ironic that people allow Daryl to say politically incorrect things but think Merle's a monster for doing so. Daryl's cuter and less abrasive so he gets a pass, I guess.

No. Daryl's not a murderer. It has nothing to do with racial slurs.

[DJ_HYDRAulics]

No. Daryl's not a murderer. It has nothing to do with racial slurs.

daryl is a murderer. 90% of the people in this show are murderers

[limaro]

Merle is fun to watch. He's interesting. That's all I care about, really. Characters that are all good are boring. Grey is interesting. Dark grey even more so!
I love redemption stories. Remember all the Lori hate at the end of last season? And the WD writers turned that around so that her death seemed tragic. I'd love to see the writer's overcome the Merle hatred before he dies. That's what I'm looking forward too.