It's not.

If anything, Travis being afraid of Chris will probably push Chris further away and make Travis look weaker than he already is. Looking pathetically weak will make Travis vulnerable; not only to Team USA$$w!pe but to whomever he comes across.

Travis, as of right now, is not cut from the same cloth his wife or Strand are. If he wants to save his son, he can't allow his fear of his son (regardless of whether they are legitimate or not) to consume him.

 

And OMG, how I HATED Dale. I was so glad to see him die a horribly painful death.

 

They made a movie about Chris and Travis. It was called Dumb and Dumber.

 

Zvivor,
You make a lot of good points.
Regarding
Travis, I honestly laughed when he had to refer to the idiots guide to seamanship to figure out how to clear the boats cooling water intake. OK... so that wasn't the real name of the book, but what the hey.

BUT, he went from needing a book for the simplest task, to hot-wiring a computer controlled ship, with undoubtedly built in anti-theft circuits. No book, no manual, no call to boating 911 how to steal a boat.

Again, I think the director needs to step in and give him some direction. Make him the more dominant character he is capable of becoming. Both he and Chris, (and most of the cast) have to quit that dumb, expressionless, staring at nothing look.

Travis' problem with Chris reminds me of something my friend once told me. My friend's son told her while he was still in high school. Mom, I don't get into trouble, because I CHOOSE to not get into trouble. OR... I am good because I choose to be good. In other words, If I chose to be bad, there is nothing that you could do about it. Let's face it, people, kids, get to a point in their life's where they choose their path. Could Travis physically punish Chris, if he wanted to. Sure, but he definitely does not want to do that, and he knows that would not be effective. In this episode he told him... this is what we are going to do. We are going to stay here. We have a farm, water, etc. His response... er uh, yeah dad, let's check out the barn. He wants to play with the kids who are a little older, but more his age.

So when Chris shot the farmer, Travis came to realize how uncivilized his son has become. It is an "oh SH%$T" moment for Travis.

I think that he'll stay with his son, and his son with him. Travis will still try to negotiate situations, and try to bring some morality to his son, he'll probably fail on both counts, BUT... Chris will also stay to protect his dad if he sees that he needs protection. As Travis was limping along the road, Chris offered him the little water they had, and offered to stop and take a break. Dad wanted to push on. IMO there was definite concern on the kid's face for his dad.

So is Chris going to go down the path of just killing anything that gets in his way, or is any kind of threat? Absolutely. Any remorse? No freaking way.
Does he get off on killing... is it a power trip? Yeah... I think so.

 

I disagree. I don't think that Travis is afraid OF Chris, but rather he is afraid FOR Chris.

If Travis looks like he is afraid to you, it must be that he is trying to portray the fact that he is afraid that he doesn't know how to turn his son around from the Dark Side.

 

I see your point.

There is one sure way Travis can turn his son around, or at least slow him down; by toughening up and instilling a sense of healthy fear in his son (a la Rick Grimes' attitude to the group at the end of season 2).

Of course, Travis doesn't seem to be capable of that. But it's possible. Chris hasn't completely written off his father yet.

 

I don't recall what happened at the end of season 2 of TWD.
I think Chris said that he killed 17 infected. He also now killed 3 living. I don't think there is any turning back, and again... no remorse. He is more and more confident in his abilities (well at least in killing).

The question with Chris is... will he just kill for the matter of convenience, or will he become a psychopathic killer, torturing his victims first.

 

I'd like to avoid a Carol/Lizzie rehash with Travis and Chris. Turning the tables and having Chris kill his own father would be the best way to differentiate the two storylines. Although I loathe the idea of Chris having a larger role as some kind of villain, just because his scenes are already a struggle to sit through. Sooooo let him kill Travis, then have Strand tie him to a wall and let Madison kill him with a barrage of shot glasses.

EDIT: That last part was kind of a joke, but in all seriousness Chris dying by shot glass might be the most satisfying death ever written.

 

Thanks PepperAnn!

 

You know me too well...
[MENTION=110372]Poppy[/MENTION]
Yeah I'm referring to S2.E13 after the group meets back up. Now that I think about it, Lori was horrified, Glenn and Maggie were super uncomfortable and Carol was like "Nah bro, I'd rather take my chances out on the road by myself." Fortunately for everyone, Daryl was able to talk her out of it.

So Carol has always been flighty.

 

Yeah remember back in S1.E3 when Chris really wanted to learn how to use a gun. Madison (pro-2nd amendment) and Travis (anti-2nd amendment) ended up arguing about it for a little bit and Daniel ended up teaching Chris anyway.

And then, remember when they met the survivalist family on that island early this season? Chris - like Sasha, Abraham and Rick - started killing zombies as a way to cope with the death of his mother and his feelings towards his father.

It's a slippery slope.

The only difference between the TWD heroes that went off the deep end and Chris is that the TWD heroes had people like Maggie, Andrea, Bob and Hershel to help turn them around.

Because Travis doesn't have the moral fortitude to do for Chris what Hershel did for Rick, Chris will die or become a villain.

 

People keep laying it on Travis, IMO, that's not fair. And comparing Rick and Chris to each other is like apples and oranges.
Rick was good and had moral convictions from the outset.
Not so much with Chris.

Eventually Rick would kill to protect his own.
Chris is doing the same thing.

I think the difference is that Rick was never really happy about it, but I am afraid (ha, like I really care) that Chris is beginning to enjoy it. I don't think that he has enough morality in his spirit to come back from the place he is already at. And as you said, it's a slippery slope, well he is already sliding down hill at an accelerating pace.

 

Me, too. I HATED Dale and his sanctimonious ways. Can't say I was happy to see him suffer like he did in the end, but I was glad when he died. I don't think Dale would have ever changed, but I'm thinking maybe, just maybe, Travis has a chance to adapt - without becoming as evil, or if you don't like that word, sociopathic and/or psychopathic a person as his son seems to be heading toward.

 

I liked Dale, not because I agreed with everything he said, but because Jeffrey DeMunn is a great actor to watch on screen. He was actually better adapted to the ZA than Season 2 Hershel. Just as a matter of script, I think Dale actually would have changed, starting in Season 3, and become more likable, because if Jeff hadn't quit, he was suppose to get Hershel's Season 3 and 4 role. Hershel was suppose to die in Beside The Dying Fire. It would be kind of interesting to see how that played out in an alternate universe, although I too am glad it happened the way it did.

I also think Travis maybe has a chance. We as diehard TWD fans actually might have a bit of an advantage in a real ZA, because we've already spent 6 years discussing and accepting things that we'd have to do to survive. But your average joe blow who has never given it any thought would probably, realistically, behave a lot more like Travis than Maddie or Strand. For every one Michonne or Daryl there'd be like 15 Travises, completely lost in the world. I like to think most of them would adapt over time. With Travis, I suppose we shall see....

 

We'd be all like putting bullets in the brains of any survivors who posed any serious threat to our group, and doing it without much emotional anguish, and people would be like "woah....what were you....Navy Seal?"

"Nope. I was obsessed with The Walking Dead. Plus I stayed at a holiday Inn Express last night".

 

As much as I enjoyed Dale (and felt that DeMunn did a lot more justice to a morally grounded character than Cliff Curtis), I have a hard time imagining this playing out in my head. Probably because Scott Wilson brought such a warmth to Hershel in S3/4 that I can't picture DeMunn matching. It would have been great to have kept him around, though. There was really no one in the original main cast that I particularly disliked, it was such a shame to see him go so soon.

 

Yeah, it would have been interesting to see Dale's reaction to the feud with the governor.

The chemistry of the original cast was rare, and as much as I love most of the current actors, when you go back and watch season 1/2 there is really a special magic there. I credit that to Frank Darabont.

 

Definitely. It probably also helps that it was a significantly smaller cast. Not that I necessarily dislike how large the current cast is, but it's a different kind of special connection the audience can have with a tight-knit group with some outstanding chemistry.

I think I'm gonna go re-watch S1/2 now.