I knew AMC was going to try to ride the waves of last year’s social media storm to address Melissa’s return—yes, return—but I was really hoping they wouldn’t be this gross about it. It's more confirmation they want to cast a wider net for RTD S1 and apparently for Dead City as well. What puzzles me is why they think gaslighting is going to accomplish anything for them long-term.
Caryl fans will be the core audience for Caryl’s eventual show. In theory they should be kept happy, but instead they're getting jerked around, alienated, and lumped together under the toxic umbrella even though it was only a small fraction of fans who had crossed the line. Many others were expressing reasonable concerns about the loss of a highly-anticipated show in a reasonable tone.
Carylers are often considered the most “passionate” fans in the entire TWD community, but they are also the most perceptive. They can read between the lines without Melissa having to utter one single syllable on the matter, and maybe if some of the men in this franchise learned the power of silence, they could earn half the respect Melissa has not only from fans, but coworkers and the industry as a whole.
That’s the biggest issue I can’t wrap my head around here, more so than the mistreatment of fans. This incredibly talented, most lauded, most beloved actress is put through hell—pushed out of her own show, slandered by coworkers who had no business speaking on her behalf or spreading a narrative that Melissa's team did not legally agree to—and when she finally comes out on the other side of it, a male actor needing validation for his own—wait for it—toxic behavior is handed the microphone again? That’s how AMC chooses to get the word out?
I guess we’ll see how many more viewers they manage to wrangle for S1 when it airs, but speaking for myself, I cannot and will not support S1 of RTD. I don't support Dead City, I don't support JDM, or the misogyny that seems to plague TWDU these days. It’s Caryl's earned romantic arc or bust for me.
Melissa looked happy as a clam in all of her photos. You’d think she’d be allowed to have her time to shine and that her fans could rejoice without the rug being pulled out from under them every few days. She is the only person who deserves praise for coming back—yes, coming back. The best thing anyone else did was fix what they broke.
Like I mentioned before, the promotion ahead is going to feel like whiplash, and I’m really not looking forward to it. I was happy to see that most of yesterday's buzz from fans—unlike that tweet and subsequent headlines—was centered on Melissa, specifically the thrill of having her back—yes, back—so there is that.
