5 Reasons Why Lori Grimes is One of the Most Important Characters in The Walking Dead

[zihna]

5 Reasons Why Lori Grimes is One of the Most Important Characters in The Walking Dead

(or, Why the Walking Dead Isn’t About Heroes, It’s About People)

Word Count: ~5,000
Warnings: Strong language, strong opinions, mentions of suicide and sex, discussion of abortion and marriage, character death
Author's Notes:  So this one got a bit out of hand (it wa

Comments

[anonymous]

I probably shouldn't even read things like this; I have become much too invested in this, anyway, as it is. But since I already did... I understand where you're coming from with this and I agree with most of it actually. That said I doubt Lori will ever become a favourite for me. My trouble with her character is how little insight she seems to possess, into others and herself, and how she constantly seems to avoid owning her views/actions; and she is someone who ruthlessly tears into others. I haven't been watching season 3, but I have heard that she has changed her attitude, so that might no longer be true.
I am afraid I really don't see her doing such a great job of supporting Rick. She has her moments, like telling Carol/the group off for blaming Rick for Sophia's disappearance or reassuring Rick after his fight with Shane that he isn't too soft. But then she goes to Shane, reassuring him that she does not "always aggree" with Rick, or even worse brings Shane into the fight, when Rick won't aggree with her. I believe she could have done a lot to end the ongoing struggle between these two, had she simply stood up to Shane and told him that Rick's choice to hold on to his morals is her choice as well. Instead she let Shane continue to draw on his hope that she was seeing things like he did.
Then there was the thing with Randall: Rick was so obviously conflicted and he turned to her, over and over, but she refused to take a side, simply telling him "he'll do the right thing" - which I believe in her eyes he does, because he doesn't go through with the execution; she just looks so happy/ relieved/ smitten with him, when she comforts him.
Another point is I don't think that Shane lied to Lori about Rick. He already risked his life just by entering the hospital and going to Rick's room, but he only left after the electricity went down and he had checked for signs of life. He cried. The reason he blocked the room I believe was a way to protect Rick's body from getting eaten. After all, burying them is what we want to do for the people we love, when we can no longer do anything else for them. Lori puts the entire blame for their affair on Shane - and up to that point Shane has done nothing that would justify such an accusation. I feel this is similar to Lori's reaction when Rick confesses that he has killed Shane: Carl is 12, so they have been married for 13 years at least; up to that point he has not shown any signs of being a cold blooded killer, nor does he show them at that moment; instead he is visibly distraught. I don't say you should turn a blind eye on everything somebody does, because you love them, but I actually think that Rick has by that point deserved some faith from her.
So that was a lot. I'm sorry. T_T
Just a point I'm a little confused about - how is it Rick is supposed to be able to make everybody listen, but still be incapable of talking to people? I have heard that quite a few times - that Rick is supposedly bad to get his point across - but he does some pretty catchy phrases...

[zihna]

It's okay! You don't have to agree or like Lori! This post wasn't meant for people who are going to dislike her no matter what.

But, since we're here, let's break this down!

1) She "tears ruthlessly into" people on exactly two occasions, as far as I can tell; One is Shane, for lying to her and acting like he owns the rights to her vagina, and the other is Andrea when Andrea criticizes the way Lori is acting and gives the opinion that Beth should be allowed to kill herself if she wants. Lori's anger in this scene is perhaps unjustified and so misogynistic it makes me sick, but it's understandable.

2a)There's a different between telling a long-term, well-trusted friend that she doesn't always agree with her husband and then badmouthing him to the rest of the group. Whenever Rick has to make a public decision, she supports him. Privately she might disagree--she's her own person, after all, she's allowed to have her own opinions--but never in a setting where it could undermine Rick's authority.

b) She does try and end the Rick/Shane conflict--she makes it very, very clear as soon as Rick comes back that she is and will always be on Rick's side. Even when she finds out she's pregnant she tells Shane that the baby is Rick's. She shuts him down completely. It's pretty damn clear whose side she's on--Shane just can't let go. And that's his fault, not hers.

c) To the Randall thing; no, she didn't tell Rick what to do. She didn't give him any answers or a yes or no. But that's not her job either. She isn't his moral compass or his mother--it's not her job to make all the tough choices for him. In the end, Rick and Rick alone has to decide what he wants to hang on his conscience--that isn't Lori's call to make for him. So when she said, "You'll make the right choice," she wasn't saying that she had the answers but just wasn't going to give them to him, she was saying, "No matter what, I'll support you."

3) Shane is Another Meta for Another Time, but there is a misunderstanding here that I'd like to clear up; Shane as of "Tell it to the Frogs" hadn't lied to Lori, but she believed he did. That's what I'm saying. She thought that he lied and instead of him sitting her down and explaining himself, he proceeded to assault and lie to her until his death. So, yeah, Not Good.

Also, she doesn't put the entire affair on Shane--she admits to Rick that she and Shane had a relationship. She doesn't say "he pushed me into it" or "it was his idea." She doesn't do that. She accepts the responsibility for her actions--namely her pregnancy--and moves on. Shane is the one who doesn't move on.

4) Lori's reaction to Rick killing Shane isn't actually in response to Rick killing Shane! Watch that scene again--watch how she acts. She doesn't get angry at Rick for what happened to Shane. She knew that Shane was on the way downhill. She knew that he was getting increasingly erratic and dangerous. She knew that her husband has just had to make a terrible, terrible choice and kill the man he loved like a brother.

She doesn't get mad until Rick says that it was Carl who put down Shane's reanimated body. She's only upset when her son--who is only twelve, who's already lost so much in terms of good memories--was forced to kill a man he looked up to like another father. That's when she gets angry. It's not that she doesn't have any faith in Rick, it's that her little boy is no longer a child and she's realized that she can't protect him from the shithole that is the world anymore.

Don't be sorry! It's okay to have your own opinions and to hash them out with other people.

Also, 5) Communication and leadership aren't necessarily the same thing. Rick is a really good leader, but he's a really, really bad communicator. His personal philosophy, after all, is "Don't talk, think." See, Rick has his moments of inspiration when he could say "jump" and you'd throw yourself off a fucking bridge, but when it comes to actually talking about his thoughts, feelings, worries, fears, et cetera, (or all the fucking secrets he's got stuffed under his hat, jesus h christ) he's really kind of shitty. And that's not good, since his thoughts, feelings, et cetera are kind of what everyone is following.