Aside from raw turtle eating, an insane scissors incident, and an Alexandria genocide, viewers got to meet Dr. Denise Cloyd (Merritt Wever) in Episode 602. Comic fans will recognize her as the infamous doctor of the Alexandria Safe-Zone who will eventually play a pivotal role in upcoming episodes. In fact, her arrival on the show should hint at major storylines ahead.
Unlike the show, comic Denise IS a surgeon who the community heavily relies on in times of violence. Denise is a strong woman who can handle almost any situation even when her life literally depends on it. Although the Wolves storyline isn’t a part of the comics, Denise comes the rescue of several Alexandrians (including main characters) under the most stressful of circumstances. In the comics, she eventually develops a relationship with Heath and gains Rick’s trust after a big event. Little is known about her pre-Alexandria life.
Expanding on her comic arc would only serve to spoil major plot points; so just know we’ll be seeing a lot more of Dr. Cloyd throughout the season.
Outside of The Walking Dead, actress Merritt Wever has been on other popular shows. Check it!
Merritt Wever as Zooey in New Girl (via Hitflix).
Merritt Wever as Elizabeth in New Girl (via Entertainment Weekly).
SO comic AND show fans, what do you think the future holds for Denise? Let us know in the comments below!
I think she might get to put an eye patch on some random cast member.
She’s either gonna have to come around & make things work, working with what she can…
or she’s gonna die.
She might do both. Wolves gotta hunt. Walkers gotta eat.
I’m really worried about the television adaptation of Dr. Cloyd. Because, she’s got a very long way to come, and an extreme amount of development to undergo(especially in the morale/confidence/courage dept.) if she’s to be expected to succeed in saving the life of TWD’s most infamous son; our own beloved prince of the apocalypse. So much of the story, and the literal fate of ASZ itself depends solely on her ability to save the heir apparent. Because it’s this that pushes Rick to once again evolve; becoming an even better, stronger, and relentlessly focused and driven leader. It’s this moment, the fear, the hope, the fragile confidence in Cloyd’s abilities that gives Rick the strength to galvanize and rally the broken spirits of the ASZ residents. An otherworldly feverpitch is reached in this moment; and all the tension, the emotions, the fear, the hope, the violence, the love and subsequent hatred all fall together perfectly to create a force of nature that empowers Rick to be able to beat back the horde and pull ASZ back from the brink of total annihilation at the very last possible moment.
Denise has no idea how big of a role she’s about to find herself in; and she couldn’t even begin to fathom how instrumental her performance is to the fate of the entire community. If she fails; they all die–if she succeeds they all triumph. It all teeters on her shoulder; and right now those shoulders are looking precariously weak and dangerously fragile. She’s got a long way to go before I feel confident in her ability to stuff someone’s brains back inside their head and get their clock ticking again.
Finally someone gets it. I said as much on Facebook and all I got for responses was “We aren’t talking about those stupid comics” type responses. Some things can’t and shouldn’t be changed.
I am surprised that more folks are commenting on the juxtaposition of how Holly killed Denise in the comic and Denise’s ineptness kills Holly in the TV show. I snickered a bit when I realized.
johnson.tres Damn I didn’t even think about that! I was too wrapped up in being pissed that Holly died without a single line! I suppose Francine will fill the gap of some of her story moving forward, or perhaps Sasha may fill in as she has sometimes with Andrea. Holly played a big part in the AOW storyline!
Merritt Weaver as Zoey on Nurse Jackie, not New Girl! 🙂
I was really disappointed with the half assed way they introduced her, like she’s been there all along, but no one’s ever mentioned her before. At least with Heath they made it a somewhat plausible explanation of his absence, even though it was still a shitty introduction for him too. Did everyone just fail to mention that they had another group out scavenging who could return at anytime? No one was on the lookout for them coming back? I’m not liking the new Denis’s “female version of Eugene” personality either. Unless she grows a pair and find her confidence soon, I hope she’s only there to further develop Heath’s character and that she winds up walker food sooner than later. Like next episode or two would be good, she ain’t saving no body!
Lol give nervous nisey a break. I think the directors know what they’re doing. Just like they did with Daryl Carol Morgan farther Gabriel Deanna so on and so forth. Changing their personalities creates deeper drama and suspense for the show…… (WHICH IS NOT THE COMIC BTW), I think she’ll step up just in time for her to make a difference. I just noticed that Holly thing but I’m behind Francine and Sasha getting that Holly Andrea story line at some point. . they’re doing a good job casting and flipping characters
I have all the faith in the world for the directors, writers and show runners, they do know what they’re doing and they do it well. And I’ll probably be proven wrong, but that was just my initial reaction to her introduction. I don’t expect the show to perfectly parallel the comics, which is a big part of why the show is so awesome, it’s got enough similarities to get you excited for where they’re going and what could be coming next, but it’s different enough to keep you completely surprised, they do an amazing job with that. We all think that Denise will have a huge role to play in the upcoming events based on the comics, but it doesn’t seem like they’ll be going that route with her based on her setup, so it will be very interesting to see how they handle that and work around that and what kind of role she’s actually going to play.
Fun to make comparisons, but so much more fun & easier when you can separate the show from the comic & let the characters be who they are, despite names & whether or not they’re actually supposed to be an exact adaptation. As for Denise in particular, she’s nothing like her comic counterpart, in actions & looks… but for me, she doesn’t need to be, as long as her characterization is good. Carol did this to me.
That’s a really good point too. I don’t think any of us cared about Carol in the beginning the way we do now, considering her beginnings. They are similar in timidness to Dr. Cloyd