Norma should have survived... [SPOILERS FOR TWD: Michonne and S3E3]

Clemenem

After seeing episode 3, I've come to realize Joan reminds me a lot of Norma. They're both strong willed middle aged women in high positions of their respective groups only Norma seems a bit more rough around the edges. I think keeping her alive and having her play a major role in Season 3 would have added to her development and make her reasoning for ordering raids a bit more "understandable" not to mention be one of Telltale's first attempt at a long running villain. Thoughts?

Dan10

Except Norma wasn't evil. Norma was the good person really. She even offers peaceful terms after Michonne destroys her home and whole community.

DabigRG

Yeah, I made that connection too eventually.

I suppose keeping Norma around would've been a neat touch for making the Michonne mini-series feel more relevant along with having a recurring villain, but I'm fine with Joan as is. After all, Norma was a big, sometimes thuggish Cajun from the same family as Randall, which doesn't make her potentially reasonable demeanor to believable after a point since she looks like she could get rough and tumbling. Joan, on the other hand, gives off a different feeling by virtue of being a Korean(?) that's smaller, more softspoken, and formal despite her under the table operations and the company she keeps. Not mention we've already seen/heard that Norma can get pretty violent throughout the miniseries, while Joan thus far is far more controlled even when being challenged.

TheSloaningDead

I mean, sure they're similar in stature and appearance.

But once it comes to the spectrum of survival, they're entirely different people.

Joan is a little more cold and calculated. Like, a whole lot more. She has more composure than Norma, who just gets violent and mad. Norma cares about her community, sure. But Joan's ideals to keep The New Frontier going are basically The Savior's logic on crack.

See, Negan kills one person and takes half of the community's stuff. He keeps those communities alive so that they can produce more for them. It's evil, but effective for his group.

Joan?

KILL EVERYONE AND TAKE ALL OF THEIR SHIT FOR OUR BENEFIT GNYAAAAHH!" ...Joan can try to justify that to her heart's content. But what she's doing is below The Saviors, who were sought to be the worst villains for the longest time.

Norma and Joan have similar designs but they're totally different people. Joan is basically the Hillary Clinton of the apocalypse, and Norma is just an ill-tempered woman that prefers to be passive but can't actually bring herself to do it.

DabigRG

But Joan's ideals to keep The New Frontier going are basically The Savior's logic on crack.KILL EVERYONE AND TAKE ALL OF THEIR SHIT FOR OUR BENEFIT GNYAAAAHH!" ...Joan can try to justify that to her heart's content. But what she's doing is below The Saviors, who were sought to be the worst villains for the longest time.

Oh yeah, that is what she basically did, isn't it? Guess how chill she is makes it easy for you to forget; well, that and the fact that Badger was running the show there.