Time for After

This has collapsed faster than a zombies head from a blow of Rick's Axe. Ok, it's never been the most cranial series but, a new low. I am writing this after watching next weeks episode, which is worse!

The cast are just not good enough actors to carry this. Will the next season get made?

I was looking forward to season 8 thinking that the writers may realise it is time to up their game - but it hasn't happened.

Instead of coming up with interesting and engaging story lines it seems as though they have resorted to formula writing.

Characters all seem to have their 'slot' to spout some kind of meaningless monologue of supposed 'wisdom' relating to their predicament that really adds nothing to the story whatsoever, and is more forgettable for its content that it is memorable for being a junction in the story to go and do something else more interesting with your life - like laundry.

It feels as though the story has been written merely to move characters from A to B with nothing in between or at either end.

This series is stale and uninteresting. Time for it to finish unless the story changes and the main characters get a bit of a spark about them.

After last week's very uneventful episode, I had little expectations for 'Time for After'. This whole "All out War" story has slowed down to just a rehash of most of last season's back half episode arcs. And it just feels like it's taking a long time to get to the end result of this 'war', while at the same time it doesn't feel right if the conflict ends next week with Rick taking down Negan, capturing him, or whatever they end up doing. I've liked this season thus far, but it just feels like there's been a slowed tension and a lack of build up to the mid-season finale. And this big moment that AMC is teasing for next week? Yeah it better be good.

Tonight was a big Eugene-Dwight episode, two characters that could not have gone in more different directions these last bunch of episodes. Dwight has developed more depth and reasoning behind his decisions than I ever thought he would, but is also putting himself into position to dying next week. It's almost guaranteed at this point. Eugene on the other-hand is making a case to not be redeemable at all, and the only thing keeping him from going too far is not telling Negan about Dwight's betrayal. Otherwise, I don't see any reason to let Eugene back into the group assuming he makes it out of these next batch of episodes alive.

Rick spent the majority of the episode in his underwear trying to convince Jadis and The Scavengers to join them in the fight against The Saviors. Why? Well, for some reason Rick still believes they can be trusted. Or maybe he is going to double cross them just like they did to him last year? That would be welcomed, although I find it more likely The Scavengers will back out when time is most vital.

Meanwhile, at The Sanctuary Morgan, Daryl, and Tara enacted a plan to send the walkers inside the building to draw The Saviors out. Much like last season, this was yet another inner team conflict as both Rosita and Michonne claimed they couldn't be a part of such an act as it put the workers from the sanctuary at risk of dying. Well, at least Rosita learned her lesson from last year right? I don't know how much consequence will come of this choice by Daryl, Tara, and Morgan, but I doubt this won't be addressed next week. Then again, all I really hope is that we stop getting episode one-offs with the team at odds with each other. Can Rick not spend one episode away from Alexandria without this happening?

6.6/10

Am not saying this out of spite, despite how this sounds to anybody defending the episode and season. This is due to frustration, due to knowing how brilliant 'The Walking Dead' was at its best and the brilliance it was capable of. Season 7 was a very heavily flawed season with moments of good, while Season 8 repeated the same flaws, managed to make them even worse and made more on the way. Which were evident in most of the season with a few exceptions.

"Time for After" is another one of Season 8's worst and another one of 'The Walking Dead's' biggest duds. Very little works and the worst of the bad components are executed awfully. It also sees one of the fandom's least favourite characters at his most annoying. Again, am not saying this out of spite or wanting to hate it, absolutely no agenda here. Merely an honest opinion of real frustration and disappointment, and contrary to what defenders say that is actually the case with the vast majority of those that hated the episode and season (especially when there are valid reasons for the dislike and not personal attacks or conspiracy theories).

Do think that almost the entire cast do a game effort with what they have, which is truly beneath them. The acting is definitely the least bad aspect here.

There are points where the production values have a nice atmosphere that is suitably unforgiving.

Unfortunately, "Time for After" fails everywhere else. The writing, story and the way the characters are written are, very bad. Anybody that hated the writing in Season 7 will hate it even more here. It doesn't thought-provoke, have emotion or suspense and is not tight, it is all aimless, tedious talk in pure soap melodrama style with a lot of awkwardness and repetition. Eugene's dialogue made me cringe into my seat. Not only does "Time for After" lack any kind of tension, is too thin for the running time, is pretty much constantly exactly what you expect and is painfully dull a lot of the time. Not much happens, with none of it interesting, and nothing or nobody advances in development really.

Furthermore, the action far from explodes. Actually found it lacking in cohesion visually, ridiculously staged and pedestrian and that's when there was any. The characters are all dull or annoying, with decision making and motives that defy all kinds of logic and makes one want to bang their head against a wall. Eugene has never been a favourite character of mine and that is putting it mildly, here he is at his most reprehensible and impossible to get behind. Considering that most of the episode is centered him that is a big problem. Personally didn't think his development was that illuminating and it did little for his character or for anybody to change their mind, his dialogue is also risible to an insulting degree. The episode doesn't even look good generally, excepting moments of unforgiving atmosphere in namely the lighting, found it quite disorganised and self-indulgent especially in the final act.

Very bad episode once again. 2/10.

Showing the emotional conflict of Eugene was effective in my opinion, but that cannot save this episode. It is way too slow, and daryl acts like a maniacal idiot.