Wrath

To me, it's always intriguing to watch a show that is so divisive yet still so beloved make some really bold choices. The Walking Dead has either gone out of its way to make bold choices or make the audience feel like they are avoiding making the bold choices over the years. It's often difficult to determine what the exact direction this show is going to take. With that said, tonight's episode felt like the show wanted to make a bold statement at the end of an era, but still didn't have the guts to really change the course of the show.

Let's start with the obvious thing to note which is that no one of note actually died in this episode. Sure, perhaps it's not like any character needs to go, but it's certainly something this show has made a note to do every year at the end. Plus, I don't read the comics or anything, but I'm pretty sure from what I read that more people perish during All Out War than shown on the show.

But putting that aside, I was a bit mixed on this finale. On one hand, it's a fascinating thing that the show did decide to keep Negan alive, like in the comics. To me, it just didn't seem like something that would make sense for the show to do. I love the Rick/Negan dynamic and I think it opens the door for more of this next year, but I still find it strange that we have to deal with more Negan in coming seasons. Much like Negan, Eugene is someone who I never wanted to be redeemed, especially after the 78th time he had a chance to escape last week. With that said, it's nice to see that he at least did something good to help the Survivors for once. But i truly don't care for that character anymore.

Was it just me or did the final fight seem a little bit anticlimatic as well. I get it, it's supposed to be surprising seeing it all end so quickly and Negan be betrayed. But i was just expecting a little more. But it was pretty powerful to see Rick turn to the crowd of both Saviors and his own people and give that speech, amidst the wrath coming from Maggie. Which, speaking of brings another dynamic to next season. Maggie, Jesus, and Dary planning to show Rick that they need to kill Negan? Do we really need that subplot next season? Like seriously? And how does this make any sense for Jesus to be involved with?

On a slightly side note, I loved that Dwight didn't meet his end and was allowed to drive off (essentially into the sunset) and look for his wife who left the Sanctuary over a year ago. That was a really touching moment for a character who has gone through so much in such a short period of time on the show. We will miss you Austin Amelio, but I'm sure glad that you got your own sort of happy ending.

I'm not sure what sort of direction the show goes next year, but I'm looking forward to seeing the changes that are made. Heck, I guess they did lose one character, that being Morgan. I did tune into his crossover and I think he definitely deserved a better send off than the one he got (but really didn't get). But even knowing that, it sure looks like both shows in this universe are taking an entirely different approach to their respective seasons, and I can't really argue with that.

7.6/10

I don't understand why the reviews are dominated by the 1/10 iconoclasts and the 10/10 sycophants. Neither group can write a review I'd trust. I notice the IMDb ratings tend to support the sycophants, however. I gave the season finale an eight because it was the conclusion (praise be!) of all out war. I didn't give it a nine because it failed to provide closure. I'll be terribly disappointed if I ever see Negan again. I want him gone. Out of the picture. I don't want him hanging over this series like a sword of Damocles. I thought the introduction of the new subplot was rather ham-handed and could have been introduced more slowly and with better grace in the first few episodes of season nine. I didn't give this episode a lower episode a lower score because I liked the clever way Eugene found redemption. Everybody knew Oceanside would help Hilltop eventually but I wondered how helpful they could be armed only with pointy sticks. Now I know. Nobody died that I didn't want to die. For eight seasons the survivors of the zombie apocalypse have been living off the corpse of collapsed society, eating their canned goods and burning their remaining gasoline. I would really like to see a period of relative peace in which the survivors apply their ingenuity to improved their standard of living and make the world better for generations to come. I keep wondering when the instinct to propagate is going to kick in. To the iconoclasts out there I suggest you save yourself a lot of grief and anxiety and stop watching the show, but if you do and feel compelled to write a review, do us all a favor and offer something a little more substantial than "the show stinks and I hate everyone in it."

Rick and gang head out to finally end the war with negan and the saviors.

It never ceases to amaze me the really crass 1 out 10 ratings on here, are these people just not right in the head, because they are just hating for the sake of it and it is easy to to tell because they say the same thing over and over, I am just wondering why! Too intellectual/emotional for most I expect . This story arc has gone on a long time and could have been better paced I agree but the emotional heft of the second half of the season was immense. Hope that a change comes along in the next season with some kind of end game in sight.

I have read some of the low score reviews and also some good score reviews, and can understand both points of view! I should start really by stating that I am not a comic book reader, so have not read any of The Walking Dead (shame on me, not a true fan etc etc, I get it!) books.

As such, my viewpoint is a little one-sided, and that's from the TV viewer point, and given the critical following this show has internationally, on a scale with Game of Thrones, then I think the readers of TWD are a little unfair and unrealistic to expect AMC and also the writers to follow the books to the latter, which seems to be a huge cause of disdain! As a TV fan of the show, I can understand how difficult it must be to make this show and continually come up with new ideas, if you take Game of Thrones as a case in point, there is so much going on with all the different families, that it must be a script writers dream come true...However now look at The Walking Dead, set in a time when there are not so many walking living, that it narrows the script writing substantially AND to highlight what some have already raised, most of the early seasons were along the same theme...Bump into a bad guy, play a mental chess game of is he good is he bad, then a big showdown at the end! There are only so many times that you can show that before it becomes boring!

So kudos to the writers for the bold move not to kill off Negan...And let's face it, out of all the bad guys, Negan has by far been the best adversary and major cap doffing to Jeffrey Dean Morgan, I don't think any character comes close to matching an on screen presence against Rick, than Negan does and it is down to the acting! So haters, you just want him to die?! Don't you want to see more?!

Of course, the whole premise of keeping Negan alive is to build the better future for all, and we are already seeing discontent in the camp, so I suspect a bitter rivalry to ensue in the next season that is going to bring a lot of change to the series ahead...Hence my subject heading, sometimes you have to shift it up, change things around, to continue a great show and you can't just have the same old style of bad guy comes along, battle for 10 episodes, then defeat him, it has to be more than that and this is the great opportunity ahead for the show.

I do however share one grumble, the episode just was not long enough, we are used to big episodes for end of season and this was far too short, this should really be considered in future, even if you have to cut down the episodes, similar to how Game of Thrones did!

Looking forward to season 9 already...But Fear the Walking Dead will do for now ;-)