TylerWebb19

The Walking Dead is coming up to it's 10th Season, and while the show hasn't always been great it certainly has taken us on a journey.

Season's 1-5 were great. It showed us this world where the outbreak has consumed people and order, so people are willing to do whatever it takes to survive. It follows the main protagonist, Rick Grimes, and his quest to find a safe place for his people, which proves to be a difficult task where trust no longer exists.

Season 6 continued to stay great, it showed the characters dealing with the Walkers and trying to maintain order, however in the second half of the season we meet Jesus. He open's up the world of The Walking Dead and just when Rick and his group think they are the strongest people out there and that they having nothing to fear, Negan comes around. Jeffrey Dean Morgan proves to be the perfect cast for Negan, showing us just how evil people have become. Despite Negan, the finale takes us into Seasons 7&8 which are rather disappointing.

The first half of Season 7 is somewhat dull, we see Negan taking full control of Rick's people and it doesn't provide much of a viewing experience since there is no intensity. They are just providing for Negan rather than him acting as an antagonist. Next half of Season 7 begins the build up to the War against Negan and season 8 gives us the All-out War storyline from the comics. It is drawn out across the season with wonky writing which you would've thought killed the show.

Despite this 2 Season long mess, we get a new screenwriter, Angela Kang. She has done wonders for this show so far and has really impressed me with Season 9. Season 9 takes the show in a new direction which makes the show feel fresh and exiting again. It also gives multiple episodes which are standout among the entire show.

8/10 - Great.

I enjoyed the first two seasons a lot, perhaps this is bias having recently been playing The Witcher 3 at the time of watching the show, but it's fight scenes, visuals and performances were thoroughly entertaining. If you are not familiar with any Witcher media then you may find it a little confusing as season 1 begins telling two stories in different time periods, featuring the same characters in parallel.

Season 3 is a massive let down. I enjoyed the first two episodes and after that the story slowed dramatically. Characters begin their own journeys and don't achieve the goal they set out, as well as make irrational decisions.

The plot is far too confusing; it spends a lot of time around the political aspects between the different geographic areas, but it's far too convoluted and doesn't give you a reason to care. You probably won't remember who's on who's side and where they are from and what they want because the show does a poor job of explaining this.

Ultimately, everything the season builds up to comes crashing down in a poorly executed climax all in one episode. It's akin to being stuck in neutral and then suddenly driving off a cliff. The worst part is this episode is NOT the final OR penultimate episode, therefore the rest of the season feels wasted as the story does not progress any further.

The visuals and action scenes remain very enjoyable. The performances are still stellar, particularly Henry Cavill as Geralt and Freya Allan as Ciri.

Season 3 tells a story that could have been told in 4 episodes max, in 8 episodes. Despite this, the story is still incomplete and not satisfactory.

I cannot currently recommend this show to anybody, as there doesn't really seem to be an audience for it. Fans of the source material will find an unfaithful adaption, people new to the Witcher may find it confusing, and if you don't then the show isn't that great anyway since the release of season 3. Instead I recommend playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, it's a fantastic game and a much better use of your time.

Seasons 1-3: 7/10.

Hot Take: The Mandalorian is not good.

I'll divide this review into two parts, one for each season.

Season 1 opens with a promising start to the series, it has incredible action and visuals, and the plot was simple. The following episode developed the story enough to keep us interested, and it was short so I had no problem with the "side-quest style" episode. Episode 3 is by far the peak of the entire series. It's about the only time we really get to see that the Mandalorian cares for this child, and this is a great episode for his development, as he proves that he has real emotion inside of his tough exterior, and that he makes it his own business to protect the child. The next 3 episodes are bad. They are all filler episodes, and not good ones either. The plot becomes dumb, I would have to give spoilers to explain how (I won't), but basically the characters don't make logical decisions. When the plot finally resumes in ep 7, the show is enjoyable again, and highlights the best of the series. Simple plot, limited characters, great action, visuals, music, everything is great.

Season 2 is worse. Almost every episode follows this format: Mando finds someone that can help him and tell him where to go, they tell him only if he helps them first, he helps them and flies off to the next episode. It's repetitive, boring, filler, no advancements in the plot. Some of these episodes are better filler episodes than those of season 1, they aren't as dumb in plot and pack a little more tension, however there are more filler episodes in this season. This season just feels like a role-playing game and side-quests played only, rather than a TV series with an engaging narrative, characters that have character and a sensible plot. I will refrain from giving spoilers or talking about each episode as it would take too long, but a common issue that has been prevalent throughout all of Star Wars is that Storm Troopers pose 0 threat. Without spoiling, Chapter 14 demonstrates how dumb the writing is, and how they treat enemies in this universe. Storm Troopers have untrained aim, they seem to have their orders changed from "kill on sight" (they do this when they chase Mando and Mates) to "capture the enemy" (when the writers think it's time for some action from the good-guys) , whichever benefits the heroes the most. Plot armour is astonishingly tough, more-so than Beskar. There are always multiple troopers but they always attack one by one, and not from range with their blasters, instead they run towards their enemy just to be knocked out/killed by a melee weapon. Each episode up until the last is either alright or bad. Alright = filler but nothing terribly wrong with the episode. I'll praise the sets, costumes and visual achievements in this show. But the narrative is bad. The final episode of the season is great though. I think the ending of it was cool to look at but entirely fan service. This episode concludes the plot in a sensible way. The arc is finished though and if there is a 3rd season this show will have to go in a completely new direction, as there isn't really a door open for season 3. Furthermore this season seems to include loads of fan service simply to lay the ground-work for upcoming Disney+ shows.

If there is another season, I'll debate watching it. This show was made to simply distract those from the sequel trilogy. It respects the original trilogy, includes loads of fan-service and lacks an engaging plot most of the time, at best it's a simple plot. This keeps younger viewers engaged as they can just watch the action. But this is what Star Wars fans enjoy, so fair enough. However, I do not.

6/10.