Author: Darren Lucas

The Walking Dead Ended on a High

For years I used to watch every episode of The Walking Dead, every week through the popular and slammed seasons. I never cared what other people thought, I enjoyed the show, till a stage. There was a stage when I did give up and we will get into why soon. However, I have finished up the show now with my attention drawn to the new spin-off show ‘The Ones Who Live’.

Today, I am going to look back at why I stopped and how I felt about the show ending the way it did.

THERE WILL BE FULL SPOILERS FOR EVERY SEASON OF THE SHOW HERE.

The Walking Dead Ended on a High

Why I Stopped Watching?

There were two main reasons why I stopped watching.

Announcing Who was Leaving?

I got tired of the show announcing who was leaving, taking away any suspense surrounding what was happening. A couple of early incidents included the endless rumours Chandler Riggs wanted to leave to attend college. This is good for the actor to better himself and as with many television shows, the child characters age out quickly. Sonequa Martin-Green was another one who was announced as the lead in the new Star Trek Discovery series. These two were the first bigger known moments.

However, this wasn’t the end, a few supporting characters stepping away is acceptable, as people are always going to be looking to improve their careers. It was Andrew Lincoln and Lauren Cohan being announced to leave during Season 9 that hurt the most. That is the main character in the show and one of the major supporting characters. I also understand that this can happen in any show, but it needed to be a surprise, rather than, ‘I’m out after this season’.

Their final episode in season 9 is when I stepped away from watching the show. It was added to for my reasoning when Danai Gurira was also announced to leave in season 10. For me, shows need to stop telling the audience when major characters are leaving the show.

There was another major ruined moment in the show when after the other show Lauren Cohan left to join got cancelled, they announced she would return. Her return was a surprise in the show, but the fans had been made aware it was happening.

Changed Network

The second reason I stopped watching, was losing access to the show. From the first episode airing on the Sky channel FX, I would return every week for the next episode. I believe it eventually started airing at the same time as the US Premier meaning I could watch after work and spoilers were never on the internet.

However, that changed when season 11 was suddenly moved to Disney Plus. I know I had missed a season and a half, but most of that was because of the previous reason. The announcement of the change had come earlier which lost my interest in the first place.

Life After Rick Grimes

The show did a good job at presenting the end of Rick Grimes on the show. It saw him saving his people by leading a horde away from their communities. Every character in the show believed he was more than likely dead, but had hope he might still be alive somewhere. Meanwhile, the audience knows he lived on being taken somewhere for safety.

On the other hand, Maggie left in the same episode and her disappearance is explained as she went in search of other communities. We didn’t even get a goodbye moment, just left, which was disappointing.

The Time Jump

The show jumped 6 years into the future and Judith is now 8 years old and helping a group of new survivors. She has only ever known this world and taken on everything Carl taught her about giving people a chance. The new characters she helps are Yumiko, Magna, Connie, Kelly and Luke. However, Michone doesn’t let people in easily, despite Judith trying to convince her, they are honest. These five characters would become much-loved supporting characters for the remainder of the show.

The Rise of Judith

Judith became the heart and soul of the show, even if she wasn’t the main character. It felt like everything was her being stronger than she ever needed to be for the other children. She sees good in people and wants to build a community. Judith carried on the Grimes name with honour and character development I believe Carl would offer in the comic books.

In the closing episode when she gets shot by Pamela, my heart sank that the girl with the biggest heart might be lost. Luckily, she survives this incident. Even early in the series, she must keep a massive secret when Michonne leaves in search of Rick. She wants to remain strong for her friends when deep down she is broken inside. Judith brings some of the biggest emotional moments in the show and is easily one of the best-written characters in the show.

Daryl’s Path

Daryl witnesses the shot that took Rick from the community. While the show picks up 6 years later, he has spent most of that time isolated away from the communities. An ally when needed, but living alone. However, his return sees him needing to step up more often, becoming the father figure for Judith and RJ once Michonne leaves. He makes new connections with Connie and Kelly, as well as confronting Carol about her decisions.

Daryl was always seen as more of an outsider who helped keep people safe. But the decision to make him the lead was risky and paid off. He became one of the show’s most popular characters and dealt with his grief differently. This is shown in the flashback episode with his estranged relationship with Leah and their showdown through season 11.

While he does the right thing and helps people, he gets a nice send-off, as it looks like he goes on a journey to find Rick and Michonne. Everyone knows he can handle himself and a fitting goodbye to send the show.

Gabe’s Quest for Faith

Gabriel was the priest who joined the group and became a big part of Alexandra. He spent a lot of the series questioning his faith and we see his character evolve over the series. We see a vengeful figure after a close friend is killed. Someone who kills before asking questions. However, by the end of the series, he sees the light again and uses his connection to God to give people peace. He is one of many who saw their supporting role feel much bigger than it is.

Aaron becomes Rick.

Aaron is a resident of Alexandra who welcomed Rick and friends into their community. While the comic book sees Rick lose his arm, the show didn’t make that happen. Despite Andrew Lincoln wanting to be part of his character. However, they did turn Aaron into this character, taking his arm and using it as a weapon moving forward. He becomes a key fighter in protecting Alexandra and seems to take over the storylines Rick had in the comic book.

Negan’s Redemption

Negan became one of the most hated characters in the series after what he did to Glen and in the show Abraham. A lot like the comic book, Rick doesn’t kill him and keeps him prisoner. However, he becomes the key person in fighting back against the Whispers. Before having to work with Maggie. While most of the series sees him doing good, it is his final conversation with Maggie that makes us understand how he has begged for forgiveness. Even if we learn that he feels more motivation for his original actions.

Ezekiel, The Fallen King

Ezekiel runs the Kingdom and due to Michonne’s troubles, finds his people struggling with supplies. Once the Whispers arrive on the scene, things become more complicated and personal for the King. He loses a son and a Kingdom but remains positive about the changes which come his way.

Ezekiel gets involved in the fight while having his medical battle. He goes get cured and uses his power to help overcome the Commonwealth. His exceptional leadership skills prove important to the final fight as he looks to become a fair leader again.

Eugene’s Quest For Love

Eugene lied to survive for years but became an important part of the community due to his knowledge. He has always loved Rosita but has become his best friend through the dramas. Eugene would do anything to protect her but finds himself feeling lonely. He finds himself on the radio communicating with a stranger Stephanie, who sees everyone meeting the Commonwealth.

He has an emotional rollercoaster final season, first meeting Stephanie, before learning a more sinister plot. However, a stranger proves to be the real Stephanie and he leads the revolution against the ruler of the Commonwealth. He shows strength unlike anything before and would do anything for love (No he isn’t Meatloaf). Though, he suffers the biggest loss in the final battle.

Rosita’s Battle with Motherhood

Rosita joined the series in season 4 and was the object of Eugene’s affection for every season. She was a fierce fighter, arguably one of the greatest on Rick’s team. However, during the time lapse, she got pregnant and going into the battle with the Whispers started to want to step away from fighting. In the aftermath of that battle, she has little Coco and wants to spend more time protecting the home, than exploring the world.

The Commonwealth gave her a new role and potential security for Coco. However, when the crew gets arrested their children are taken. Rosita does everything she can to track them down, including Coco. When the first group are found, Coco is missing, leading her on another search with Eugene and her boyfriend Gabe. While they find them, the search for an escape comes at a cost. Coco isn’t the only infant they are rescuing, Rosita must figure out the best place for safety.

The audience’s hearts must have stopped when she slipped into a pile of Walkers. While we get a sense of relief when she escapes and powers through them to join the rest of the group. However, it came at a price for Rosita, who was bitten. It is one of the most tragic endings for the character, who gave everything to save her daughter. She got to celebrate the victory before getting a chance to say goodbye to her loved ones. It is a truly heartbreaking conclusion to the character’s story.

Carol’s Broken Heart

Carol has created a nice life with Ezekiel, raising their adopted son Henry. She has been trying to prepare him more and hopes Daryl can guide him more. However, when he gets close to the captured Whisper Lydia, he starts making rash decisions. It sees him being one of the victims of Alpha’s wrath and breaking Carol.

Carol finds herself slipping away into isolation, where even Daryl struggles to get through to her. Her mistakes cost lives, but they also end the war with the Whispers. In the Commonwealth, we see her ability to read people and understand a bigger situation. She has a heartbreaking goodbye with Daryl, as he starts his next adventure.

The Villains

The Whispers

The Whispers were introduced halfway through Season 9, after Rick had departed the show. I knew they were coming from the comics, but I had also stopped reading when they first got introduced. They walk around in herds of the undead, wearing masks from killed undead. The introduction was fantastic because it left you wondering if the undead were just evolving or something far more sinister. When we first hear the herd of undead communicating, it is haunting and the way the surprise dodge a kill of Jesus happens is even more surprising.

Alpha

Alpha is the leader of the Whispers, she created the group to survive and keep her daughter Lydia safe. However, once she crosses paths with our communities, she becomes far more deadly. She offers peace for her daughter but soon finds herself going to an all-out war. It escalates when she enters the Kingdom for a festival and takes out a host of characters. This includes Carol’s son Henry and the leader of Hilltop Tara.

It creates one of the most shocking moments of the series and proves she is going to become a major threat going forward. To make matters worse, she threatens them with the herd she has caught, leaving even Daryl in shock at the potential threat. She isn’t finished with her lines, as she arranges the slow breakdown of the communities, including putting someone on the inside to create more problems. Alpha is the scariest threat the crew faces because she knows her power and uses it for control.

Beta

Beta is the second in command of the Whispers. He is more aggressive and a skilled fighter and usually heads up the more intense missions. Beta is too much for Daryl to handle himself and after Alpha is killed, uses the horde to attack everywhere leaving destruction behind as he searches for blood.

The Reapers

The Reapers led by Pope felt like they would become a bigger threat. They have wiped out large communities and are talked about as stealth warriors. However, once we meet them, it becomes clear they are more of a threat because of military training. They outgun everyone they face but are a mix of religious nut jobs and military-crazed gunslingers. I felt this group felt like more of a threat before we met them, because they feel flat once we learnt more about them.

The Commonwealth

The Commonwealth is run by Pamela Milton and promises survivors a better life. she looks to build communities around the country but has her own plans if things go wrong. Pamela feels like The Governor 2.0 with more people and power. Most of the battle against her, is control of the Commonwealth, and her slow breakdown.

I did have a few issues with the Commonwealth in general. First, the size is claimed to be 50,000, but it never feels that big. Or we never get to visit other members of the group. Secondly, it showed a big introduction of strict entry protocol. Only to end up letting a large group in while not telling us anything about the people who get rejected. It would be easy to imagine a group growing this large, but they never feel protected and show us a world, where most people are forced to shut up and accept everything. Rather than step up and fight back. The best part of this group is the Mercer siblings, Max and her brother.

Feelings About the Later Seasons

Season 9

As I previously mentioned, I stepped away part of the way through the season. The time jump happened, and we got a new threat. We got excellent villains introduced and a shocking scene with the heads on the pikes. The new characters with our main group were great additions and Judith stepping up in Carl’s place was fantastic.

The other key factor was the tension between the four main communities. We know Michonne doesn’t want to trust anyone, which is causing a strain on the others. However, once we see why, in the episode ‘Scars’ we have one of the best in the series. It included a flashback to an incident that shook Michonne in a way unlike anything else she has been through.

The other major thing for me, was it kept the 16-episode tight feeling about the show.

Season 10

This is where the seasons get a little bit mixed up and it isn’t the studio’s fault. We have the battle against The Whispers taking up 16 episodes and it flows extremely well. The chaos in the aftermath, the potential loss, the actual losses, it would have been a great typical season. One big weakness here was Michonne stepping away, taking another major character out of the series.

However, Covid happened and it feels like the showrunners weren’t sure what to do. In episode 17 Maggie returns and we see a series of episodes you can tell were filmed under Covid conditions. For years now, we have tended to follow 3 or 4 different groups of per episode. However, here we start to dive into pairs or small groups.

Maggie’s return and search for her people. Then Daryl and his aftermath of Rick’s disappearance, meeting Leah and staying away from the community.  We got an Aaron and Gabriel episode which gets bonus points for Robert Patrick appearance. Eugene, Ezekiel, Yumiko and Princess learn more about the people who captured them. We get another one with Carol trying to prepare a meal (A low point in the series for me). However, we end with a great episode of learning about Negan in the early days. How he cared for his dying wife and first stepped up against dangerous people.

Season 11

This was the last season and had the most episodes with 24. It took about 18 months for them all to air too. This seems like more consequences of Covid and a way to tighten up the ending of a dying show.

It has great moments in the battle to find a place in the Commonwealth but tends to see some of the supporting characters barely appearing. Weirdly, it went a bit like Game of Thrones with the number of characters and situations everyone found themselves in. I did want to see more of what the Commonwealth was about, but I did enjoy the way the characters were presented in trying to understand everything.

My favourite part of this season was Judith’s introductions in the last few episodes. They presented how important the journey had been and how much had been sacrificed to get here.

The Ending

This being the ending of the show, it needs to go out well. I think it ends extremely well. It had moments of heartache losing Julie, Luke and of course Rosita. However, it left the show filled with hope for the survivors who should be better prepared for what is to come.

However, I didn’t like the tagged-on ending of what happened or is happening with Rick and Michonne. It was used to promote their spin-off show, rather than have any connection to what just happened.