[TV] The Walking Dead (*Spoilers*)

[TheRealMcCoy]

i mean they do have some good episodes in there. my main issue is that it dragged on for too long.

Agreed, I recently rewatched the series alongside season 9 and a lot of the time I would try to line up the weaker episodes with cooking a meal or doing some other task while not paying full attention. Being able to get thru several episodes at a time when desired made the whole show a lot more enjoyable. Sometimes so little story progresses in a single episode and that is a big part of what made them seem so bad compared to others.

[avitush]

Agreed, I recently rewatched the series alongside season 9 and a lot of the time I would try to line up the weaker episodes with cooking a meal or doing some other task while not paying full attention. Being able to get thru several episodes at a time when desired made the whole show a lot more enjoyable. Sometimes so little story progresses in a single episode and that is a big part of what made them seem so bad compared to others.

For me, it also helps when I can watch some of the episodes all the way through without commercial breaks (basic cable viewer here, so I don't have a way around it unless I'm watching seasons later down the road on DVD or something). I haven't actually timed it, but the commercials that air during Walking Dead seem...excessive to me. I mean, yeah, I understand that's how they make money, but it's also very distracting and disorienting. I often miss a minute or two here and there because I start doing something else during the commercials.

- - - Updated - - -

Well shit. I was totally expecting to hear Rick's voice on the radio. Sounded like a female voice though, and I couldn't make out much of what was said.

Maybe it was the garbage lady who dragged Rick away? edit: or Maggie. Although I'm not sure if she's just done with the show or ever coming back or what.

Also it's gonna be an awkward reunion if Rick or Maggie ever comes back and sees that Negan is apparently a good guy now.

[Valysar]

This episode was pretty boring imo. Negan saved all

[PACOX]

The head on a spike episode was the season finale. This episode was to set it next season. I feel like they accomplished, because almost everything that happened will be something the characters will have to face next season.

Lidia's survivor's remorse. Carol possibly being a surrogate to her.
Carol and Ezekial's break up - the passive threat Ez gave Daryl
Daryl's guilt (his part in Rick's death and the Alpha's retaliation) while wanting to be closer to all the people he cares about
The fall of the Kingdom with Alexandria and Hiltop taking in new people.
Hiltop has no leader. Alexandria is going to have to learn how to accept new people again.
Michonne's more inclusive mindset
Rosita's baby aka the Jerry Springer storyline
Negan's (taste of) freedom

All that's going to be challenged next season. And the walkie talkie at the end was some bullshit. I bet they wrote so that it could one of a few people depending on what kind of contracts they can strike up for next season. Could be Maggie, could be Trash Lady, could TVs verison of the Commonwealth (setting of Rick's arc Im guessing) for all know.

[McNeil]

So somehow the Kingdom has fallen, which wasn't epxlained or I must've missed it. Apparently Ezekiel and Carol up because reasons. The Whisperers manage to survive a winter that harsh with no shelter at all. And apparently this is their first winter in like 9 years? And this winter must've not been THAT cold if both Lydia and Negan were walking around with their jackets open. The consistency with the frozen walkers is all over the place where some of them don't freeze and instead instead get buried under the snow, being able to grab on peoples feet (and conveniently all rise up at a specific time). Judith sure has a nice group of people to look after her where Negan is the only one willing to go after her.

If it wasn't for Negan carrying this episode I would've called this a waste of time. The previous episode was so much better, and should have been the actual finale.

[avitush]

The head on a spike episode was the season finale. This episode was to set it next season. I feel like they accomplished, because almost everything that happened will be something the characters will have to face next season.

Lidia's survivor's remorse. Carol possibly being a surrogate to her.
Carol and Ezekial's break up - the passive threat Ez gave Daryl
Daryl's guilt (his part in Rick's death and the Alpha's retaliation) while wanting to be closer to all the people he cares about
The fall of the Kingdom with Alexandria and Hiltop taking in new people.
Hiltop has no leader. Alexandria is going to have to learn how to accept new people again.
Michonne's more inclusive mindset
Rosita's baby aka the Jerry Springer storyline
Negan's (taste of) freedom

All that's going to be challenged next season. And the walkie talkie at the end was some bullshit. I bet they wrote so that it could one of a few people depending on what kind of contracts they can strike up for next season. Could be Maggie, could be Trash Lady, could TVs verison of the Commonwealth (setting of Rick's arc Im guessing) for all know.

Hilltop and Negan are the storylines I'm most looking forward to in S10, I think.

Especially Negan. I don't think he's going to do exactly in the show what he did in the comics. He kind of went to "anti hero who is still an asshole" in the comics at this point. The show seems to be leaning him more towards 100% good guy who is still kind of a troll. Either way I'm sure he'll get a promotion from his prisoner status since he saved Judith (and probably some respect from Daryl since Daryl's dog was included in that deal). He'll probably still play a major role in the Whisperer war.

I usually don't like it when we have entire episodes focused on one character's backstory (ie, the 90-minute Morgan one), but I wouldn't even be mad if one of those happened for Negan.

I can also see some major tension at Hilltop, since they have an open leadership position and are about to take in pretty much the entire Kingdom population.

I'm still pretty excited about the Whisperers stuff too, but I'd also be ok with it if the Whisperers got put on the back burner for the first 2-3 episodes of S10 while we catch up on other things.

[TheRealMcCoy]

So somehow the Kingdom has fallen, which wasn't epxlained or I must've missed it. Apparently Ezekiel and Carol up because reasons. The Whisperers manage to survive a winter that harsh with no shelter at all. And apparently this is their first winter in like 9 years? And this winter must've not been THAT cold if both Lydia and Negan were walking around with their jackets open. The consistency with the frozen walkers is all over the place where some of them don't freeze and instead instead get buried under the snow, being able to grab on peoples feet (and conveniently all rise up at a specific time). Judith sure has a nice group of people to look after her where Negan is the only one willing to go after her.

If it wasn't for Negan carrying this episode I would've called this a waste of time. The previous episode was so much better, and should have been the actual finale.

The reasons behind the Kingdom falling wasn't the only thing you missed, I'm not quite sure you should watch this show because most of your points were covered and do make sense and it just seems you wanted to see this episode (and I'm guessing the entire show) in a negative light. Besides the losses suffered from ep 15 the entire intro is about the struggles the Kingdom has faced since the pike deaths with the freezing temps being a big part of the downfall of the Kingdom. "Ezekiel and Carol break up because reasons" when in actuality losing a child, losing their home, losing their settlement are all very believable factors that would cause any 2 people to grow apart/split up. Ok, the whisperers scene was rather fast, I'll give you that, but it's pretty clear in that scene they have left the area, Beta says something along the lines of "time away strengthens the pack" letting us know they were not around during the storm and are still gone. I am curious as the effect of the blizzard on Alpha's hoard of zombies, I guess if they left them they would just freeze and then thaw and be in pretty much the same condition. Not sure when you're referring too with Lydia and Negan having their jackets open, but through out the episode the weather fluctuates from cold to freezing cold blizzard so not sure what you wanted, heavy snowfall and blizzard the entire ep? Obviously the timing has to be convenient for when the walkers come out from under the snow, I'd say people walking on the snow they are buried under is good enough reason to startle them so it's believable in TWD universe. The consistency with the frozen walkers should be a bit spread as well. Have you been in an area that gets frequent snow fall? The environment effects are wide ranging, depending on areas that get any sun, areas with more tree cover so snow doesn't reach the ground, etc. If you're really going to nit pick the show for having some walkers get frozen that were caught out in the storm when it hit the lowest temps, vs the walkers that were on the ground, buried under snow so they didnt freeze this may not be the show for you chief. Lastly, Negan wasn't the only one out looking, you can hear Siddiq and Rosita out calling for Judith as Negan is looking.

Obviously this episode was going to be a bit slower and more of a set up for season 10 then a big death episode. One way to look at it is the Game of Thrones Dynamic: the penultimate episode has the big death/battle/what have you and the season finale is the aftermath of said event as well as set up for the coming season. This episode did that job very well in my opinion and I may have enjoyed it even more than the previous. The score, once again, was outstanding as it was in the Pike ep. Visually it looked amazing as hell with the snow and everything. As other people have stated, there are several story lines with decent set up for the coming season. As you admitted, Negan absolutely slayed every scene he was in and his redemption arc has officially begun with his first major good deed.

I would also defend the radio cliffhanger in that it is what a proper cliffhanger should be, at least compared to some of the endings this show has had (Negan bat victims s. 6 comes to mind). I was hoping for Rick's voice as I heard he signed on for 6 episodes and was only in the first 5 so having his voice at the end would make it 6, but that would be pretty complicated with the movies coming out and some sort of cross over coming with Fear TWD. But at least it's not some big who got murdered ending, it's more something that will keep people talking with different theories about who is on the other side of the radio.

[Airlick]

So somehow the Kingdom has fallen, which wasn't epxlained or I must've missed it. Apparently Ezekiel and Carol up because reasons. The Whisperers manage to survive a winter that harsh with no shelter at all. And apparently this is their first winter in like 9 years? And this winter must've not been THAT cold if both Lydia and Negan were walking around with their jackets open. The consistency with the frozen walkers is all over the place where some of them don't freeze and instead instead get buried under the snow, being able to grab on peoples feet (and conveniently all rise up at a specific time). Judith sure has a nice group of people to look after her where Negan is the only one willing to go after her.

If it wasn't for Negan carrying this episode I would've called this a waste of time. The previous episode was so much better, and should have been the actual finale.

They have been saying the Kingdom is struggling with all of the sanitary installations they relied on for survival for this whole season. The whole point of Henry going to the Hilltop was because he wanted to learn to make spare parts for these. Ezekiel and Carol didn't break up, they are struggling with losing their kid, even if he was "adopted". The Whisperers clearly left for warmer areas for the winter, which makes perfect sense, seeing as they see themselves as animals/primal people, who were nomadic. They did say it's not their first winter, but they must not have travelled a lot during winters while they were all split up (also a major point of this season).

I'm not sure why would you be surprised about closet walkers coming out from the most unlikely places after 9 seasons of them doing the same thing all over.

[PACOX]

I'm not sure why would you be surprised about closet walkers coming out from the most unlikely places after 9 seasons of them doing the same thing all over.

Because someone needs to kill Ninja Walker once and for all. We're tired of him getting the jump on people.

[MrLachyG]

I'm not sure why would you be surprised about closet walkers coming out from the most unlikely places after 9 seasons of them doing the same thing all over.

I think my favourite was the one which bit Hershel on the leg..... despite them walking past it earlier and it not moving an inch

[Airlick]

Because someone needs to kill Ninja Walker once and for all. We're tired of him getting the jump on people.

It's been pretty long since a remotely relevant character got killed by a ninja walker, though. They appear and get massacred by the characters in an industrial fashion at this point. I look at them (aside of the moments when the Whisperers are hiding among them) as a reminder that I'm watching TWD and not some random post-apo show.

[Misuteri]

Negan is going to be the Illidan of TWD.

Redemption season incoming.

[SlowLM]

Just finished watching the season and I definitely like it. But I hoped to see how Daryl Dixon and Negan meet each other when Negan is not in jail

[avitush]

It's been pretty long since a remotely relevant character got killed by a ninja walker, though. They appear and get massacred by the characters in an industrial fashion at this point. I look at them (aside of the moments when the Whisperers are hiding among them) as a reminder that I'm watching TWD and not some random post-apo show.

I can't remember the last time a main (or even remotely important) character got punked by a random walker. Tyreese, I guess? That one kind of came out of nowhere, because a guy who'd been alive in the zombie apocalypse for years and should've known better decided to turn his back on an unchecked room in a strange house. That one's been a few seasons back.

Carl died to a walker (well, self-inflicted gunshot to the head if you want to get technical, but the walker got him to that point), but I wouldn't call that one a "ninja" walker. It was just one that got close enough to get off a bite, not really one that popped out of nowhere and surprised him.

edit: I forgot about that one girl (Sherry's diabetic sister, I forget her name) who got grabbed by one because she tripped and fell right on top of a couple of them, then one popped up and started chewing on her. I think that was after Tyreese. But she only got a grand total of like 5 minutes of screen time before her death, so I wouldn't call her an important character.

[Kreuger]

#193 of the comics will be the last, I wonder if they will end the show aswell or continue beyond the comics

https://ew.com/books/2019/07/02/the-...robert-kirkman

"In an essay which concludes #193, Kirkman confirms the issue will be the last Walking Dead comic and explains why he did not prepare readers for its disappearance."

[avitush]

Wow. Hard to say what the show will do now.

I guess it could continue, since the show has already done a lot of things different from what happened in the comic series (Daryl exists, Carol should be long dead, etc). Just that the writers for the show will have to start making shit up once they run out of comic material (if they want to continue at all).

edit: holy shit. Carl has grown up in the comic series.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

I’m rather happy with the ending, the comic had no low points all the way through if you ask me and it’s good that it ended on a high note instead of being dragged on for the sake of it.

[bmjclark]

Im actually kind of disappointed that it ended right after Rick's death. I think it would have been interesting to see it continue with Carl in more of a lead role, but oh well. Definitely a touching ending with Carl reading that story to Andrea so i'll take it.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Im actually kind of disappointed that it ended right after Rick's death. I think it would have been interesting to see it continue with Carl in more of a lead role, but oh well. Definitely a touching ending with Carl reading that story to Andrea so i'll take it.

I really didn’t expect it, a couple more issues post rick deaths would have been nice but over all I’m happy.

[BloodyAngel12]

I really didn’t expect it, a couple more issues post rick deaths would have been nice but over all I’m happy.

Kinda hoped that it would make it to issue 200 and end it. 193 bugs me that its not an even number.