The Walking Dead's Final Episodes Have Been Subpar to Say the Least
What is it about major TV franchises that sees them so often end disappointingly?
Who knows? But what we can say is that the final episodes of The Walking Dead are…well, subpar compared with what we've come to know and love over the show's more than a decade on our screens.
Cast your mind back to when the end of the show was first announced, and you'll no doubt recall disappointment at what we were going to miss with excitement and just how massive the final series would be and exactly how the saga would close out.
But it's fair to say things haven't really worked out like that. It started ok. In fact, there are very few complaints about the early episodes. And there are some potentially decent storylines building, like the variant walkers.
But it does all feel a bit diluted. It's slow. Characters and story arcs are left in limbo. And things just don't flow as they should. It's like the story is good but the writing is not quite up to scratch. And we're simply not used to this.
But perhaps the biggest complaint is the sort of semi-return to Carl's quest. Remember him? The hero? The one who was a core part of the comics and a key player in the early series of the TV show? The one who was super-committed to getting everyone to work together but was then killed off in season 8?
And doesn't it feel a little (no, a lot) like the writers have just rehashed Carl's story? Which brings into question why they killed him off in the first place. Because with him, this would probably feel like the dramatic climax to the show that we all anticipated. But without Carl, the last few episodes are tinged with regret and an admission that he never should have been taken out of the story.
And correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we all say at the time that Carl's absence would make the whole series weaker?
Well, it appears we were right. The showrunners shot themselves in the foot when he was eliminated – presumably because they didn't think far enough ahead. Because they should have either realised their mistake or had a whopping great twist up their sleeves that would have made us all say "Wow, we did not see that coming!".
In the end, though, what we've got is exactly what we saw coming – just in a slightly different guise.