Why Doesn't It Feel Like The Walking Dead Is Ending?

A mixture of underwhelming elements has drained the excitement for the impending finale from this viewer

Aug 26, 2022

Will Aaron survive Part 3 of The Walking Dead Season 11?

This November, 12 years and 1 month after The Walking Dead first premiered to 5.35 million viewers, the show will finally be airing its last episode. However, by the time Chris Hardwick will be singing his praises about the final hour, will the audience truly be feeling any sense of finality? Multiple spinoffs following nearly all of our remaining legacy characters have been confirmed, one following Daryl, one following mortal enemies turned odd couple Maggie and Negan, and one following beloved departed characters Rick and Michonne. It’s hard for the fanboy in me to not get overjoyed at the mention of the latter, as Rick Grimes is the captivating leading man that gave the show its heart and soul in the beginning. The idea of him putting his cowboy boots back on and growling ice-cold threats is a tribute to Andrew Lincoln’s charisma, and his relationship with Michonne being expanded will continue to give her depth and return to the steely art of her katana swinging.

Aside from a show revolving around that pair, the other two continuations seem like shoehorned attempts to drag out this franchise. As much as Norman Reedus commits himself to every episode, there’s nowhere left to take Daryl Dixon that hasn’t been done before. He was never meant to be a lead character, and while his role of stepping into the forefront of an ensemble has worked for the past 3 seasons, the writers seem eternally stuck on the “silent badass with a heart of gold” that can only go to so many places (on the bright side, it remains a welcome reprieve to his previous 2-season run where he spoke in grunts). I can’t even tell if Carol’s departure from the series will be to its benefit or not, as she has also worn out her welcome as the depressed loner who flip-flops between killing machine and pacifist depending on the scene, so much so that the magic of Reedus’ and Melissa McBride’s chemistry can’t come to life like it used to. Having Daryl ride his motorcycle down to France won’t shake much up, outside of ditching the familiar territory of rural Virginia.

Speaking of unnecessary extensions, Negan and Maggie teaming up would be rehashing material already explored. Even though their interactions have only been seen in season 11, their bickering has already grown stale. The prospect of Maggie reuniting with a reformed Negan was appealing at the start, making for layered dialogue that welcomed her back after nearly two seasons away. Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s endlessly engaging delivery is almost carrying this show on his leaning back, and Lauren Cohan hasn’t lost the fierce dramatic chops to foil his expertly timed one-liners. By the time they exited a subway station, their friction was already going in circles with repetitive conversations that mostly boil down to this.

“I don’t trust you.”

“We’ll have to trust each other eventually.”

“I’m never, ever gonna trust you.”

“We’ll have to team up for our people to live.”

“I’ll work with you, but seriously, I won’t trust you. Ever.”

It’s a waste of the two talents, and it made their development in the first half surprisingly stagnant. This made the eventual payoff of their bond forming unconvincing, lacking any sincerity from either that we haven’t seen before aside from sparing moments of humanity that quietly managed some of the legwork. Bringing them to Manhattan is another nice change of scenery that will bring some dynamic imagery, throwing back to the sprawling cityscapes of early Atlanta (though logic leaps will continue to be taken at how many walkers remain). Regardless, the main hook of these two characters should’ve been resolved by the finale. Glenn is rolling in his grave.

Rick Grimes makes final stand on AMC The Walking Dead

It’s not just that this universe will inevitably extend beyond its expiration date. The world of The Walking Dead simply has no juice left in it anymore, exemplified by the lackluster letdown that season 11 has been thus far. As an enormous fan of the series, I don’t want to add on to the heap of criticisms it faces from the critics. At this point, there’s no way to recover from the numerous departures and deaths from integral cast members that leaves the show’s current state borderline unrecognizable from the past. Once the savior from the low points of seasons 7 and 8, Angela Kang’s magic touch has faded from the superb season 9. Season 10 was a mixed bag that had great character beats dragged down by the stretching of the Whisperers arc, and season 11 is exposing Kang’s worst tendencies of risk-averse storytelling that repeats too much of what came before. So far, season 11 has been an aimless venture without a semblance of past nuance, even abandoning staples that made the series initially distinctive (for a show where nobody is safe, it’s confounding that we haven’t had a major death in 2 full seasons).

The final stretch of episodes has yet to air, but so far, season 11’s first two storylines have yet to impress. The first was a dull portion without much urgency to what was essentially an extended supply run, with only a redundant villain in the Reapers that posed a laughably small threat and felt more like the writers running down a checklist of previous concepts. Psychotic band of killers with a weird name? Check. Daryl gets kidnapped and tortured? Check. A monologuing villain who kills one of his own men to prove how crazy he is? Check. Our group splits up and a bunch of red shirts die? Checkity check. The second half lessened the action for political squabbles involving new settlement The Commonwealth, which seems like the rebuilding of society fans have been clamoring to see but has somehow focused on all of the wrong details. Aside from imposing new villains that also manage to stay grounded, we’ve wound up with episodes more competent than the show’s worst seasons but without the energy or nuance of its past.

Still, I don’t want to hate the show. There’s been plenty of great flourishes displayed throughout these latest batches, such as the claustrophobic terror of Connie trapped in a house with feral humans, the chaotic battle at Meridan that pushed Maggie beyond her limits of brutality, and a tense standoff in an apartment building told out of chronological order. I have hope that the final showdowns are as explosive as we want, and a huge smile will spread on my face as soon as I see a second of Rick and Michonne again. It’s hard to avoid my disdain for AMC as they continue to milk every drop out of this fading franchise, especially as Fear The Walking Dead continues to degrade and Tales Of The Walking Dead has proved a disappointment in the early stages (the dreadful teenage spinoff The Walking Dead: World Beyond has gratefully been put out of its misery). The series is nowhere near the worst on television (or as bad as Scott Gimple has brought it previously), but there just isn’t any fresh blood left in the premise. As the quality continues to reach frustrating decisions, it’s tiresome how this saga is trying to be continued until the brand will be tarnished even more. There was a time when we loved your in all of your former glory, Walking Dead. But now, it may be time to rest in peace.

Lauren Cohan, Jeffrey Dean Morgan Set for Isle of the Dead Spinoff – The Hollywood Reporter

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