The Downfall of AMC's The Walking Dead

Good morning, evening, and afternoon. I am Reveream, critical commentator of pop culture content.

in 2010, Master filmmaker and screenwriter Frank Darabont, perhaps best known for his critically acclaimed adaptations of 3 Stephen King novels, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist, as well as the screenwriter of the underrated 1988 horror remake of The Blob, sought to create a terrifying and emotionally gripping adapation of The Walking Dead, the long running post apocalyptic graphic novel series created by Robert Kirkman in 2003. The graphic novel and television series centered around Rick Grimes, a police officer who was shot in the line of duty and rendered comatose, only to wake up 2 months later to a hellish wasteland of reanimated anthropophagic corpses

The series followed Rick and his struggle to lead his family and fellow refugees on a quest to find both safety and hope in a nightmarish world where human life has seemingly lost all value. From Season 1-Season 6 episode 9/10 (which I consider the series finale), TWD was an emotionally gripping tale of survival in hellish conditions and how a father's willingness to protect and be a role model for his son allowed him protect and to be a role model for survivors, his fatherly love for his son translating into familial love for his group. This was what made the show so gripping, watching good people endure the worst chaos. It was a show that compelled me like no other. I empathized with Rick and his clan more than any other TV characters. Watching such good hearted people survive and carry on hope in such hellish conditions touched my heart in the deepest way.  I remember being emotionally mesmerized by the scene in S4 where Tara is trapped and Glenn offers to sacrifice himself to help her. TWD was a great show about the best people in the worst conditions, and it was some of the best TV I had ever seen.

When The Walking Dead's pilot episode premiered on AMC on Halloween 2010, it was received with enormous critical acclaim due to it's fantastic characterization acting, cinematography, score, and suspense,  and it set the stage for what would become the arguably the most popular show in the history of Cable television, spawning a lucrative merchandising franchise that would dominate the majority of the 2010 decade.

However, from Season 6B until present, the show abandoned it's root theme and became a needlessly long, brutal, and half-assed morality play,with characters who were no longer desperate survivors, but cartoonish action heroes (with very bad aim). Many character arcs were massacred and reshuffled, and virtually all character relatability was lost as the show has pushed itself to its nihilistic limit. Now, in 2018, as Season 9 is set to premiere soon, The Walking Dead no longer holds such reverence with audiences as it did during its prime. The show seems to be in an aimless kamikaze tailspin with a complete lack of direction.

Various controversial decisions, both in terms of writing and production, have plagued the show throughout the years, and with the reported exits of Rick Grimes actor Andrew Lincoln and Maggie Greene actress Lauren Cohen, as well as a noticeable decrease in ratings and increase in audience dissatisfaction, one must wonder, What the Fuck Happened to The Walking Dead?

As stated, The Walking Dead has suffered from problems for years, ever since its inception. After the first season, AMC fired Frank Darabont as show runner to greedily preserve their budget, hiring the far less competent Glenn Mazzara as a replacement. This led to the stagnant second season and underwhelming third season, caused by the controversial decision to stretch out comic plot arcs far longer than necessary to create filler episodes. YourMovieSucks and Ralphthemoviemaker have made excellent reviews of the show's "Mazzara" era. After the disappointing season 3, Glenn Mazzara was fired as show runner and replaced with Scott Gimple, which,  at least initially seemed liked a prudent choice, with seasons 4, 5, and  the first half of Season 6 being the shows highest rated and most critically acclaimed seasons. But starting with Season 6's introduction of the Negan arc, The show's quality has taken a serious downward slump. In this review, I am going to meticulously scrutinize the decline of the Walking Dead starting from the Season height in Season 4 and 5, and taking a look at all of the missteps that have turned the biggest show on Cable into the ultimate television zombie.

Season 4: Redemption After Mazarra

After Frank Darabont was fired for Season 2, his replacement, Glenn Mazzara nearly killed the franchise early into its foundation. Season  2 was a slow plodding season had the characters talking on a farm for most of its runtime. Season 3 seemed to show promise with the introduction of Michonne and The Governor, but it quickly devolved into mediocrity due to the insufferable stupidity of Andrea and the underwhelming season finale, which promised a large battle but failed to deliver. This was actually my initial jumping off point of the show, as I was so disappointed by the Season 3 finale that I stopped watching for over a year, not getting back into it until witnessing some of the better episodes of Season 5

Needless to say, I wasn't the only one disappointed. With massive audience displeasure towards the substandard season 3, AMC knew they needed to do some damage control. So out goes Mazzara, and in comes Scott Gimple. Scott Gimple's tenure as show runner started off with great promise. Season 4 began somewhat slow with the epidemic plot and the seeming redemption of The Governor, but the show hit an amazing stride in the mid season finale, showing the heartbreaking execution of Herschel as well as the destructive prison battle that the 3rd season didn't deliver. Season 4B was even better, following the characters on their separate paths to the questionable refuge of Terminus, battling savage scavengers, zombie hordes, insane little girls, and the overall emotional hopelessness of a barren wasteland. The season ended on an exciting cliffhanger, with characters we loved in the clutches of  the cannibals of Terminus, and ready to do anything they could to fight back. With Season 4, the show had redeemed itself in the eyes of fans and critics and propelled itself to the forefront of the pop culture zeitgeist. Everything was set for Season 5 to blow audiences away.

Season 5: Mild Turbulence

As audiences entered Season 5, we were pumped for an emotional roller coaster and, for the most part, it was delivered. The season followed the group as they were rescued by Carol from Terminus. The group divided into two to pursue two separate goals, finding Beth, who was being held prisoner by insane cops on Atlanta, and finding a cure, which Eugene stated could be found in Washington D.C. Both objectives are failed however, as Beth is killed in a failed hostage exchange, and Eugene is revealed to have lied about the cure out of cowardice. Things get worse when Tyreese dies, leading to the group being at their most physically vulnerable and emotionally helpless. Luckily for them, they are discovered and taken in by a benevolent but naive community of refugees called Alexandria, where they simultaneously had to deal with the PTSD of their past battles, as well as prepare the Alexandrians for future battles, as their inexperience at survival gets several people killed. The season ends on another great cliffhanger, with Rick killing domestic abuser Pete and being reunited with fan favorite Morgan

Season 5 was mostly good, but even here, the flaws were starting to show, primarily through the unnecessary deaths of three characters: Beth, Tyreese, and Noah

-Beth: Starting in Season 4, the show began focusing on the character development of Beth Greene, the innocent daughter of Herschel and sister of Maggie. After the destruction of the prison, she was the companion of Daryl, until being kidnapped by insane police officers. From these experiences, she seemed to be learning to become hardened, attempting a risky escape from her captors as well as killing an attempted rapist. It seemed as though the show as gearing up to make a tougher and more prominent character. However, this would instead be the first of many red herring shock deaths

Beth dies in an incredibly stupid and foolish manner. As she is released by Dawn to Rick and his group, Dawn suddenly demands that Noah surrender himself to her as part of the exchange. Neither Rick, nor Beth, nor Noah have any obligation to fulfill this demand, and could easily call Dawn's bluff, warning her to let them go or risk a firefight. Instead however, out of pure plot contrivance, Noah decides to surrender himself, causing Beth to attack Dawn in what would prove to be a suicidal move. This situation could have and should have been easily resolved through a quick discussion, but instead led to Beth's shock death purely to pull Maggie, Daryl, and the audience's heartstrings.

-Tyreese: In the episode immeadiately after Beth's death, the group decide to accompany Noah to his old home as Beth's last wish. This however leads to the second unnecessary shock death in a row, with Tyreese, whom we have seen kill numerous zombies like an expert, being ambushed by a zombie in an empty room. While this episode was enjoyable due to the cameos of The Governor and Lizzie, it still doesn't excuse the fact that Tyreese's death was yet another pointless contrived audience tearjerker

-Noah: After the deaths of both Beth and Tyreese, it seemed as though there would start being more characterization of Noah, whom both arguably died for. After reaching Alexandria, it seemed as though Noah would start getting more focus, expressing a desire to be more productive by learning architecture. However, once again, this was just lead up for an unnecessary shock death. Now note, Noah's death was very well choreographed and probably the most gruesome death in the entirety of the series, but again, this does not excuse the contrived and manipulative writing. Even worse is that with Noah's death, it truly made the previous deaths of Beth and Tyreese feel meaningless, and was the beginning of the show's decent into contrived nihilism.

Despite the contrived shock deaths, Season 5 was still well received by critics, and audiences geared up for Season 6 ready for even more thrills. What could go wrong at this point?

Season 6: Season 6 is where The Walking Dead officially started to go off the rails. The season started with promise, featuring one of the shows strongest run of episodes with it's "No Way Out" saga, chronicling the Alexandrians as they besieged by ruthless pillagers and a massive zombie horde. The saga concludes with the mid season premiere, No Way Out, arguably the series best episode, with the Alexandrians gaining the strength and courage to protect their homes from the zombie horde. After this however, the show gets into the Negan arc, by far the worst storyline in the show history and undoubtedly the harbinger of its ruination. But before we get into Negan, let's get into the real harbinger of doom, the first of many shark jumps that signalled the The Walking Dead's irreversible decline

Glenn: How And Why To Not Kill A Character 101

Let's talk about Glenn Rhee. Glenn was easily the most relatable character on the show and the closest thing to an audience surrogate. He was the Average Joe of the Zombie Apocalypse, a friendly pizza delivery guy who was molded into a badass survivor. He was always resourceful, selfless, and inspiring to others, no matter how bad the situation got. Other than Carl, Glenn was the character you could project yourself into the most.

Now audiences suspected Glenn was going to die ever since the trailers of Season 6, whose trailers seemed to show the villainous warlord Negan, who was infamously introduced in the comics by killing Glenn. Now obviously, the show is an adaptation of the comics, and certain plot points must be followed through to maintain identically structured storylines. However, in my opinion at least, Glenn's death should have stayed in the comics. The television version of Glenn was far more likeable than his comic book counterpart, and he truly gave an energy to the show that it has notably lacked since his departure.

This leads to the infamous, the ridiculous, the unbelievable stupidity that is Dumpstergate. in the cliffhanger of episode 4, we see Glenn and Nick fall into a crowd of zombies, and it seems as though we watch Glenn get disemboweled. When I first saw this, I legitimately believed that Glenn had died, and belief it to be a shocking but poetically fitting death, to be tragically killed by those he tried to save. However rumors quickly began surfacing that this was a writers trick, and that Glenn had actually survived by crawling underneath a dumpster offscreen. I thought these rumors were ridiculous. Surely the writers wouldn't try to fuck over the audience that much for some extra buzz, right? Right? Wrong. Dumpstergate turned out to be true, and audiences were outraged. As it would turn out, this would only be the top of the iceberg.

Now let's get to Glenn's actual death. I've already stated why I don't think Glenn should have died, but there were numerous factors that made it far worse to sit through. The first was Dumpstergate, which already put audiences through the trauma of Glenn's death, this making his actual death less shocking. Then there was the cliffhanger, which forced audiences to wait until Season 7 to find out who Negan killed. This robbed audiences of proper emotional payoff and turned what should have been an emotional death into a hasty chore.  Finally, as stated, Glenn's death was not necessary. Negan killing Abraham and forcing Rick to chop off Carl's hand already cemented his power and cruelty. Glenn's death was unnecessarily extra brutality, and led to a massive decrease in the shows relatability. I think Abraham should have been executed, and Daryl as well if necessary, but Glenn should have stayed alive until the end of the series.

Negan: Worst Written Villain in Television History

The television adaptation of Negan is easily the worst written villain in the history of The Walking Dead, and possibly one of the worst written of villains in the history of fiction. Ever since the trailers for Season 6, The writers have seemingly worshipped Negan, promoting him as both the ultimate nightmare and the ultimate badass. Between the Super Bowl ads, merchandise, #TeamNegan online polls, and now even an inclusion in Tekken 7 (are you fucking kidding me? Who else are we putting in Tekken? Brock Turner? Jared from Subway?)  it is clear that Kirkman, Gimple, and the writers viewed Negan as the greatest villain in television history, like the ultimate mix of Big Brother, Darth Vader, and Heath Ledger's Joker. Unfortunately due to how Negan was written and portrayed, he felt more like the ultimate mix of Snydley Whiplash, Ramsay Bolton, and The Fonz.

First there's the logistics of Negan and The Saviors, or rather the complete lack of logistics. There seems to be no set limit to the amount of henchmen, vehicles, or weapons Negan has at his disposal depending on what the plot needs him to do. We watch Rick and his crew kill hundreds of Saviors and yet Negan keeps respawning them. Because of this, there is no feeling of threat or stakes, because Negan will just be as powerful or as weak as the writers need him to be in any given scene.

Then there is Negan's cruelty. While the comic version of Negan was most certainly an abrasive sociopath, the television Negan was made to be way too hateable. As stated, Glenn was easily the shows most relatable character, and his death was both far more sadistic and far more devastating than his comic book counterpart. From there, Television Negan became even crueler his comic book version, engaging in sadism such as forcing Rick to mutilate Carl, stealing the Alexandrians furniture just to burn it, with the most notable being his relationship towards his quote unquote wives. Whereas in the comics, the wives seem to fully consent to sex with Negan in exchange for extra perks, a la Hugh Hefner, the television version of Negan is an undeniable rapist, withholding life sustaining medicine from people and their loved ones so he can coerce them into sex. Again, not the kind of guy I want to play as in Tekken.

Perhaps most perplexing was Negan's contradictory motivations and behavior. Due to the writer's clear desire to make Negan the greatest villain ever, they gave him antithetical traits, making him both a capricious sadist like The Joker, but also a power-hungry utilitarian like Darth Vader. Negan's prideful sadism and supposed utilitarian motivation made him seem like a massive hypocrite, and made his position of power seem unbelievable. I found myself comparing Negan unfavorably to  2 other far better television dictators. The first is Marlo Stanfield of The Wire. Like Negan, Marlo is a saidstic totalitarian who wants to control everybody around him, but unlike Negan, he has no pretenses of a greater good. Marlo's main motivation is clearly selfish power, and because of his clear motivations, it makes simple actions like Marlo stealing a lollipop far scarier than Negan's speeches about spaghetti. I also found myself comparing Negan to Sebastian Monroe from the short-lived NBC series, Revolution. In that series, which was essentially a PG-13 version of the Walking Dead, Monroe was a powerful totalitarian dictator who like Negan had utilitarian goals, but unlike Negan was not sardonic and jocular, instead having a staunch cold demeanor that helped to underlie his ruthlessness. Perhaps worst of all, I found myself comparing Negan to the Walking Dead's own Governor, who I felt was a far more realistic and scarier version of a dictator. Unlike Negan, who boisterous behavior would probably quickly incite an uprising, the Governor was secret about his cruelty, instead using lies and false flag attacks to brainwash Woodbury into dehumanizing and attacking Rick's group. Negan's contradictory motivations seemed to me as though The Walking Dead writers wanted a villain with the power of the Governor and the cruelty of The Claimers, not realizing how different those 2 villains were from other. As such, they only ended up making Negan seem like a massive hypocrite rather than sympathetic or scary.

In failed attempts to reduce Negan's hateability, The show tried to portray him as justified by making Rick more violent, but this only served to make Rick less likeable. The writers then tried to make Negan sympathetic through a number of failed means. Simon was elevated to seem more evil than Negan in an attempt to make Negan seem empathetic by comparison, but this failed, as Negan clearly displayed equal if not greater sadism than Simon on several occasions, even attempting Simon's plan to massacre Rick's group in the Season 8 finale. And then there's Carl's death, in which the writers tried to make seem Negan had some kind of bond with. This also failed because Negan already showed that he didn't give a fuck about Carl was willing to kill him until Shiva saved him (ironic that Shiva saved Carl at the end of S7, and both were dead by the first half of S8)

Rick sparing Negan was insufferable, as it ignored the feelings of Maggie (who endured far worse losses from Negan than Rick) and the prior morality of the show (as it was earlier justified to butcher Joe and the Claimers, who Negan was far worse than). Any attempt at "redeeming" Negan will either seem deceitful or contrived.

What made it worse was his excruciatingly long tenure. Rick and co. fought Negan from The second half of Season 6 until The end of season 8. Thats 2 1/2 seasons! By comparison, Shane and The Governor only lasted a season and a half each, and the Claimers, Terminus, Dawn, and The Wolves only had roughly a quarter to half a season at best. 2 and a half seasons of one villain is ridiculous. Shows like GOT benefit from multiple villains and plotlines. Having one singular villain for that long is sure to test audience patience.

 Garbage Pail Kids: The Most Contrived Villains In Television History

As stated, 2 and a half seasons of one villain is insufferable. For this reason, the garbage people were introduced: to give another antagonist besides Negan, which is why all of their early appearances were marked by ridiculous boat traps,  zombie gladiator fights and betrayals. They inadvertently ruined the show, as Ricks unnecessary dealings with them led to him not being around to save Carl.

Eugene: The Smartest Scumbag

Eugene Porter is a bitch, plain and simple. When we first meet Eugene, he is lying to Rosita and Abraham about finding a cure. After his lie is exposed, he spends Season 5 learning to become brave, seemingly manning up when he has to lure the Walkers away to rescue Glenn and Nick. In Season 6 however, he is shown to still be cowardly, being afraid to train with Rosita. This is seemingly resolved when he takes part in the Alexandrians right against the zombies in No Way Out. But, it turns out, he's still cowardly, fighting with Abraham his survival skills. This is seemingly resolved when he bites Dwight's junk, and in the finale when he offers to drive the RV to lure the Saviors away. Surely now he has learned to be brave, right? Nope. In Season 7, he's cowardly AGAIN, and now he's more cowardly than ever, choosing to work for Negan and even resisting an attempt to assassinate him, leading to the most gratifying moment of Season 8, when Negan's wife Tanya tells Eugene that everything is his fault. Then in the finale, it turns out he's a wizard who can make bullets explode inside of their rifles. How the fuck do you make bullets shells explode? There's no gun powder. Wouldn't you have to sabotage the chamber of the gun itself? Whatever. Eugene used his magical genius powers, so that means he's instantly redeemed for all of his shit. All of the people whose deaths could have been avoided had he just poisoned Negan, eh oh well. Instant redemption!!!

Tara and Oceanside: How To Waste Good Character Development

: *PLEASE NOTE this will not be about bullshit like "Oh she got fat cuz she wuz preggers" or "2 many gayz on da sho"

I see a lot of hate for the character of Tara, and I understand why. He character has been rather useless for the past 2 seasons, driven by a revenge quest for a girl whose death she didn't see and whose relationship we didn't really see. She has done nothing but get into moral arguments and whine about vengeance. The most she did was find Oceanside, which has only led to Alexandria stealing their weapons and a hilariously pathetic "rescue" moment in the S8 finale.

I honestly feel bad for her characterization. Say what you will about the actress's beliefs, but I really enjoyed the character of Tara upon introduction. Her role in the show was perfect, an innocent who watched everything she loved her stripped away, and lost all hope, only to be brought back by Glenn, who helped her find hope and meaning. She, Glenn, Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene made for a great team dynamic, and watching them interact with each other was heartwarming and engaging. When she came to Alexandria and met Denise, I thought they made a nice couple.

Then Denise, Abraham, and Glenn died, and Eugene joined the Saviors, so suddenly she had nobody to interact with. Denise died in the second half of Season 6, but Tara didn't find out until Season 7, so we couldn't share in her grief because we already went through it a season ago. Her drive for revenge seemed like promising characterization, and I honestly thought they were going to make her character dark, turning from a naive innocent into a cold blooded killer, but all of led to was arguments with Jesus and essentially being Daryl's echo chamber (no pun intended). Then, they had her forgive Dwight, so now her revenge arc is done, and her character is left without any interesting arc. The closest thing she has is her relationship with Oceanside, but as stated, they contribute practically nothing to the plot, so she really has nothing to do.It's such a shame to see such a promising character underwritten to the point to obsolescence. I think the innocent-to-killer arc would have been interesting, but clearly the writers didn't have the creativity or the courage, and now Tara is stuck being TWD 's most maligned character. I don't think she's unwatchably horrible, but it is definitely hard to argue what she contributes to the plot now without Glenn, Abraham, or Denise to play off of. Hopefully Season 9 will give her something to do, although there may not be too many people around to watch....

Jesus and Morgan: Fuck Pacifism

Fuck Jesus and fuck Morgan. These two self righteous assholes have been annoying since Season 6, and they've only gotten progressively worse. In Season 6, Morgan was reintroduced to the show as an Aikido trained pacifist whose peaceful methods seemed insoluble with the ruthless world. Jesus was introduced as a martial arts trained sly thief whose stealth skills proved beneficial for the group. However in Season 7 and 8, their characters, and the morality of the show, changed to hypocritical levels. Morgan becomes a ruthless killing machine, whereas Jesus becomes a die-hard pacifist who wants no violence. However, unlike Season 6, where pacifism was shown to be an idealistic liability, Jesus's pacifism in Season 7 and 8 was shown to be morally righteous, and with his Mary Sue martial arts skills, it allowed him to lay down his pacifist law against anyone who opposed him, most notably Tara and Morgan himself. Morgan meanwhile seems to keep flip flipping between pacifist and punished depending on what the plot necesitates at any given moment.

All Out Bore: The Lamest Action Scenes In Television History

The All Out War was atrocious. It felt as though they were trying to have a post apocalyptic GOT style spectacle with multiple factions, lots of gunfire, and "artsy" cinematography, but they paid no attention to actual military and war tactics. As such, the "war" felt like a bunch of amateurs with bad aim wasting loads of ammo at each other like a bad game of COD. This is really jarring in a post apocalyptic world, where resources are supposed to be rare. It really dilutes the feeling of desperation and hopelessness in a zombie apocalypse when there are several communities with hundreds of people with enough ammo and gasoline to have a miniature war. The amount of ammo wasted during the war could have been used to clear out a major metropolitan city of zombies but was instead wasted so Rick could play action hero and jump from cars. Even worse were the constant moral debates in the middle of battles, as though nobody discussed the rules of engagement before the battle, and ESPECIALLY the constant flip flopping of morality, wherein S6 Morgan's pacifism was portrayed as bad, but S8 Jesus/Carl's pacifism is portrayed as good. And then there's Ezekiel, who decided to make the worst Shakespearean speech at the worst possible time.

However, worst of all was Negan's escape at the end of S8A, which rendered everything that Rick and co. had did in the first half of the season pointless. Along with the death of Carl, the episode features one of the most ridiculous sequences of events in the ship's history. After keeping Negan and his crew trapped in the Sancutary for a half a season and killing all of his other outposts, The Saviors are able to escape and within the course of a single day, raid the Kingdom, ambush the Hilltop, and bomb the shit out of Alexandria. Let's bring up some questions about this:

-How did they escape? The show seems to be indecisive on whether Daryl or Eugene led to the escape of the Saviors. It seems although it is Daryl's fault, but the writers seem unwilling to make Daryl look flawed, so they make a cop out excuse about Eugene, which does nothing but confuse the audience

-Where did they get the bombs to destroy Alexandria? Were they at the Sanctuary? If so, why didn't the Sancuary use them to escape? If they were at an outpost, why didn't Rick's crew find and take them?

-What were the bombs they used to destroy Alexandria? Negan just says "We'll bomb the shot out of you" and then entire houses just start exploding. What are the Saviors using? Grenades, RPGs? Can a grenade blow up an entire house? How are they aiming the explosives so well? What the fuck is going on?

And then, after all that, we got the anticlimactic season 8 finale, as Negan's obviously telegraphed survival meant that no main characters could die, meaning there could be no stakes in the finale. The lamest possible ending to the lamest possible war story.

Daryl: From Intriguing Loner to Redneck Rambo

Let's talk about Daryl Dixon, the badass biker of the zombie apocalypse. Initially introduced as the brother of racist redneck Merle, Daryl very quickly gained audience favor due to aggressive demeanor, survival skills, and tragic backstory. His aggressive biker persona was excellently contrasted with Rick the responsible policeman, Carol the abused housewife, and Beth the innocent farmgirl, allowing Daryl to have chemistry with numerous characters that audiences found irresistibly magnetic. However, in later seasons, Daryl's character has become less charismatic, and more irritating. His impulsiveness leads to the death of Glenn and possibly the freedom of the Saviors in the Season 8 mid finale. His imprisonment under Negan, while meant to augment his character by giving him PTSD, instead devolves his character, reducing him into a laconic aggressive manchild. Daryl's lines have decreased while the amount of his ridiculous "badass" moments have increased. Because of this, his relationships with Rick and Carol suffer, as he becomes at odds with Ricks desire for diplomacy, and Carol seems to have abandoned Daryl for the company of the far more level headed Ezekiel.

Daryl did have some chemistry with Tara due to their shared hatred of Dwight, but now that Tara has fully forgiven Dwight, there no longer seems to be a reason for Daryl and Tara to bond. Also, it seems unfair and self-righteous of Daryl to exile Dwight, who helped Rick and his crew out of remorse and was the lynchpin to their war on Negan, but be alright with people such as Eugene staying.

Now, with Rick leaving and Daryl seemingly about to take the helm as the new lead, it is uncertain whether his character has the necessary charisma or intrigue to hold audience attention.

Rick Sparing Negan: Bullshit Morality At It's Finest

Ricks decision overall was bullshit and forced for numerous reasons. The show writers were clearly trying to make Rick's decision honorable just to keep Negan on the show, but it really doesn't make sense and imo has forever ruined the show.

- Rick only spared Negan because it was Carl's dying wish. (Aside from BTS theories) The only reason Carl died was so that Rick could spare Negan, which is obvious considering that Carl's character was completely shifted from the soldier in the prior season into a pacifist, and his combat skill was nerfed as well, as he died incompetently fighting walkers that his S4 self could have easily killed. IMO, Carl's death ruined the show, as his character was Ricks main driving force and as shown by Andrew Lincoln's departure, without Carl, Rick really doesn't have any compelling purpose in the story, which considering he's the main character, pretty much renders the entire show obsolete. As such, the writers essentially killed the show just to keep Negan, which is one of the dumbest decisions in television history.

-Negan is worse than the Claimers or the Governor, who Rick savagely killed with the show's moral approval. The Claimers and Governor were rapists, but Negan is a rapist dictator who enslaved everyone he comes across, like a mix of Ramsay Bolton and Don Logan. Why was it okay for Rick to rip out Joe's throat but not for Rick to kill Negan?

-Rick sparing Negan to as a necessity to make peace with the Sanctuary makes zero sense. Since when do you have to spare the leader of your enemies to make peace with them? The Allies didn't spare the Nazi high command to make peace with Germany. The Nazis got Nuremberged and the Germans were fine. Rick could have negotiated with the Sanctuary just fine regardless of whether or not he killed Negan.

-Rick is a cop, and this should know that under the laws of the "old world he's trying to rebuild", Negan would easily be qualified for several death penalties

-Negan shouldn't even still be alive, and especially not able to talk. His throat got cut deep and he looked like was losing several pints of blood every second. Rick gave his long speech before getting Negan medical attention, and it's not like there was an ambulance with a blood pack nearby. Negan should have bled out before Ricks speech was finished, and Rick would have had to use Lucille to kill Zombie Negan.

And perhaps most importantly.....

-Maggie is the one who should have decided Negan's fate. Rick spared Negan to honor Carl, but Carl didn't get killed by Negan. Glenn did. Maggie suffered way more emotional loss and such deserved far more emotional gratification than Rick. Also, considering Alexandria got bombed and The Kingdom for raided, she was technically the person in charge considering she was leader of the Hilltop, which was everybody's home, and she managed to defend it from Simon and house prisoners, essentially being on the front line of the war and taking the hugest risks. If she forgave Negan, I would be okay with it, but it seems like Rick completely ignored her emotional suffering and authority just to gratify his own. His speech didn't make him seem heroic. It made him seem like a self righteous dick.

Carl's Death: The Walking Dead's Final Coup De Grace

Carl's death was the true shark jump. Not only was he the lifeblood of the show, but his death also made him the ultimate bitch and highlighted all of the shows major problems. He was killed while fighting two walkers, something he should be more than skilled at doing, and was turned from a pragmatic soldier who tried to ambush Negan in the prior season into a Morgan-level pacifist who only wants everyone to be friends. It undoes all of his character progress purely to push the "Negan lives" narrative, a pure case of plot writing character instead of the other way around. We read fiction and in general live life to adapt to adversity, and when we watch a kid like Carl literally grow up fighting zombies, we naturally expect him to adapt and become an expert zombie killer. So when he got killed fighting 2 zombies, like some first season newb, the only conclusion is that he couldn't adapt, and thus wasn't fit for the Zombie world to begin with, which destroys a lot of sympathy for his death IMO. Also, like Glenn, his death was used as a cliffhanger, turning what should be an emotional sendoff into a boring chore.

What makes his death even stupider is that they made the hugest divergence from the comic ever by killing Carl, just to ensure that they can follow the comic plotline with Negan. Essentially they had to alter the source material with a death, had to choose between Negan, a sadistic asshole every one wants to see die, or Carl, the lifeblood of the show, whose existence is what fuels the actions of the shows protagonist, and they idiotically picked Carl. It's like using gasoline to put out a fire.

Carl's death has FUBARed the storyline,  ruining the shows basic premise and rendering Rick Grimes character obsolete (which is why Andrew Lincoln is leaving imo; without Carl, what is Rick to do besides be a boring pacifist). Killing off Carl was probably the most devastating thing they could have done with the show. Everything Rick did, from his ruthlessness to his selflessness, was done to make sure Carl survived and became a good person, as any parent wants for their child. Rick has no character motivation now. If they launch him into another war with Maggie and/or The Whisperers, then it will shatter his promise to Carl.  If they introduce The Commonwealth, it will be like the end of The Mist where the military shows up too late to save the hero's son. And who will Rick be surviving for? Every Alexandrian we've met besides Enid, Aaron, and a couple background characters (Bruce, Barbara) are dead, so it's not even like you can relate with them as a community. Judith is not relatable because unlike Carl, she is too young to make/understand the trauma and sacrifices that Rick and Carl went through for each other.

Rick was a compelling character in the pantheon of post apocalyptic heroes because of his unique motivation. He was not like Mad Max or Joel of TLOU, family-less loners, or the Man from The Road, who was attempting to raise his son but also facing imminent death. Rick was motivated to keep Carl alive, and that motivation in turn has kept Rick alive. It was a motivation that was unique to him on the show , only shared by one other character, Herschel, who was unsurprisingly Ricks mentor. There are plenty of other characters on TWD have lost their families, and we have fully seen the gamut of reactions. Some, like The Governor and Morgan, respond in extreme grief, whereas others, such as Carol, Michonne, and Abraham, respond with pragmatic resolve. What made Rick a compelling hero was not that he had to deal with the grief of a dead family in a hellish environment, but that he had to deal the responsibility of raising one in a hellish environment. Carl being alive gave the show an extra dimension because not only was Rick trying to survive, but trying to do so in a way that set a good example for his son.

Now Carl is dead, and as such, any compelling motivation for Rick has gone with it. Andrew Lincoln is clearly a master actor who fully understands his character, and he understands that there is nothing interesting to drive Rick anymore. He's been with the show for almost a decade. You don't stay that long unless you are desperate or you completely believe in the material, and Lincoln is not desperate for work. He has clearly lost faith in TWD, and nobody can blame him for calling it quits and feeling that the material he put such hard work in is becoming stale, especially after the atrocious handling of Chandler Riggs departure and Laurie Cohen's contract disputes. I just feel bad for Angela Kang for having to manage Scott Gimple's clusterfuck.

Fear The Walking Dead: Don't Promise an Undeliverable Premise

FTWD has been fucked since the first season when it couldn't deliver on its "Societal Collapse POV" narrative that it promised and devolved into a weaker version of TWD,  hemorrhaging fans ever since. Because it lost its original premise, it has no central theme or narrative, and all its been able to do is crib TWD storylines with slight differences.

The reason they have no problem killing off main characters like Madison and introducing Morgan is because they don't really care about the current small audience. They are just doing whatever they can to draw in bigger audiences, even if it means reinventing the entire show. It won't work at this point, because the only reason people watched FTWD to begin with was because it was marketed as a POV of the actual outbreak, and most potential audience members jumped ship when the writers/budget couldn't deliver that premise and abandoned it with a time skip.

At this point, the only people watching FTWD are the die hard fans, and as stated, the show has no regard for them, which means it won't be long until they exit as well. Besides Madison, perhaps the most likeable character on the show was Nick, played by Frank Dillane, but his character was killed off at Dillane’s request, possibly because Dillane was upset about Madison’s death and the retooling of the show. Morgan is not a fan favorite like he used to be in The Walking Dead S3 because they overused and  butchered his character. Garret Dillahunt's name is popular, and John Dorie may be a good character, but at this point, Dorie is only known to the niche FTWD audience, and there is not enough word of mouth there to attract a new wide audience to watch just for him. Scott Gimple's hammy writing will not help matters. With continuously declining ratings, it will become harder and harder for AMC to justify Fear The Walking Dead’s existence.

The Zombie Apocalypse: Why It Isn't Narratively Sustainable

When George A. Romero created the zombie apocalypse genre with his Dead series, he knew the limits of the genre. Perhaps the two most famous of his films are Night of The Living Dead, and Dawn Of The Dead. Now both films, due to having different themes, have two polar opposite endings. Night of the Living Dead ends with humans very quickly subduing the undead horde, albeit with collateral damage, whereas Dawn of The Dead seems to end with the nihilistic inevitability of human extinction.

Now Romero was very notably a proponent of the slow moving zombie, but as zombie films evolved, the zombies became more agile to present a threat. This was most notable in Zach Synder's remake of Dawn of the Dead, as well as my personal favorite zombie film, 28 Days Later. I personally refer agile zombies because they are, well, agile. They pose far more of a threat than the slow lumbering zombies who seem like walking bullseye targets.

Quite simply, slow moving zombies are not deadly enough to pose a realistic existential threat to the Human species. As Romero's films and even The Walking Dead itself has shown, the danger of zombies is no match for the danger of mankind. If there are two things humans are good at, it's love and violence, and when it comes violence, we can get extremely efficient and extremely effective, especially when facing an enemy that has the physical and mental capacity of an old man with dementia. Realistically, the world's militaries would easily be able to suppress an undead outbreak within a matter of weeks at most. Between the drones, tanks, the zombies would stand no chance.

Because of this, The Walking Dead's zombie apocalypse is probably one of the least realistic of the entire genre. Shaun of the Dead is actually a more realistic zombie outbreak. The Walking Dead franchise itself seems aware of this, as shown by its time jump of Rick's coma and inability to actually show the outbreak in Fear The Walking Dead.

The Walking Dead has thrived because of its sympathetic characters portrayed by truly talented actors, allowing the audience to ignore the logical inconsistencies such as stealth zombies. However, as the show has progressed over the years, and the cast has grown larger and the characters find more resources, the zombie threat has slowly but assuredly become more and more obsolete. Whereas in the beginning we followed the characters due to the uncertainty of a future, now the future seems inevitable, and we are impatiently waiting for the characters to reach it. The characters are no longer in a state of desperation, and as such their emotional struggles are no longer as intriguing.  This not only make the anthropogenic violence more and more unnecessary, but it makes the zombie kills seem more and more contrived, as shown by Carl's ridiculous death. The show has seemingly reached a rubicon, where it can either progress into civilization, at the cost of removing the zombie threat that gave the show its initial appeal, or it can revert back into the chaos of the earlier seasons, which will make the show seem nihilistically redundant. Especially  with the death of Carl, The Walking Dead's premise seems to have expired well past its shelf life, and there doesn't seem to be much that can restore it. We are watching the slow zombifying death of The Walking Dead television franchise, succumbing to the bite of greed and lack of creativity or knowledge of audience demand, and it's sad, but expected.

-My Walking Dead Series Finale:

In closing, I recommend an unofficial SERIES Finale of The Walking Dead, which will be Season 6, episodes 8,9, and 10. Here is my proposed outline.

Season 6 Episode 8- Walkers invade Alexandria; Daryl, Abe, and Sasha encounter a gang of robbers who call themselves the Negan gang (only a nod to the comics)

Season 6 Episode 9 (penultimate episode)- Anderson family dies, Carl gets shot, Alexandria fights back, Daryl RPGs the Negan crew and saves Alexandria

Season 6 Episode 10 (series finale)- TWD goes out on a light hearted note. Rick and Michonne hook up, Carl and Enid hook up, Daryl and Rick finally are able to hang out, and they meet Jesus, who ends the show telling them about "the bigger world". We never see The Hilltop, Kingdom, Saviors, Garbage people, etc. All we know is that the series has ended with Rick and co finding new people. Glenn is still alive. Abraham and Sasha are still alive. Hell, even Denise and Olivia are still alive. The show ends on a happy but adventurous note, as the crew has settled in Alexandria, but prepare to meet the mysterious new people ahead.

*If you don't like Richonne, then Season 6 episode 9 will be a perfectly fine substitute series finale as well

What do you think? Is  The Walking Dead franchise finished? Can they continue without Rick Grimes? You judge, you decide, like, comment, and subscribe