*This review was originally released on MovieQuotesandMore.com on 20/04/2018
Here’s a question for you, Can you name 5 shows that should’ve ended at certain season or at a certain year but decided to keep going which eventually killed this show or it may still be going to this day & all you want for it is to end. Leave a comment so we can discuss & complain together.
Pre-Review: The Walking Dead is a show that I keep questioning why do I keep watching this dumpster fire. The show has been going downhill since Season 7, it’s also downgraded in quality, the characters are no longer what they used to be & now days it’s just a rotting zombie corpse. I was never intending to review this season but I couldn’t help it because this season was so terrible that I just had to say something. This will a spoiler filled review if anyone is concerned & in this review will be a look at this season, plus the show’s history & its future so let’s begin at the beginning.
The Beginning to where we are now: Back in 2010 The Shawshank Redemption Director Frank Darabont was the one to bring Robert Kirkman’s comic series to the small screen. Season 1 was a huge hit & in my opinion is the best the season. Then we get Season 2 Frank gets the can and he’s replaced by Glen Mazzara & Season 2 is best known as the season where they stay at that Farm for the whole season & do nothing. Then there was Season 3 which was a mess then there is Season 4 where Glen gets the boot & Scott Gimple takes the helm. So the messy Season 3 was replaced with the boring Season 4 where they just walked in the forest for 8 episodes until they got to the cannibal place. Season 5 had an awesome first episode but the rest of the season was mediocre.
Then there was Season 6 this is where it all started to go wrong. I think it started at the episode ‘Thank You’ where fan-favourite Glenn (Steven Yeun) is presumably eaten by zombies but three episodes later we find out he just hid under a dumpster & then he moves on and never mentions it again. (Wait What!) After that we start to introduce The Saviors & a bunch of other boring communities. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) & the gang easily kill these guys but they keep coming back with more & more people. The last episode of the season introduces their leader Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) he monologues a lot and he kills someone but we don’t know who.
After a 6 month wait we find out who Negan killed in one of the worst episodes in the entire series & it went downhill from there. Season 7 tops Season 2 as Rick & the gang do nothing for the whole season but bow down to Negan until the final episode where they start this All Out War Storyline. Season 7 is really boring where nothing happens until the mid-season finale & the season finale. Season 7 is where everything really starts to suck. Everyone becomes a cartoon character, Episodes go by with nothing happening & it’s just filler. The whole season is filling up time for this season to be a war season which is just as boring as that season.
Season 8 Part 1 – Action Scenes with No Consequences: The 100th episode happened this season (Can you believe it) Rick is an old man at the beginning or something? Carl (Chandler Riggs) follows some guy in the forest for some reason? There’s a complicated plan that I’m supposed to follow that makes no sense? So Rick, Alexandria, Hilltop & The Kingdom go to Negan’s place & they start firing at the place even though Rick wanted the workers alive. Rick has like a million changes to kill Negan but the writers gave him the mind & aim of a Stormtrooper for this one scene & the other three fights Rick has with Negan. Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) gets himself captured just so the story can give something to do & it’s boring & pointless like everything else.
The next two episodes features a lot of gun noises & the death of half the extras on the show & they’re as boring as the fight from earlier. These two episodes I literally had no idea what was happening. The writers just expect you to just follow along with no question. So I don’t understand what the characters are planning or their motivations for why are they doing this. These episodes have nothing happen but has Ezekiel (Khary Payton) act like the cockiest war leader I’ve seen ever seen. Rick meets that guy from season one which is so pointless that it’s so obvious that’s it fan service. Aaron’s (Ross Marquand) boyfriend dies & it’s trying so hard to be sad but it isn’t & Ross Marquand can’t fake cry. After that Ezekiel cockiness gets all his people killed & shortly after his pet tiger dies which is kind of sad & so far that’s the only downside of the war.
Coral: I’m just going to skip the next four episodes and jump to Carl’s death. I mentioned earlier Carl meets some up with random guy. Well while helping that guy Carl gets bit while fighting a zombie. (This will be the only time this happens) By episode 8 Negan has rebuild the army that Rick & his people spend the whole half season trying to destroy making all those previous episodes pointless now. (My theory is Negan yanked 10,000,000 soldiers out of his you know) So Negan bombs Alexandria & The Kingdom gets raided. Carl & the gang hide in the sewers then the next episode they all say goodbye to Carl. The whole episode is Carl dies which is so cheesy & a stupid way to send off this big character I wonder whose idea was it to kill off the main character’s son! So Carl reveals the stuff with Old man Rick is his dream or vision. After the war he wants everyone to live a happily ever after in a sun shiny place where heroes & villains can live in harmony. Also in this world Rick is crippled & Negan is a part of this fantasy. Carl gives his dad letters that he wrote to all his friends including Negan & Rick honours his son’s memory by trying to kill the guy that his son wants alive.
Season 8 Part 2 – The Never-ending Battle of Boredom: This part of the season has Alexandria & The Kingdom hang out at Hilltop & do nothing. Aaron goes to The Lady group & tries to convince them to help out which is so damn boring that I just tune out. Eugene (Josh McDermitt) makes bullets with Gabriel & I always have to rewind trying to figure out what he just said. Tara (Alanna Masterson) & Daryl (Norman Reedus) both talk about killing Dwight (Austin Amelio) when he is sitting right in front of them. These two are my least favourite characters on the show because of their obnoxious behaviour around this guy who has proven time and time again to be on their side.
Then there is Simon (Steven Ogg) who kills all The Garbage People (Which is fine by me) then tries to replace Negan. So during this long war we need a power struggle for some reason. After fight three with Rick Negan is captured by the Garbage Queen. This is the part of the episode where they try to make you sympathise with Negan by telling a sad story about his wife. But that’s thrown out of the window when Negan kills Simon & then decides to kill everybody. Even though before he said people are resource. There is also a dumb kid who sucks up to Carol (Melissa McBride) who is so annoying I wished he died when they tried to tease Tara’s death which is never brought up again.
Lastly we have Morgan (Lennie James) who was my favourite character last season but this season messes it all up. So last season some kid died & made Morgan want to kill everyone. But then he starts seeing hallucinations of dead people & starts to lose his mind which takes us back to how he was in Season 3. In the last episode Jesus (Tom Payne) teaches him to go back to his no killing rule from Season 6. Morgan’s character is such a mess he’s crazy, then he’s a hippie, then a mass murderer to hippie again. Make up your mind! So now Morgan is going onto Fear The Walking Dead hopefully to fix up the mess this show created.
The Final Battle: We get to the last episode where no one dies & the final battle is as great as the first one. So Negan has this big trap cooked up which by the end of it I don’t even know what that is. So Eugene makes the guns explode and that leads to an easy victory for the Good Guys. The Lady Group throw some Molotov Cocktails at The Savior ambush at Hilltop. Good thing they didn’t burn it down but they’re still pointless. Then Rick slits Negan’s throat but he doesn’t die. (If you watched the show nothing can kill this jerk) In the end the war is over Thank God! The Saviors are their friends now, Daryl lets Dwight go to find his wife, Rick locks Negan in prison even though at the beginning of the season & even 4 episodes ago he wanted to kill him & Maggie (Lauren Cohan) isn’t happy about Rick’s decision & this may lead into something interesting. We’ll end this on a positive note that Scott Gimple will not be showrunner next season but a new showrunner named Angela Kang & we’ll have to see if The Walking Dead still sucks with rein on the show.
Final Thoughts: I used to love The Walking Dead but sadly I think I’m at the state where I can never love it the way I used. The show may never go back to the way it was but hopefully this new showrunner could try her best & make a decent show then a very mediocre show. The Walking Dead will probably remain in this state until the show finally decides to end. Until then I’ll be there to see it to the end. Season 8 is a bad season & I think they should just fade away from the comics & just make their own story which could build to some sort of conclusion by Season 10 or 12. But who am I kidding they’re not done digging there grave yet.
Those are my thoughts on The Walking Dead Season 8 if you agree or disagree please let me know in the comments. If you can share it with your loved ones that would be great and if you haven’t notice I’m a huge fan of movies & TV Shows and I’m willing to suffer for my audience (If I have any) so let me know on what I should review next.
Thanks for reading this review and I’ll see you again in the next review.
