And that’s a wrap, folks.
What They Say:
Honor – Rick faces difficulties after a battle. Meanwhile, the fight continues in other communities as core members face hard choices.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The mid-season finale for The Walking Dead was one that didn’t have a lot of energy going into it because of how events played out prior to it, which was frustrating as I really enjoyed the early part of the season with what it did in putting the core players on the offensive. The episode worked through enough things to feel like it had some progress but it also dragged because of what it was presenting with Carl, which has largely been received negatively since then unless a twist was being presented with it. But, as we’ve seen before with The Walking Dead, the showrunners and writers tend to make some bad choices and this just feels like another one in a line of them.
But honestly, just the opening montage sequence with the cold open focusing on Carl as he puts his affairs in order while everyone else is away is almost enough to get my to just stop writing about the show. It has the weight to it that it needs because he’s been there since the beginning, the motivation Rick had to keep surviving after he woke up in the hell that the world is, but that same weight and reason and much of what Rick did so much for is now being removed from the show. Yeah, there’s that sense that Rick will change based on the future dreams that he’s having and all, but the whatever drives him from that point forward will be a shadow of the same kind of motivation. Even the daughter that’s not truly his can’t compensate for it. Carl’s been the focus of many a meme and has been poorly used for a while, but the meaning of this moment and the impact it has doesn’t generate the feelings that you know the writers wanted out of it.
With the way the show works, you know that even with the episode running at an extended length it would take most of it before Carl would die because of the wound. A lot of what we get is fairly standard stuff with the bulk of the core group in the sewer keeping quiet while waiting for the Saviors to pass while Carol and Morgan deal with what’s going on in the Kingdom. But it does it in the way that the show tends to do in that it’s drawn out and without the tension that it needs to really work. And through it all, all I could think was how they’re cutting short so many potentially good stories that could be told because of the various aspects that Carl touches upon, especially as he provides that little bit of inspiration and hope for those like Michonne to find a better way and to try and make things better.
In Summary:
And through all that, The Walking Dead made me realize that I no longer care. I’m just as empty on it because of this death on top of the drawn out nature of it all. It took nearly nine seasons but the big weekly by-appointment must-see series has finally fallen by the wayside for me. I’ll still be recording it and catching up on it in the background, but The Walking Dead no longer holds my full and complete attention anymore, especially in this age of peak TV where it just kept doing what it did and couldn’t actually grow and be something more than it started out as, something that the comics did to some degree in shifting gears. A shift that’s not going to work right if they really try it without Carl.
Grade: C-
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