I hated Negan as a bad guy and thought at least i would enjoy the season finale when they killed him off. But then, they didn’t kill him off. And he showed up the next season! I watched a bit of that season but Negan just didn’t hold my interest and I bailed on the series. It as already a joyless slog when I gave up on it. I’m glad I didn’t wait around any longer.
The writers and producers committed a huge sin. They fell in love with the character and refused to kill him. Rick should have killed him seasons ago and if not there, Maggie should have done it at some point. It was ridiculous. We are now supposed to accept him as a protagonist.
In a case like that, I always wonder if it’s the character or the actor they love the most. Perhaps Jeffrey Dean Morgan is just so charming and easy to work with, the producers and writers are happy to keep him on even if they don’t really know what to do with the character.
It’s one of those. I think it’s a combination of both. Popular character, great actor. They killed off enough other people to afford his price and so they keep him.
Did they even bother to try to give Negan a redemption arc worth a damn or did they just let fan love dictate where the character went?
Maybe? I mean, he did good things and joined the good guys and even “felt really bad about” killing people. He did serve a few years in prison, too.
It’s not that he couldn’t repent and go off on his own, sort of riding away to have his own adventures and seeking redemption. It’s that he is literally teaming up with Maggie, the wife of the dude whose head he bashed open.
Come on. Numerous people saw that, like Daryl and Carol, and they would definitely kill Negan for it. No matter what.
I have not read the thread because…
SWMBO decided she didn’t like The Walking Dead anymore, after CARL! died, so I’ve been recording it (and Fear The Walking Dead and Walking Dead: World Beyond). She doesn’t want to watch, and she says, ‘You can watch it on your own time.’ The trouble is, the only time she’s not here is when I’m working. I did manage to get through World Beyond. (It didn’t leave an impression.) Last night I caught up on Fear The Walking Dead, and started to catch up on The Walking Dead. I watched an episode of Tales Of The Walking Dead, which went to TWD episode 17 when it ended. Since it only had the first couple of minutes, I deleted it and went to the next recording: Acceron: Part 1. Wait a minute… That’s season 11, episode 1. Shouldn’t the next recording be season 11, episode 17? There’s nothing between Acheron: Part 2 and a bonus edition of Acts Of God, s11e16. Nothing More Episodes, either.
The thing is, I remember watching Acheron. If recordings were deleted when space was needed *my wife records a bunch of stuff and then never deletes them), Acheron would have been deleted… unless they were set up to not delete when space was needed. But why would they be different? I guess I must have watched the other episodes. I remember Negan and Hershel facing off, and Negan admitting he’d killed Glenn. That was s11e14. So I guess I did watch them (and deleted them, as I do). It’s just hard keeping up when I can’t watch regularly.
Once upon a time, this show was genuinely appointment television for me. But after Season 5, I decided I had had enough. And, surprisingly, I’ve never had the tiniest interest in resuming. I remember it being quite the big deal, at least in my mind, to put a show aside before it actually ended. I always kind of imagined I’d just be forced by overpowering curiosity to come back and see what was happening to all of these characters I had already given so much time to. Turns out checking Wikipedia satisfies that need just fine.
After they got to Alexandrea. I only watched the first and last episodes of each season when they went to streaming just to make sure I wasn’t missing anything worth watching. I wasn’t.
There were several times where they jumped the shark. I’d say Beth trying to stab cop-lady with a fork at the hospital was one of them. Big surprise that Beth didn’t prevail. I think that was Season 6.
For my wife and me, these events brought down the show:
- They killed Glenn, a very key and likable character.
- They did NOT kill Negan when they had a chance. They fell in love with their actor and kept him, even though it made no sense story-wise and his death would have been satisfying.
- Carl died…followed by Rick leaving the show soon after, which obviously surprised the writers.
After Rick left(and combined with previous character deaths), we had a shell of a show. None of the new characters sparked the way they hoped. Carol, Daryl, and Maggie did not make up a strong enough core group.
And, of course, it just meandered. You genuinely could watch the premiere and finale each year and hardly miss much at all. Whole episodes would go by and I would have all of the questions.
What? Who? Where? Why? How?
Ok, not “when?”, but the others.
I think even X-files did better in its 8th and 9th season that Walking Dead did its final years.
I don’t think they ever fully recovered from the loss of Frank Darabont the showrunner who was fired in 2011 over budgetary disagreements. Even in season 2, while there were good episodes like “Nebraska,” there were others that just seemed to meander. I stopped watching the series on a regular basis after Rick left, and would pick up again on streaming servies a few years later, and I got frustrated by how slowly paced many of the episodes were. Did I really need 20+ episodes a season? No. No I did not.
When the show’s main characters start leaving it’s a good time to question why they’re still making episodes. To make money I guess. I found it ridiculous that Michonne abandoned her two children to go look for Rick. Dick move on her part, but everyone seems to think it’s the right thing to do. Like others, I enjoed Negan character as a bad guy, but when he was defeated it was time for him to go. If he had crushed my wife’s head in with a bat there’s no way in hell I’d let him live. And like you said, the supporting cast of Daryl, Maggie, and others just weren’t enough especially so late in the series.
The most interesting thing came out in the last few episodes when zombie behavior started to change. i.e. They could pick up and use objects (something we actually saw in the first season) and they gained the ability to climb obstacles. That was kind of a neat twist.
I do think it was in top form still post-Darabont, but it should have taken the high road and ended at the end of about season 5 or so.
Hot take: My wife and I LOVE Fear the Walking Dead. Season 4-present has been excellent and MUCH better than Walking Dead the past few years.
It was a rough go the first couple seasons, but is now excellent. I had problems with it, but it is so much better than the original, it is worth viewing.
I’d actually recommend starting with Season 4, which is when Morgan joined that show.
I developed a strong dislike for most of the characters and didn’t bother with season 2. And when I say dislike, I mean they were a bunch of assholes. The annoying teens were the most likable characters and that’s a problem. I also thought they did a bad job with the premise. i.e. What was suppose to differentiate this show from TWD was that we’d see how civilization fell and they did a bad job with that. Still, I’m going to get the zombie itch at some point and I’ll probably give it a shot. At least the show improved.
The minute I heard Michonne - well, Danai Gurira - was cast in a Marvel comics movie - I thought, ‘that’s all she wrote’ for her role in The Walking Dead. I wonder if she’s going to appear in any TWD movies/tv shows in the future.
It is almost entirely a new, and much better, cast. This is why I strongly recommend starting with season 4.
I won’t go down the line of characters, but the season 1 and 2 characters have all almost died. I believe we have one or two left.
I was too fed up with the main TWD to start another show in the same universe, but I always wondered how Morgan got from Virginia to California in post-zombie-apocalypse America. Did they ever explain that?
I forgot, to be honest. He’s been on Fear for so long, I forgot where it was even taking place. It’s very much(even more than WD) a post-apocalypse where they are now. I’ll spoiler-box this:
Nuclear bombs went off at one point so it is even more dangerous out there
Yes, they should probably leave.
He walked. As did the dude with the burned face (Dwight?) looking for his wife. And his wife, actually. A lot of Forrest Gump-style shenanigans between shows.
In fairness, though, I think the main show characters met the spin-off characters in the middle, somewhere around Texas. And then the spin-off story has gradually migrated to Florida. I think. Somewhere in the southeast.
Like I said, I also can not remember where they are supposed to be.