In order to stop the other fans from stoning me, let me preface this entire review with this: the ending was the biggest cop-out I've seen on television in my entire life. And I watched "The Sopranos," so there's serious competition. I was disappointed, everyone was disappointed. But the final moment does not speak for the entire episode.
I do not believe this is the worst episode of The Walking Dead. I actually believe that had the ending been more appropriate for a season finale, it would've been one of the best of the show. And there's a good reason why. But first, the episode's biggest weakness.
This episode was, frankly, insultingly unrealistic, which was pretty much the thing that took two whole stars off. Yikes. From start to finish, the biggest trope in the episode was those gangs on the roads blocking them, but not doing much of anything. And while that made for some truly brilliant tension, it would never have been the way it played out, even given Negan's playful nature. The other scene that proved ridiculous was not the ending scene, which was mostly brilliant, but the ending part of the ending scene. From where he starts playing eenie meenie. This is a stupid choice, and Negan is clearly much smarter than this. You don't kill the leader, because then you pretty much lose the group. You don't kill his kid, because then the leader has nothing left to lose. You don't kill Glen, because (as he's shown), he's emotionally very attached to Maggie, and thus you don't kill Maggie either, to make sure they know they could always lose each other at any moment. You don't kill Abraham, because he's clearly too willing to die. You don't kill Eugene, because he's the intelligent, somewhat submissive one. And I'm sure, with all his spy work, that he knows that. You don't kill Aaron or the other minor guys because the group might not be as shaken up. So you're essentially left with two choices: Daryl and Michonne. Pick between them. Don't do the stupid game crap. Negan is way too smart for that. And also, it's worth mentioning that there's no good reason to only kill one of them.
Now that we've gotten all the crap out of the way, onto why this episode isn't nearly the worst in the show, and that is pretty much everything else about it.
The acting, particularly from Lincoln and Yeun (whose character, by the way, shouldn't actually be alive), was phenomenal. While Cudlitz and Riggs didn't make me believe their characters here, and nor did McDermitt, Cohan and Morgan both gave incredible performances. Which brings me to the best part of the episode: Negan.
Negan is hands down the greatest villain in "Walking Dead" history. Absolutely hands down no questions asked the greatest villain. He's even on par with Fring and Welker from "Breaking Bad." And the reason for that is the aura of mystery that surrounds him. There's been an entire season of build-up to meeting this character. More, actually, than a season, if you look at really small things. But the build-up really started in the season six premiere, and ever since the mid-season return, it's gotten nail-bitingly intense. And Jeffery Dean Morgan was a great choice. I won't say no one else could've played Negan, but he's certainly a fantastic match, and he gave an all-star performance. His playfulness mixed with evil is reminiscent of the greatest villain in television history: Moriarty from "Sherlock."
The directing was good, but it did, at times, fail to be any more than film-school good. It's great, it captured the emotion, the tension build was some of the best in the show, but it sort of felt like, with those actors and that script, any film major could've done the same. We need Frank Darabont back on the show.
In a way, this episode was satisfying. Any show has a responsibility to leave us off with a cliffhanger, to leave some loose end painfully untied and dangling. And while this one was excessive, ridiculous, and unrealistic at that, the climax happened. The climax for the entire sixteen episodes of build-up, two of them double length, was seeing Negan's face. We're afraid of him long before we see him, but we still want to see him. The season had a resolution. But then it introduced a new problem at the last second and left us hanging.
In short, if the ending had never happened, this might've been a 10/10. But that ending was a -2-star ending. 8.1/10
I do not believe this is the worst episode of The Walking Dead. I actually believe that had the ending been more appropriate for a season finale, it would've been one of the best of the show. And there's a good reason why. But first, the episode's biggest weakness.
This episode was, frankly, insultingly unrealistic, which was pretty much the thing that took two whole stars off. Yikes. From start to finish, the biggest trope in the episode was those gangs on the roads blocking them, but not doing much of anything. And while that made for some truly brilliant tension, it would never have been the way it played out, even given Negan's playful nature. The other scene that proved ridiculous was not the ending scene, which was mostly brilliant, but the ending part of the ending scene. From where he starts playing eenie meenie. This is a stupid choice, and Negan is clearly much smarter than this. You don't kill the leader, because then you pretty much lose the group. You don't kill his kid, because then the leader has nothing left to lose. You don't kill Glen, because (as he's shown), he's emotionally very attached to Maggie, and thus you don't kill Maggie either, to make sure they know they could always lose each other at any moment. You don't kill Abraham, because he's clearly too willing to die. You don't kill Eugene, because he's the intelligent, somewhat submissive one. And I'm sure, with all his spy work, that he knows that. You don't kill Aaron or the other minor guys because the group might not be as shaken up. So you're essentially left with two choices: Daryl and Michonne. Pick between them. Don't do the stupid game crap. Negan is way too smart for that. And also, it's worth mentioning that there's no good reason to only kill one of them.
Now that we've gotten all the crap out of the way, onto why this episode isn't nearly the worst in the show, and that is pretty much everything else about it.
The acting, particularly from Lincoln and Yeun (whose character, by the way, shouldn't actually be alive), was phenomenal. While Cudlitz and Riggs didn't make me believe their characters here, and nor did McDermitt, Cohan and Morgan both gave incredible performances. Which brings me to the best part of the episode: Negan.
Negan is hands down the greatest villain in "Walking Dead" history. Absolutely hands down no questions asked the greatest villain. He's even on par with Fring and Welker from "Breaking Bad." And the reason for that is the aura of mystery that surrounds him. There's been an entire season of build-up to meeting this character. More, actually, than a season, if you look at really small things. But the build-up really started in the season six premiere, and ever since the mid-season return, it's gotten nail-bitingly intense. And Jeffery Dean Morgan was a great choice. I won't say no one else could've played Negan, but he's certainly a fantastic match, and he gave an all-star performance. His playfulness mixed with evil is reminiscent of the greatest villain in television history: Moriarty from "Sherlock."
The directing was good, but it did, at times, fail to be any more than film-school good. It's great, it captured the emotion, the tension build was some of the best in the show, but it sort of felt like, with those actors and that script, any film major could've done the same. We need Frank Darabont back on the show.
In a way, this episode was satisfying. Any show has a responsibility to leave us off with a cliffhanger, to leave some loose end painfully untied and dangling. And while this one was excessive, ridiculous, and unrealistic at that, the climax happened. The climax for the entire sixteen episodes of build-up, two of them double length, was seeing Negan's face. We're afraid of him long before we see him, but we still want to see him. The season had a resolution. But then it introduced a new problem at the last second and left us hanging.
In short, if the ending had never happened, this might've been a 10/10. But that ending was a -2-star ending. 8.1/10