Hogan Reviews

You can catch up with my Season 11 reviews by clicking HERE for Part 1 and HERE for Part 2.

Here we go then, the final ever episodes of The Walking Dead… at least that’s what I should be saying but there are so many spin-offs announced as in the works that it honestly doesn’t feel like a big deal. I guess these are the final episodes loosely based on the comics, and I stress loosely ever since Carl and Rick left the show, which is something. Well either way I am happy to say these episodes were at least really good, far better a note for the show to go out on than it deserves, frankly. Let’s take a look…

We left the previous third of the season with used-car-salesman-looking Lance (Josh Hamilton) going after our protagonists after they failed to fall in line, putting their stay at the haven known as the Commonwealth at risk. The first two episodes puts a neat bow on that storyline as Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), who had yet to visit the Commonwealth, sneaks into the settlement to both warn those who were still there and make contact with their head of security Mercer (Michael James Shaw), who has proven to be on their side. While this was going on an exposé on the Commonwealth leader Pamela (Laila Robins)’s son Sebastian (Teo Rapp-Olsson) has caused riotous uproars amongst the public, so Carol (Melissa McBride) strikes a deal to blame Lance for it instead in exchange for everyone being allowed to stay. It was a fine little mini-arc, and Daryl (Norman Reedus) stabbing Lance in the hand even after he was captured was unexpected, apparently it was to be “more like Rick” but it’s far too late for that sadly…

Negan eyes up his Spin-off partner.

The plot then shifts to Pamela and Sebastian being our new and final antagonists going back to the “rich elite holding down the common man in a dystopia” story that I wasn’t particularly fond of to start this season, though thankfully it doesn’t linger on that over-done trope for too long. The focus is, oddly, on Eugene (Josh McDermitt) for a lot of the final episodes as he and his new love Maxxine (Margot Bingham) are at the forefront of exposing the truth.

Without going too deep into spoilers (that’s for down below!) I will reaffirm that the final few episodes are really good and as a nice bonus go back to focusing on the titular walking dead as key enemies and plot points rather than the “evil human in charge of a settlement full of armed regular humans” stuff we’ve had for most the past few seasons… well, most of the show really! I think my main criticism is that thanks to several announcements of up-coming spin-off shows a lot of key characters had no drama to them, no “will they make it out of the finale, where all bets are off” that a show like this should have for its final few episodes. There was a single long-term character death, and that was it. Plus a lot of the standard “time jump to show everyone being happy” montage was all about setting those spin-offs up, which again takes all the satisfaction out of this being the big finale.

Overall Thoughts:

Pamela practices her next speech.

The Walking Dead comes to a close, but thanks to the top brass rubbing their hands at the thought of a dozen spin-offs the final episode lacks a sense of satisfaction and finality, instead it just shows us a preview of what’s to come next. Still, the final few episodes were actually enjoyable, so at least in that sense that show went out on a high rather than a potential low it could have given some recent seasons…

The big twist (especially for those who have read the comics all the way through) is that Sebastian ends up killed when he tries to push a zombie on Maxxine after her and Eugene’s plan to out him as a complete bastard bares fruit, but he ends up chewed on himself. This leads to Pamela ordering all people associated with Eugene to be taken prisoner and for the man himself to be put on trial and executed. This is where the main cast gets split, characters like Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Negan, Gabriel (Seth Gilliam), Rosita (Christian Serratos) and Ezekiel (Khary Payton) are taken to a prison camp where they are forced to clear old railroad for reuse (with Alexandria coincidentally now acting as the prison) while Daryl and Carol escape, finish off Lance once and for all and then plan to help the prisoners escape; though Gabriel, Maggie and Rosita escape before they even make it to camp and soon meet up with Daryl and Carol to help plan an escape… oh and save the children, all the children have been kidnapped and used as leverage… forgot to mention that bit. At the same time some other featured characters like Aaron (Ross Marquand), Jerry (Cooper Andrews) and Lydia (Cassady McClincy) are blissfully unaware of goings on as they head to their old settlements but soon find out the truth and end up stealthily blending in with a massive undead hoard the Pamela is intentionally guiding to her city to scare citizens off the street and also end up in the Commonwealth.

Alexandria as a dystopian police state. That town just can’t catch a break…

So you can see how this is all leading to a finale where the entire cast come together to fight their final enemy, and that’s exactly what happens! This includes Judith (Cailey Fleming) who sadly is still lacking in the acting department, not to be too cruel to the little girl, and in the early stages of the big showdown she is actually shot, leading to Daryl taking her to a hospital after the previously mentioned zombie hoard breaks through the defenses and begins to swarm the city. Our group of survivors … survive, minus music-liking guy who hasn’t really appeared in ages that I can’t even remember the name of and sadly Rosita, who gets bit during an escape but is able to stay on her feet for the charge again Pamela, who has locked herself in the rich part of town and is watching as hundreds of citizens try to break down the gate.

Rosita desperately tries to avoid being the final death of the series… unsuccessfully.

While Maggie and Negan get on the same page (for their spin-off!) though thankfully the former doesn’t forgive Negan for the whole taking pleasure in brutally battering her husband to death with a baseball bat right in front her thing, the rest of the group break into the elite section with Mercer and manage to convince Pamela’s guards to join them and let the citizens in. Pamela is arrested (which is good as Negan and Maggie were about to shoot her dead with a sniper rifle) and soon everyone lures the zombies into the rich part of town and then blows it up for extra symbolism. Rosita gets a long sad send-off (despite the fact she hasn’t really done much in the past season or two) and then this is when we flashforward a year and see everyone happy. Ezekiel and Mercer are now in charge of the Commonwealth, Carol is… staying in Alexandria, and Maggie has a new idea of how to expand their communities (no doubt leading to her spin-off) while Daryl is seen off as he’s about explore the new frontier (for his spin-off).

We then get a special couple of scenes with Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Rick (Andrew Lincoln) establishing that they are indeed both still alive and searching for a way back… all to promote their spin-off. It was great seeing Rick again though, I’ll admit, even if it was in a “to be continued” scene…