The zombie apocalypse.
Tonight is the series finale of The Walking Dead. The zombie drama sendoff had some great moments, but it still left me feeling a little hollow and let down. It was fitting that some of the show's most annoying bad habits reared their ugly heads in the last episode.
The final confrontation felt rushed, that's one part of my disappointment. They have been building toward this for a long time, but it still felt like the Commonwealth crumbled too quickly and the stakes were not that high. The outcome seemed clear from the start.
One way or another, the setup for tonight was messed up. In last week's episode, we never really got a sense of what the retreat would mean for the Commonwealth. The population of the Commonwealth seemed to barely top 150 people despite being a community with tens of thousands of inhabitants. The Walking Dead dropped the ball when it came to world-building in its 11th season.
It felt like a poorly established final conflict even though we spent 23 episodes reaching it. I can't help but be amazed at how out of their depth the writers and producers of The Walking Dead are. During a few moments in the finale, you can see that the show is great. The Big Bad was uninspired and boring, and even at the bitter end The Walking Dead pulled almost every punch. There are almost no deaths in the finale.
The finale hit me in the feels. In my opinion, it was the most powerful and emotional death in the series. There were moments of greatness that shone through. There will be more on this in a second.
The person is Cailey Fleming.
At the end of last week's episode, Judith was taken to the hospital by Daryl. The hospital seems to be abandoned when they get there after she was shot by Pamela. From Judith's perspective, we see that a couple of Stormtroopers come into the lobby area and then we see Daryl fall to the ground. There is a group of zombies outside. Judith is blocking the doors and passing out next to him.
Carol looked down on them as Daryl woke up with a black eye and lay next to Judith in hospital beds. Across the room, a group of people are weeping as they try to save a man who was bitten trying to save a woman. He has lost a lot of blood in the process of sawing off the appendage. The woman sobbed above him as he died. It is the second death of the show. We haven't spent a lot of time with him over the last few seasons. He had potential to be a more important and prominent character, but out of the C tier group that came with Magna, he was probably the least important. We probably wouldn't get many more because they killed Jules first and then spent a lot of time onLuke's death.
I was correct. One other person has died. It's baffling that the creators of The Walking Dead would kill off so few characters. In the end, it was all toothless.
I don't think it's necessary to kill off characters to make for a good show, but the final triumph over the undead feels so anticlimactic when nearly every member of the group that arrived at the Commonwealth is left. The end of Season 8 of The Saviors was so poorly staged that it was difficult to think about it.
The zombies break into the hospital and the group inside escapes. The whole sequence is very similar to the premiere of the show when Rick wakes up in the hospital and finds himself in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. They could have done a lot more with the hospital than they did. Having people survive an increasingly terrifying hospital would have been a lot more tense if they had been brought back to a safe house.
Josh McDermitt played a doctor.
Outside the hospital, a group of people are trying to save a baby from the dead. They climb a pipe to get to an upstairs window. First, you! Eugene told Rosita that he was a gentleman and that she had a baby with her.
It would have been better if it didn't annoy me so much. When Eugene and Gabriel start up the pipe, Rosita is defenseless with a baby strapped to her chest, surrounded by zombies. This is ridiculous. There is no way these men would allow a woman to leave with an infant. With her maternal instincts still intact, she wouldn't encourage them to go before her, if not for herself.
They go up and then they follow. She was grabbed by the zombies and dragged back down into the group. Eugene cries out, "Rosati!" For a moment you think she and the baby are done for, but then she comes back and takes out a few zombies. She jumped to the pipe after clambering up onto a vehicle.
We don't need to remind you that this was a pretty cool action sequence. I was hoping that she would take on a more pivotal role in the series since I like her a lot more than Michonne. Serratos is one of the best and mostunderappreciated actors on The Walking Dead and in the finale she gets her chance to shine.
There is a person named Rosita.
In the safe-house where everyone comes back, Eugene sits down and talks with his wife. He senses something isn't right and immediately realized what had happened. She showed him the bite on her shoulder and made him promise to keep it from anyone. She is still not ready.
This scene was wonderful and emotional. Eugene has annoyed me a lot over the years because he has been written into so many stupid corners or awkward romantic moments, but I thought McDermitt really knocked it out of the park. He said to her, "I just love you so much" as he took his leave. A tear ran down her cheek as she replied, "I love you, too." Both Serratos and McDermitt are 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- I wouldn't have said who would carry the series finale of The Walking Dead if I had known. Isn't it weird?
At the victory celebration, everyone is drinking wine and eating a nice looking meal, and Gabriel goes over to sit with the lady. When he asks her, she whispers in his ear, and you can see the shock and sadness on his face. The camera cuts to her and she smiles and shrugs and it's heartbreaking. In a series of beautiful and sad moments, it is another one. Judith looked over and saw the two of them were upset.
A couple of people, Gabriel andRosita.
Next, we see two people help a woman to a bedroom where a baby is sleeping. The people are getting her settled. They leave and Gabriel kneels beside her and says a prayer. He is standing and walking around the bed as a woman kisses a girl on the forehead. Gabriel picked up Coco and left.
Eugene pulled up a chair and looked down on her as he sat with her. He cried as he said, "Rosalita," to his eyes. If I hadn't met you, I wouldn't be who I am today. She has her hand in his.
She said she was glad it was him and then closed her eyes. Eugene isn't the only one crying This was, without a doubt, the most powerful death scene we have seen in a long time. It is the only death scene that has made me emotional. Some of The Walking Dead's deaths are shocking. Glenn's death was terrible, but the violence and brutality of it was so graphic that any sadness was buried under our disgust. Carl's death was poorly filmed and cheap in order to boost the show's sagging ratings. Siddiq died in a shocking and horrible way, but that doesn't leave much room for sadness.
There is a person named Rosita.
It was given just the right amount of time and the acting and writing were so good that I can't remember another death like that on this show. They didn't drag the death out, but they didn't rush it. Emotions were conveyed in each scene. It was perfect to have the final moments with Eugene and her final words with him. They didn't ruin the scene with bad dialogue. Eugene made it short and sweet.
This was one of the best moments in the entire series finale of The Walking Dead. It didn't rely on shock value or trickery, but rather solid writing and direction, and powerful performances from Serratos. I like what I see. I would have liked to see more of this kind of character building and depth throughout the show.
Norman Reedus and Carol Peletier are both actors.
There are some things to be done before the death of Rosita. Pamela has barricaded herself into the Estates, a gated community where only she and her cronies are allowed in. A small group of Commonwealth citizens are trying to get inside, but if they climb the wall they will be shot. When we first see that our heroes have been able to get inside thanks to Mercer and his people, we are confused because they are already inside the Estates and not trying to find a way in to take down Pamela.
When the good guys show up and confront Pamela and her troops, everyone is in a bit of a standoff, since the good guys have a rifle. As with so much Commonwealth related stuff, the extras at the gates are calling it in or hamming it up, but the tension here feels strained.
Pamela told Gabriel to stop walking. The general was told by Pamela that she would shoot if he tried to open the gates. After that, he actually says something. Our hero interrupted Pamela's scream, "Shoot him!" He shouted to stop. Do you know what you're doing? We are all deserving of better than this. It was built to be like the old world. The problem was the f-cking one.
She says that the dead will get in if the gates are opened.
He says you are going to lose everything if you don't. One enemy, we have. We are alive and well. This appears to work. The soldiers abandoned her. She was told she was under arrest. Gabriel opens the gates to let people in. Jerry and Elijah are among them because they are the only ones who die this episode. Pamela spotted a familiar face as she walked towards the gates. Her corpse snarls and spits at her, reaching, grasping, and she approaches slowly. We think suicide by zombie is a pretty hardcore way to die. Judith shouted, "You have to help them governor!" It isn't too late for the people who are still out there. It's never too late.
The zombie head explodes when a gunshot is fired. Pamela turned and her reverie broke. The person who took the shot that saved her life was sentenced to a life in prison by the person who took the shot.
Lauren Cohan is playing a character.
The zombie horde needs to be dealt with now that Pamela is out of the picture. They came up with a crazy plan. The zombies are going to belured to the Estates by loud music and a trap. They gather up all the fuel they can find, pour it beneath the Estates in the sewer, line barrels of it up all around, and blow it up. The zombies are pushed by people with shields. The zombies were drawn by the loud sounds and had to go somewhere in time for the record to stop playing. A mechanism rigged to set off a spark which in turns lights the elaborate series of fuel barrels to explode, triggering a mass zombie killing event in which thousands of zombies are incinerated in the flash of an eye. This show has never done a set-piece like this before.
It's just silly. It wouldn't play long enough to get the zombies up into the target area. It would take hours to set the trap and gather the fuel. It's crazy to rely on a device that goes off when the record stops playing. It's stupid. The plan felt similar to Fear The Walking Dead. The explosion was great. It was fun to see all the walkers up in the fire. I don't buy it for a second.
It takes too long to resolve the problem. I agree with the need for an extended denouement. We are saying goodbye to some of the characters who will be in spinoffs. After the zombies were taken out, there were a lot of things I liked, but it still felt like a cheap trick, an easy way out, and a resolution to the zombie problem. All those zombies are gone when you wave a magic wand. Our heroes are mostly unaffected.
The two of them.
There were some good scenes in tonight's finale, but they don't set the stage for aMaggie/Negan spinoff. The Walking Dead: Dead City was announced by AMC before the main series ended, robbing viewers of the tension that their deaths would bring. That is really annoying. It's time for you to stop ruining your own shows.
They had two big scenes. When he tried to take the assassination of Pamela into his own hands, she stopped him and he apologized to her. The two went to carry out their deadly business together after she thaws him a bit.
They talk later and she thanks him for his apology, which has been waiting for her for many years. She told him that she will never forgive him for taking Glenn away from her, but that he is welcome to stay with the group. She said you have earned that. He realized that some things can't be put back together again even if you change a lot.
Carol and a man.
We get a one-year time-jump after Eugene andRosita pass. The Commonwealth can make metal placards with the names of the dead on them. They have a little girl named Rosie, so they had to make a baby quickly. The kid seems to have aged at least three or four years to me, but I don't know. The show didn't know how to portray children.
Greetings and goodbyes come from here on out. The Commonwealth has a new governor and his lieutenant governor. People seem happy and content. The rebuilding has gone well and there is no more armor for the Stormtroopers. There are parts of the Commonwealth that look like Alexandria, so we bounce back and forth between them. The windmill is colorful and looks like Alexandria. The landscape around the walls is almost cartoonish.
Things have moved into happy ending territory. The valley is peaceful. Lots of hugs and well-wishes from characters who haven't seen each other in a while.
When Carol and Daryl say their farewells, it becomes more interesting. To find out more about the zombie apocalypse and to find out what happened to Rick and Michonne, Daryl is off to look for them. The bug for adventure has been overcome by him, now that things are calm, after Judith revealed that Michonne had gone to look for Rick. He said goodbye to Judith and R.J.
Carol told him she has the right to be sad. She said she was her best friend. He told her he loved her. She said she loved you too.
In the second scene of this episode, two characters are talking and it struck me that they are rarely spoken about on this show. It's almost never said by any character to anyone else. I think this makes these moments more powerful, but then I wonder why no one said "I love you" or any other characters. It would have been nice to hear that more. Let's root for them more because it makes them human.
"I wish you were coming with me, but I'm done with your adventures, and you won't be in the spinoff."
He drives off on his bike into the trees after they embrace. As he drives off into the unknown, The Walking Dead has always offered up some of the loveliest music. It is a great way to finish the show.
A man named Rick.
It's not the end of the show. I think the end of the show would have been more poetic and moving if it had ended with Daryl riding off into the sunset. There is a big tease for Rick and Michonne's return to the series.
They are not near each other. There are alternating monologues narrated by both. Michonne is trying to get back to her kids but can't because she's writing them letters. She is riding a horse with a sword. It is a good excuse to show shots of all the characters who died in the series. Many of the characters on the show were killed off.
Rick says all of our lives will become one life. Michonne says that they are infinite. It is clear that they are not actually looking at each other. There are two fires in the same place.
There is a large group of people or zombies in the field. A zombie is stuck in the muck as Rick walks along a muddy shore. There is a helicopter above him. He doesn't say no. A voice tells Rick to come on. It's like she said it. There is no escaping for the living.
It is what he said that counts. You should hold it to your heart. Michonne says it's true. There is a late-stage Walking Dead scene with various characters saying, "We're the ones who live." The idea of having characters repeat a phrase over and over again was not a good one. "We're the ones who live." We hear people say that they are the ones who live. There are scenes from the show that show Michonne riding down to the field and Rick raising his arms to be taken back.
Michonne is a character from the comic books.
Looking out over the pastoral beauty that is somehow where they all live now, Judith says, "We get to start over" If anyone would say that to another human being, it would be us. I'm frustrated with The Walking Dead. They screw up good ideas with bad ideas. It is supposed to be a dramatic, profound end and it just sets my teeth on the floor.
It would have been perfect if he drove into the sunset on his motorcycle. Half of the cast repeats the phrase "We're the ones who live" It bugged me when I saw Rick and Michonne again at the end.
The cast and characters stuck around to the end because of the two characters who were gone for so long.
It is just a tease for more Walking Dead. The final scene of the show is just as bad as the post-credits scene. I would have cut the narration completely and just showed Rick walking on the beach and the helicopter taking him back to where he escaped from. Michonne would be shown on her horse riding outside. That would be the end. There's a little bit of a tease midway through the credits. There are a lot of emotional scenes in the series finale. We didn't need this to end.
The finale of The Walking Dead was not as good as it could have been, but it was still pretty good. It would have been even better if you had cut the entire Commonwealth storyline and had Rosita get bitten in the final battle with the Whisperers. Our heroes would have defeated the foe that was more terrifying. None of the characters changed in any significant way. You could get both of them to the same place if you brought backMaggie sooner.
The zombie apocalypse.
The finale got some of its emotional beats right and for that I am grateful, but the entire Commonwealth plotline felt so superfluous that I am not sure there was a great way to wrap things up. Bran didn't become king.
Do you like the last episode of The Walking Dead? You can let me know on social media.
This is the end of an era. There is still another season of Fear The Walking Dead. I have been a harsh critic of this show, but I still like it. Some of the characters I love will be missed. Writing about them will be missed. I would like to thank you for reading my reviews. We will find other shows to watch together.
AMC didn't release any images of Rosita from this episode for the press to use in recaps and so forth, which is why she's nowhere to be seen in this post She was the star of the finale and I will be updating when images are released.
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