How is this show even still on air?
Rick: " One day I will kill you"
Rick: slits Negan's throat
Also Rick: "Save him"
Umm lmao what?
This season was a mess from start to finish.
Very disappointing ending to the season. There were only maybe one or two good episodes this season. The rest were a mess.
This episode was so intens and beautiful. It was everything I hoped it would be! I love how Rick found his humanity again through Carl and that he was able to leave Negan alive even though he would've totally deserved to die like Maggie thinks. I also love how Dwight got a happy ending - sort of -. But the best thing about this whole episode is Eugene, fricking Eugene whom I've hated for weeks because I thought he was actually working for Negan who ended up saving the whole day! Yes, Eugene, yes!
I can't wait to see how the story develops now. What's next for everyone.
Will we see Dwight again? Will Negan escape and plot revenge? Will he die before doing so? What are Maggie, Daryl and Jesus going to do about Rick and Michonne? Will all out war turn to a war amongst themselves?
Ooh boy glad this shit‘s over and I made it through this wrecked trashcan of a plot. But now really? THAT is what you will sell us next season? Daryl vs Rick?! That’s a messed up cliffhanger, why should I wait to see these Bros to go at each other wtf??
Well... that happened...
Some short musing:
- So the double-cross was double-crossed with a double-cross but Eugene tripple-crossed the shit out of all of 'm cuz... well just cuz.
- A whole season of "Imma kill you Imma kill you" one slit throat and a plea to save 'm. A kick in the balls would have sufficed really and would have been a hell of a lot funnier. But besides lousy shot he's apparently a surgeon with a kn... piece of broken glass.
- So Jesus has been Jesus for all the seasons he was on screen and even turned Morgan back into some kind of Jesus but then turned into something not at all Jesus when Maggie had her little talk at the end. Also Carl is suddenly Buddha after being random child dickwad for the whole series.
- Apparently the people you're the closest with for all those years only need one thing to decide to go (possibly) Negan on your ass while the people you've been killing and at war with apparently are best of buds after a three-word redemption plea.
- Never knew the brink of insanity could be cured only by saying to use the other end of a stick.
- A short cut to the horde would have been great... Didn't see shit when they were on the hills (ofc I'm not on 4k so maybe it's that).
- Free cars are great, even if you drive into a dense forest where it's hard to turn around. I'll just walk back, it's okay, I have a crossbow and I'm moody... Also I'm gonna burn everything down after everything just cause two people decided to let one guy live. I used to be half a criminal so I can't possibly just get rid of that one person in a more constructive manner... at night... or in the forest. Nah... Burn it all.
- I always clobber kids with a stick and noone bats an eye at it either.
- Speaking of bats... What'll happen to Lucile?
Anyways, this would have been a "good" series finale. I'm ok with it being so... I should stop watching this but hey... Things can only get better right?
Morgan’s acting is getting out of control. And now he’s going to be in Fear the Walking Dead. WTF...another show that will be down the tube.
this episode made the whole war look so anti-climatic i cannot believe they didn’t have any better choreographed fights or actions scenes
[5.2/10] Notions of reconciliation and mercy are powerful because they invoke the idea that The Walking Dead has been so invested in this season -- that there could be something different, something better, than this endless array of bad blood and killing.
That’s an antidote to the idea that might makes right, that vengeance must be had, and suggests that might can come with grace, that wrongs can be forgiven. For a season founded on the concept of war, to conflicts and alliances and the clash of civilizations, there are worse things to anchor your finale around than the idea that we can break bread with our enemies, and show them kindness when we have every reason to turn them away.
But by god, you have to earn that.
And “Wrath” just doesn't. It tries. It commits. It goes whole hog on these concepts and has character after character reckoning with making a different sort of choice, leaning into a sense of healing, and having the universe reward them for it. Rick spares Negan. Daryl spares Dwight. Gabriel regains his sight, one way or another. Alden gives up the Savior life and wants to help the Hilltop rebuild. Morgan sends Jadis to the Hilltop and seeks the dump as a place to better himself. The Saviors are to be remade as a peaceful community, part of the vaunted larger world.
But it takes every shortcut in the book to get there. Don’t get me wrong, after suffering through what feels like scores of tedious, underfed “extended” episodes, I’m not exactly clamoring for The Walking Dead to bust out ninety minutes of battling and denouement, but at best, at least half of those stories gloss over how the character gets from Point A to Point B to their pleasantries at the finish line.
To some degree, finales should get a little leeway in that regard. These are endings after all. Ideally, the show should have laid the groundwork for everyone’s journeys up until this point, so using the runtime to close out the biggest season-length arcs, while merely putting capstones on other plotlines is forgivable, if not always eminently satisfying. But for a show like The Walking Dead, which has introduced so many characters going through so many different, individual challenges, the whole back half of “Wrath” can’t help but feel like one big drive-by of each story (and that’s not counting the assorted teases for next season).
And my god, that’s before all the speeches. Maybe I would give “Wrath” a little more credit for tying of loose ends in a rushed fashion if it could do so with anything other than a series of undifferentiated, faux-profound oratories stacked on top of one another. Rick gives a speech. Negan gives a speech. Jesus gives a speech. Morgan gives a speech. Daryl gives a speech. Maggie gives a speech. Rick gives another speech (this time with Michonne).
I could even tolerate that tack if there were only some variety! Different characters should have different speech patterns, different rhythms, different verbiage. But everyone in “Wrath” speaks with the same voice, the same stilted, wannabe poetic dialogue, the same saccharine music cues trying to scaffold the emotion those painfully on-the-nose words can muster on their own. You could mix and match half of these speeches and it wouldn’t make much of a difference. It’s The Walking Dead leaning into its worst, most pontificating impulses, and indulging in grand declaration after grand declaration that sputter out of the gate and become exhausting by the end of the episode.
I have to give “Wrath” credit for one thing though. I walked into the episode expecting another epic battle, like the kind we had when Simon stormed the Hilltop. Instead, the show doesn't belabor the lead-up to the inevitable confrontation too much, and the fight itself is almost over before it begins.
There’s a few twists remaining, as Negan baits the hook to lure our heroes (which includes all of the main characters in the same strike force) into his trap, and for a split-second, you believe that the show might go through with at least letting the good guys take some heavy casualties in this conflict.
But then, it turns out that Eugene has had a last minute change of heart, and has sabotaged the bullets he made for the Saviors, Schindler-style. The climax of this 2-season-plus long conflict is not the raucous exchange of bullets, but a couple of ploys and then a fair amount of clean-up. In a show that can and does lean heavy on its action quotient, I appreciate The Walking Dead spending its final hour of this arc focused more on the ploys and choices the characters have made then on the firefights that emerge out of that.
That said, everything feels rushed, a little too perfunctory, and a little too neat. Naturally, Rick & Co. fall right into the trap just as Negan planned (though I do appreciate that the show had Negan double-bluff our heroes, so they don’t seem like complete idiots). Naturally, Eugene’s sabotage goes off without a hitch (or with exactly as many hitches as necessary), and creates the perfect opportunity for him, Gabriel, and Dwight to have their little moments of glory and redemption. Naturally, Alden gets one final shot to prove his loyalty and worth to the Savior-hating Tara, and what do you know, the Oceansiders show up to help defend the Hilltop.
It underlines the ways in which this isn’t just a season finale -- it’s the end of the larger story The Walking Dead has been telling for two and a half years now. That means it feels appropriately final (despite the obvious tease of a giant zombie horde in the distance), but also a little too neat. For an oft-messy show, I suppose I shouldn’t complain if the setups and payoffs are a tad too direct, but it leaves the end results feeling preordained rather than earned victories.
That’s especially true when, of course, this big clash of civilization comes down to Rick and Negan have a one-on-one scuffle. It’s a little tense, but also hard to get past the silliness of this broader conflict being reduced to two stubbly middle-aged guys throwing haymakers at one another. The fight ends when Rick begs for ten seconds of mercy, to give Negan Carl’s vision for the future, and then uses them to slice Negan’s throat with some broken stained glass (in a twist that is a little dumb, but at least nicely set up).
But Rick vows, in another painful, not-so-rousing halftime speech, that he’s going to keep Negan alive (over Maggie’s strenuous, well-acted objections), that this is going to be different, that they are turning over a new leaf as a people and that includes Negan.
It’s an odd choice for this show, but not for the usual reasons. It’s an instance where the episode is running on emotional logic rather than real logic, which is much more the province of, say, Friday Night Lights than The Walking Dead. The latter series tends to stumble more in terms of plot-convenient logic, where characters make confusing, ill-advised, or downright stupid choices so that the story can move along, not because the show’s aiming for particular high-minded bit of sentiment.
But here, we see Rick instructing Siddiq to tend to Negan. We see the other communities allowing the Saviors to start over as a peaceful community. We see almost everyone hit a happy ending (with Maggie and a few disgruntled collaborators the notable exception) and the show hopes we’ll stop scratching our heads as to how this is all supposed to work because we’re enjoying the joy of the destination.
Morgan is suddenly fine, or at least fine enough, that he’s ready to be apart and heal. Henry is a joyful kid again, trading smiles with Carol. The Saviors are planting things and starting over. And Rick fondly remembers his walks with young Carl, writing a letter to his dead son (in voiceover) thanking him for reminding him, and bringing him to this new world.
I can’t fault the show for landing on optimism. It makes Carl’s death into the catalyst for all these people moving past their endless war. It’s striving for something good, at the very least, the value of peace in the midst of a series that is more blood-filled and bullet-ridden but most.
It just makes no sense how we got there. I’m as much a proponent of mercy as anyone, but letting Negan live, not just in the shadow of the lives he’s snuffed out, but in light of the trouble he could cause with his big mouth alone, makes very little sense in the world of The Walking Dead. (And the show bends over backwards to try to account for it as being motivated by anything other than “we like having Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the cast.”)
Wanting to give the Saviors a second chance is a noble ideal, but just leaving a group of people to their own business, after they’ve been actively trying to kill you and, as Eugene can attest, went to absolute hell not long after the last time their fearless leader was out of the picture, seems like a really bad idea.
But I guess The Walking Dead is content to serve up a happy ending, whether or not it’s done the legwork to get its characters or communities there. This is the end of something big for The Walking Dead -- the show’s longest sustained arc; it’s biggest and most prominent guest star, and also a period where the show’s ratings and fanbase have eroded. This ending fits that, both offering a sense of finality, but also the unavoidable flaws that continue to plague the series, even as it tries to adjust.
That means skipping over any realistic path between all-out war and idyllic peace. That means florid oratory after florid oratary that land with all the grace and deftness of a severed zombie head. That means brief check-ins with every character to try to put a final stamp on a series of bumpy, less-than-satisfying arcs. It won’t be, but “Wrath” could be the series finale for The Walking Dead, with Rick having lost the people that kept him going, but started something bigger, and the show offering up some semblance of closure and grander peace to please its audience on the way out, whether it’s earned that or not.
Lol let’s all be bff’s now
I stopped watching this show long ago and now I am happy with that very much when I read the writings about it. It was really a very right decision.
Omg what a surprise what eugene did!!! did not expected at all. I am kinda sorry for dwight because in the comics he's an important part of rick's group... I hope we'll see him again. I just don't know where this is going... Negan in jail... I hope it's a bit like the comics.
Imagine if they would have just ended the show with Rick killing Negan.
I took a break from watching TWD and just finished this season. Coming back I noticed that most of the dialogue is spoken in bullet points. Especially Maggie, very irritating and lazy writing. The influx of PC writing has also ruined the show, can they get any more anti-stereotype characters in the show?
I shed some tears I confess. Brave but no so brave Eugene made our day! Can't kill Negan just yet, true. But he was what was fueled the whole thing from the death of Glenn! And like we saw the others don't see see it like Rick et Michonne see it... Meanwhile we have that new community which is about trading knowledge... Intriguing at most. Anyway Negans day are past now. Look forward the future now.
I knew Eugene will surprise us.. Nice ending.. Waiting for the next season..
This show has gotten so bad...I hope they decide not to make the next season. Or fire the entire writing staff. Absolutely terrible episode & season ending.
‘Wrath?’ The episode title should have been called ‘Disappointed’ because that’s what I feel like.
Best part of this episode was the acting but I’m not sure if Maggie was screaming or if it was Lauren...maybe she was thinking about her career choices and channeling it. I bet she and the actors are rethinking signing on for more. They probably are just reluctant to leave their friends to move into another job.
(Spoilers)
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Still don’t like Eugene but the little surprise he had was good. I liked that Gabriel was trying to fight back. I liked that Daryl showed mercy but it fit the story.
What DOESN’T make sense is Negan...wtf Rick?! You’re going to waste food...your people’s time to keep him guarded...your meds if he gets sick? Just to do what a dying child (because he was supposed to be like 12-13 despite how old chandler was) wanted. He was a child who obviously didn’t understand (like the writers apparently) that sociopaths and psychopaths are not safe to have around.
Seriously...
I mean, Dwight was different. Definitely not good but he started out wanting to be good, did messed up stuff, and felt remorse, then tried to atone. So his ‘punishment’ was fitting and it was actually better for Daryl since he probably didn’t want to see another person he knew, die.
Honestly if Rick wanted to take the high road...and if he wanted to do what Carl wanted, fine have him offer an olive branch HOWEVER, Negan should have tried to kill him and then Rick slices his throat. None of this showing mercy for the people trying their kill you. No, mercy is for people trying to be good...like Dwight. While I don’t like him the mercy-aspect made more sense there but not with Negan.
And whatever happened to Heath? He was never reunited with Alexandria after he and Tara went in that run on season 6. If this show ends now this is probably the biggest question I have about it.
I used to re-watch episodes and sometimes even get chills after. Tonight’s episode I just kept thinking ‘wtf?’ and ‘it’s over’.
Not the war. The Walking Dead.
Well at least it’s now over until October. Let’s see if a new show runner can put together a better season.
Final episode. This show is over.
WRATH
-115-
The Fuck?!
First:
I like that so many turned on Rick and don't like his decision to not kill Negan!
I guess the stakes where a little teaser for the Whisperers.
Liked it.
But:
Where was the fight between him and Negan?
The broken leg?
The 2 fucks they are allowed to say?
I ecxpected all this the Moment Rick talks to Negan!
Just like the fucking Comics!
What did we got?
Nothing! Fucking nothing!
An iconic Villain butchered like this...
After Season 6 they said they have to stay as true as possible on Negan.
Bullshit!
First not letting him say "Fuck"!
"Don't worry, Blu Ray!". Haha. Nothing.
So many iconic moments just Cut from the Story!
And how does he go down?
By letting him loose like he was a nobody!
You're just wondering why he was such a big Villain over those last two Seasons...
That's just a big "Fuck you" to the fans!
Where's Maria Bello?
The Fuck!
So glad this show gets a new Showrunner!
And for an episode called "Wrath" it was fucking anticlimactic!
No real battle!
For a Season based on "All Out War"... The Fuck!
Why?
Just why? :(
Rick and Negan read like a divorced couple that absolutely hate each others guts. I can't unsee it
It was good until Rick run right towards the tree where Negan was hiding. Why are you so f* dumb and run straight towards the place where someone is hiding? -_- At least Negan finally died, but why it wasn't satisfying? I know, because he didn't die.
why they decided to do 3 seasons after this, let alone the past couple of shitty seasons is beyond me. this could have been a fairly decent (albeit a bit cheesy and maybe cliche) ending. will hurt to watch the next three but agh i’ll see what it’s like.
This season was very good and more lesson to learn sure on the last episode..
6.6 - Its been about 2 years since i watch a whole season... this (season) one made me remember why i stopped watching it... this was probably the weakest ending of all seasons i have seen... just watching it because i want to know how its finish since it has moved so far away from the comic... and i do like zombies so... thats it
The ending was beautiful, with Rick reflecting on his memories with Carl and the kind of society they wanted to live in together. However such sweet ending was not built on top of strong father-and-son relationship that would have made the ending more cathartic. It was instead built on the on-going pretext of tense, violence, and betrayal.
Which, on one hand, resulted in climactic "mercy triumphs" theme that this season has been playing around (while still not completely fulfilling its potential). On the other hand, such weak development, overshadowed by other subplots, yearns me for more--for a more personal development between Rick, Negan, and Carl that could have been. The fast-and-loose resolution to the conflict that the season has been building instead downplayed all the hate and grudge between characters (minor and major) to forcefully pull that sweet ending in one episode.
Disappointing it maybe, hopefully this finale is a sign that Walking Dead finally put to rest the "conflict between communities" that they have played for several seasons, and start a new, different arc in the next.
I really like that line of posts... if you know what I mean.
So it turns out that someone cannot die
Crap.
Eugene was the true MVP. Respect!
‘Wrath?’ The episode title should have been called ‘Disappointed’ because that’s what I feel like.
Best part of this episode was the acting but I’m not sure if Maggie was screaming or if it was Lauren...maybe she was thinking about her career choices and channeling it. I bet she and the actors are rethinking signing on for more. They probably are just reluctant to leave their friends to move into another job.
(Spoilers)
.
.
.
.
Still don’t like Eugene but the little surprise he had was good. I liked that Gabriel was trying to fight back. I liked that Daryl showed mercy but it fit the story.
What DOESN’T make sense is Negan...wtf Rick?! You’re going to waste food...your people’s time to keep him guarded...your meds if he gets sick? Just to do what a dying child (because he was supposed to be like 12-13 despite how old chandler was) wanted. He was a child who obviously didn’t understand (like the writers apparently) that sociopaths and psychopaths are not safe to have around.
Seriously...
I mean, Dwight was different. Definitely not good but he started out wanting to be good, did messed up stuff, and felt remorse, then tried to atone. So his ‘punishment’ was fitting and it was actually better for Daryl since he probably didn’t want to see another person he knew, die.
Honestly if Rick wanted to take the high road...and if he wanted to do what Carl wanted, fine have him offer an olive branch HOWEVER, Negan should have tried to kill him and then Rick slices his throat. None of this showing mercy for the people trying their kill you. No, mercy is for people trying to be good...like Dwight. While I don’t like him the mercy-aspect made more sense there but not with Negan.
And whatever happened to Heath? He was never reunited with Alexandria after he and Tara went in that run on season 6. If this show ends now this is probably the biggest question I have about it.
I used to re-watch episodes and sometimes even get chills after. Tonight’s episode I just kept thinking ‘wtf?’ and ‘it’s over’.
Not the war. The Walking Dead.
Shout by Марко ЗарићBlockedParent2018-04-17T07:28:45Z
Oooo boy...stupid stupid stupid! I am not going to spoil things here, but...very disappointed with finale! Characters change their behavior and the way of thinking every 5 minutes! There is no consistency... And we are now 8 seasons in, and we still dont know anything about the virus! Nobody talks about that!!! Its like that the walkers (zombies duh!), are no more the main thing, noo its just how to kill (living) people, and punish them...and people are bad and eeeevil!! I dont know...maybe I will watch season 9....maybe.