In which Margaux and I discuss The Walking Dead‘s lackluster finale.
Trevor: What a supremely frustrating finale. I didn’t want The Walking Dead to leave on this note, but here we are. Season six’s semi-successful narrative experiment should have yielded better results, but it looks like the first half peaked last week with the tower collapse. And AMC didn’t help matters by showing commercial after commercial for Talking Dead advertising their “surprise guest!” Those of us looking forward to a Carol and Morgan showdown were sorely let down when the show only had the balls to kill off Deanna. Tovah Feldshuh was good, but this show seems to be losing its edge.
Margaux: Instead of the finale ending with the semi-psychotic (or at least death obsessed) Sam whispering “Mommy” repeatedly, obviously endangering everyone around him, it should’ve been one long fart noise. Because that’s what “Start to Finish” felt like: a long, room clearing fart. We got through half of the season and never got any further than this shitty Groundhogs Day, 36 hour span of time, nothing was resolved in an interesting manner, all we’ve seen is Rick’s half baked plan continue to collapse around him and have him get rewarded (more or less) for it. And not only was Morgan vs Carol a complete and utter let down (not to mention, horribly timed), we had to watch a majority of our battle hardened badasses flop around like they were in a European soccer match. I don’t think I’ve ever tripped as much in my adult life as the main characters after the wall comes down in Alexandria.
Trevor: Your solid soccer joke aside – seriously, nicely done – I actually, in a weird way, appreciated seeing Rick’s group stumble. Watching Maggie scramble up the ladder, trapping herself, or seeing my beloved Carol trip actuallly helped humanize the group. They’re often portrayed as unkillable badasses, so I thought that was a nice touch.
It seems like we got let down on a lot of fronts – Carol vs. Morgan sucked, Ron vs. Carl sucked, and we saw nothing of Daryl, Abe, or Sasha (post-credits scene excepted), which didn’t tell us who said “help” on the walkie-talkie. My main takeaway from “Start to Finish” is that Morgan is the biggest threat this group has ever faced. He has the willful ignorance, and more importantly the strength of conviction, to literally kill them all. Morgan is a bigger threat to their safety than the Governor or Gareth ever were. What a stupid, frustrating, infuriating character.
Margaux: Exactly. I was more interested in last seasons theory of whether or not Rick was a killer, if intention or via circumstance factored in. Before Ron tries to fight/shoot Carl in his garage, he says the first not completely stupid thing anyone in his family (his Mom Jessie and heroin detox looking brother Sam) has ever said: “Your dad is a killer.” Despite their little argument sounding like, who’s Dad is a bigger asshole-off, I finally, for once, thought maybe Ron could be redeemed as a character for finally positing a semi-intelligent question, but then he ruined all my goodwill by locking him and Carl in the garage for Sissy Boy Fights: Part 3, and inadvertently allowing the walkers into his house and putting them all in a massive predicament.
But I have to say, because of the trick fuck The Walking Dead pulled with Glenn’s death, I honestly didn’t think anything bad was going to happen nor were any of the main characters in any real danger. The stakes have been lowered so much there was hardly any suspense left in “Start to Finish.” Killing off Deanna just felt like a, “here…someone died, are you not entertained?!” No, I am not.
Trevor: I had the exact same thought. I no longer worry about people dying because they can just roll under a dumpster! Ooh, watch out for big bad Negan – unless there’s some dumpsters around, in which case, go nuts, everyone will live forever. Especially that Wolf that Morgan locked Denise in a room with. He was straight up ready to kill or at least harm Carol in order to save this guy’s life. That is fucked up, deranged thinking.
Sorry, I keep coming back to how much Morgan bugs me, although I’ll admit that him saying he wouldn’t “allow” Carol to kill him was a nice callback to “Here’s Not Here.” Ultimately I think The Walking Dead really squandered him as a character, and what could have made for an interesting philosophical discussion within the show has just become a character who bugs me more than Father Gabriel, and that’s saying a lot.
Margaux: My biggest issue with Carol and Morgan trying to kill/save the Wolf held captive was A. poor Denise and B. this couldn’t wait? He is tied up, and sort of dying, can’t we leave well enough alone? And maybe not leave Denise all alone with that guy? Is that so much to ask? Ugh, and the way Rosita and Tara just toss him their guns, it’s like we’re supposed to forget they’re both skilled shooters and could’ve figured a way out of that situation besides total surrender. It felt so strange, it didn’t ring true at all, and in the end they LET HIM leave with Denise in tow. Um, okay…that’s gonna work out real well for all parties involved. A lot of what has been hard to watch this season is the blatant disregard for all the world and character development that has been achieved in the last six seasons.
Trevor: Yeah, wasn’t Rosita in the military? And she let herself get talked down by some guy who probably got kicked out of Bonnaroo several times? It was a disappointing way to treat Tara and Rosita, who don’t get a lot of screen time but typically make the most of it.
The silver lining to the scenes with the Wolf is that we finally got some insight into why they act the way they do. “Nothing is unfair” and “we’re all dead already” is a pretty slim ethos, but at least it’s something.
(Oh, and I just realized that it was Eugene saying “help” on the walkie. How disappointing. Yet another character who has no purpose on this show anymore.)
Margaux: Maybe they’re trying to draw similarities between the Wolves and Morgan’s very narrow worldview, and how neither will help you survive for very long in this world. But it gets lost in between everyone stating plainly what they’re thinking and feeling and having that have no real effect on anything, the wall is down and hundreds of thousands of zombies have breached Alexandria, but by all means, let’s just listen to everyone have petty conversations.
Even the way Deanna ends up dying is weak, her whole bedside chat full of world weary wisdom to Michonne has been done countless times on this show, I almost passed out. Deanna NOT using at least one bullet to end it all will be a choice she will kick herself over when all those walkers literally tear apart her flesh. And what was even the point of her firing five shots on the second floor walkers? I mean, they’re already upstairs…she couldn’t of be useless in her departure. At least Not Tobin (from episode 3) gets bit, but continues on with the group to help them get back to Alexandria as best he can before his demise, would’ve been a better model to follow. Just when I think a character can’t get any more useless than Andrea or Lori, here we are again, naturally.
Trevor: Deanna’s death was pretty dumb. Nice cathartic scream, enjoy getting eaten to death. Unless there’s something to roll under in that room…oh! The bed. Deanna will roll under the bed and be just fine. Better, even.
I don’t understand why this is the first time we’ve seen the zombie gut camo since season one’s “Guts,” an episode so good that five years after it aired I didn’t even have to look up the title. The group knows zombie camo works. Why doesn’t everyone walk around with a smock on, carrying a messenger bag full of guts? Of course, it’s a moot point, as Sam is about to get them all killed. God, that kid sucks so hard even his mom is dragging him: “Just pretend you’re brave.” I’ll make a note of that, ya condescending bitch! I can see why Rick hates the Alexandrians.
Margaux: Robert Kirkman had one of the best-worst non-answers for the reason why they don’t always coat themselves in walker guts in tricky situations, “disease” and “it dries and needs to be reapplied.” I can see why the logic and writing on this show is so fuckin’ tragically flawed 99% of the time. Rick’s personal feelings on Alexandrians aside, they’re all “his” now, according to Deanna, like her slow death has given amnesia of some kind – the whole reason you’re dying and there are more walkers ripping apart your hard won compound than Palm Springs during Coachella weekend is because of the same man you’re handing the keys over to. I mean, she can finally disagree with Rick, she’s ALREADY dying, so no threat of that. And also, what’s even going to be left of Alexandria? I’m not sure I care.
Trevor: Well, Robert Kirkman promised that “many will die” when the show returns, so RIP to a bunch of redshirt Alexandrians. Better fire up the In Memoriam, Talking Dead! Time to add the names of Heath, Scott, and Eric, who AMC will definitely hype up. “Start to Finish” seriously indulged in all the worst tendencies of this season. But as usual it was beautifully shot and scored (I really appreciated all the classic “zombie hands against windows” shots).
Margaux: I will give credit where it’s due, to Greg Nicotero: the zombies this season have been the best/most disgusting things I’ve ever seen on the show. There was one walker in the finale who had a branch impaled in their throat, and it looked friggin’ crazy ridiculously good. To continue to make the walkers look as menacing as they’re supposed to feel is quite the task and Nicotero always knocks it the hell outta the park, and I appreciate their horror movie influences. That being said, the “prologue” to season 6B that aired during Into The Badlands (what a cute way to boost your viewership on a rating struggling show, we see you AMC) was only two minutes and was more interesting and compelling than the 55+ minutes of “Start to Finish.”
Trevor: Yep, so I guess we just wait until February on the strength of a maybe. You wanna talk stars? First the episode, then this half-season.
Margaux: “Start to Finish,” I’m not mad at you, I’m just deeply disappointed in you – 2.5 stars. Season 6A started out with so much promise, the first three episode were straight fire! Then, it just petered out as Walking Dead only continued to show us how lazy the writers can be with plotting, storytelling, and character development – we haven’t learned new or exciting, about anyone, this season. Waffling between 2.5 or 3 stars for the season 6A, but holding out hope for 6B to clean up the mess they made at the start and end the season properly. But if Walking Dead has taught me anything about hope, it’s that they’ll take it out back and shoot it like Old Yeller.
Oh, can I just say, I am so happy the walkers destroyed Jessie’s stupid, butt ugly statue on her front porch? Girl, they did you a favor.
“Start to Finish” score: 2.5/5
The Walking Dead season 6A score: 3/5
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