*Spoilers Ahead*
After a string of episodes that slowed the pace with varying results it’s finally time for things to kick up again with the walls around Alexandria broken and hordes of zombies swarming in. At least, that’s what you’d assume when going into “Start to Finish” but it would appear the writers have a different idea.
The best part of this week’s midseason finale is the opening, where everyone rushes for shelter and tries to avoid the shambling masses out to eat them. It’s tense and compelling but it only lasts until the opening credits. Instead, what we get to close out this half of the season is more talking about Alexandria, what it means and how to survive. Basically, all the stuff you’ve already heard said in the last three episodes only with a bunch of zombies waiting just outside the frame.
The thing is this episode might be fine if it wasn’t the end of the show’s run for this year or following a string of shows that had a similar pace. It’s okay to slow the pace down every now and again but The Walking Dead doesn’t use it to give the audience a chance to catch their breath before the next big plot. Instead, they use it to justify stretching out the shallow plot points that they plan at the beginning of the season. If I were to ask you what happened this season the description wouldn’t really sound like something that should fill eight episodes. Yet here we are with a finale that ends not with a huge moment but with the promise of maybe something happening when we come back.
The other major issue with this week’s episode is the decision to bring all the conflicts to a head at literally the worst moment. Why would a rational character like Carol decide now is the perfect time to bring up Morgan keeping the Wolf prisoner? This is the same woman who, in a time of crisis, disguised herself as one of the Wolves to kill them all before they could even question who she was. Shouldn’t she of all people have an idea of how to get out? No, instead she gets holed up in, of all places, the same house where Morgan is keeping the Wolf and decides to start arguing with him about morality. Then, the two morons decide to fight right in front of the captive murderer who, naturally, manages to escape during the fight and for good measure he takes a hostage too.
Yet, they manage to not be the stupidest people in this episode, not when Jessie’s son, Ron, is around. Ron, who has already been stalking Carl around and was about to shoot him before all hell broke loose, decides he might as well just do it now anyway. This leads to a bunch of zombies getting into the house and directly leads to Rick and the group having to attempt to flee the place. The worst part of it is that the twerp manages to live through the episode, promising more of this bullshit for the future.
Some of you may think I’m being a bit too harsh on the show but it has flat out exhausted my goodwill. It’s amazing to me that a show capable of putting on great episodes like “JSS” or “Here’s Not Here” is equally willing to just string us along for episodes at a time because they need to wait for the finale for the “big stuff” to happen. That’s fine, I suppose, but when the “big stuff” doesn’t even happen in the finale why keep stringing us along? It’s frustrating and while I’ll be back next year when the show returns I can’t say I’m looking forward to watching them garner some goodwill and then squander it all over again.
Bits ‘n Pieces
- Oh yeah, Glenn and Enid are still out there somewhere and Glenn sees Maggie. What a compelling moment.
- The post-credits scene with Daryl, Abraham and Sasha meeting associates of Negan was better than the entire episode.
- Ron is pretty useless but Sam is somehow more useless. The dummy can’t even keep his mouth shut when he’s pretending to be a zombie!
Jesse Swanson is a would-be writer, podcaster and funny guy who covers TV shows of all shapes and sizes. You can find him on Twitter @JesseSwanson