Sunday, December 17, 2017

What I’m Watching: The Walking Dead (Mid-Season Finale)


The Walking Dead: Season 8, Episode 8 “How It’s Gotta Be” (B-)

I know that, technically speaking, most shows have fall finales that I haven’t been identifying as such, but this show always airs its seasons in two parts, and I think it’s important to differentiate those two halves. I also think that this is going to be the last episode I watch since I just can’t get over how endless this show seems, particularly because I’ve read that it might continue on forever, which is an unbearable thought. The recently-started device of zooming in on each character’s face continues to be irritating since it just emphasizes how little and how rarely they’re featured, to the point that I forgot that we hadn’t heard anything from Morgan in a while or that he was even still alive when he showed up to see Ezekiel being held captive. It’s been a full season and a half since Negan first showed his face and made an unforgettable impression, and it still feels like our friends won’t ever be able to get out from under him, no matter how many times it seems like they’ve regained control. Maggie is ready to go to war, and, while a good number of the characters survived, they don’t have the facilities they need, and their mole on the inside of Negan’s operation has been revealed and is only going to be helpful from a strategic perspective rather than an operational one. I accidentally saw a headline about Carl portrayer Chandler Riggs’ father being upset about what the show did to his son’s character before I watched this episode, and so seeing him go out with a whimper was pretty lackluster. I just don’t care anymore, so I can’t imagine I’ll be compelled to watch the second half of this season when it returns in February.

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