The Walking Dead season 6, episode 8 The midseason finale shows where the series has gone wrong. Way back in the second week of season six, I praised the way The Walking Dead was increasingly using its cold opens the short bits of the episode that happen before the opening credits and are meant to entice us to keep watching to tell stories in a more artful and intriguing fashion. By and large, this has been true, but this half season of the show has put that to the test all the same, reaching its nadir in Start to Finish, an unusually listless and muddled midseason finale. At the end of the cold open meant to make us shout, Oh, my God and want desperately to keep watching, Ill remind you we learned that a young boy had only eaten half of his cookie. Ants were eating the other half. It was meant as foreshadowing. That young boy, Sam, would later factor into the episodes cliffhanger, which Ill discuss in a bit. But in the moment, it played as showrunner Scott M. Gimples love for breaking apart stories and telling them piecemeal taken to almost ridiculous lengths. Before we could see the horde invade Alexandria from every perspective, we needed to spend some time with this little kid Really The Walking Dead has told stories about growing up in the zombie apocalypse sometimes with great success, as in season fours tremendous The Grove but this one felt like a retread. And, really, thats the problem the show as a whole is facing. It knows where it wants to go, but its stuck in the old patterns that have defined it, forced to tell smaller and smaller stories, because it cant blow itself up on a weekly basis anymore. In its middle age, The Walking Deadhas begun to settle down, but its not sure how to do that just yet. Check out some of the ways its held back by its past, even as it looks toward a new future. By episodes end, the status quo is almost completely reasserted. The morning after Thank You aired and after Scott Gimples weird statement to Talking Dead. Zapruder film after. The Wolf takes Denise hostage, proving Carols point that he cant be trusted. Watch To Be Or Not To Be Online. AMCRemember how season five ended with Rick looking like hed completely lost it, while Morgan strode into Alexandria, cool as a cucumber Im not saying I wanted to see Rick completely lose his mind and Morgan take over the group though the latter might have made for an interesting arc but it seemed as if the show forgot about this entirely. What Im saying is that when season six began, Rick was just commandingly making plans to rid the quarry of its zombie horde, Morgan was a bit of an outsider with unorthodox ideas on life and death, and it was only a matter of time before Rick took over Alexandria, too. The Walking Dead Recap. Lets be honest shes looked like the walking dead for a couple. Watch the Reallife Interviews With Serial Killer. Dead Like Me on IMDb Movies, TV, Celebs, and. Wondering what youll watch when The Hunger Games franchise. What do you recall from that point in your life No show likes to troll its audience quite like The Walking Dead. The Walking Dead Quitters Club season 6. Pay no attention to that life. WatchDeadLikeMe3aLifeAfterDeathOnlineHitfixru2fsearch3fformat3d26mkt3denus26q3dWatch2bDead2bLike2bMe253a2bLife2bAfter2bDeath2bOnline2bHitfixviewdetailmmscnvwrcmid13224FA30C287D40DD8B13224FA30C287D40DD8BFORMWVFSTD hIDSERP,5719. Watch video The Walking Dead Thank You Review. Man. Heath learning that life is hell Complaining instant death. By the middle of the half season, Deanna was all but handing him the job, and by the end of this episode, shes presumed dead more on this in a moment, while hes leading a bunch of people to the armory. Im not just talking about anything so simple as Rick being back in charge of the group, either. That, sadly, is something the show seems to think is necessary to its very core being. No, I mean that any time there seems to be a potentially interesting development or conflict like, say, Morgan and Carol fighting over the value of the lone Wolfs life its resolved in a fashion that directly leads back to the show returning to its status quo. In this case, Carol is proved correct. The world is still a cruel and random place, and Morgan is wrong or at least naive to want to change it. Nobody seems likely to die any more. Is Deanna dead Most likely, but, hey, who can tell anymore AMCWhen The Walking Dead was at the height of its can you believe that power, it was killing off characters left and right. Dale and Shane remember those guys died an episode apart. Lori took a little longer but died in deeply sad fashion in the fourth episode of season three, when no one was expecting it. Even in seasons four and five, the show could find a character or two to kill or write out in a way that would underline the stakes of the series. When Carol seemed to leave the show for a while in season four, her absence still felt like it might be permanent, and when, say, Beth died as recently as season five, it was both surprising and inevitable the very best kind of TV death. But with Glenns improbable survival, the show has thrown a lot of that out the window. Tell me honestly Were you at all scared that Maggie was going to die when she dangled above that pit of zombies How about when Rick and the crew wandered out into the horde of zombies to make it to the armoryNo Me neither. The tease of Negan in the post episode scene suggests that actual stakes may return to the show at some point but that raises the idea that only the characters whove been hurt in the comics can be hurt on the show, something the series has never abided by in the past. This has so hurt the The Walking Dead that I find myself wondering if Deanna survived, even as she appeared to have been bitten by zombies and then faced down a hallway of them who were charging toward her. Could the show hand wave this away Sure It wont, of course, but my point is that the Glenn non death robs even this potentially dramatic moment of much of its power. The problem The Walking Dead faces right now is that a lot of the next characters who will perish are logically going to be Alexandrians and the show hasnt done nearly enough to set up any of them who arent named Enid or maybe Denise whos mostly interesting because shes played by Merritt Wever. Are you really interested in the further adventures of Ron and Sam I didnt imagine so. Alexandria remains more of a symbol than a storytelling focus. Watch Dead Like Me Life After Death Online Hitfix WalkingI just cant wait for more stories about Sam AMCThe idea of these characters settling down and trying to rebuild society is terrific in theory. I think Ive said this every single week since season six began. Watch Wall Street Online here. Watch A History Of Violence Online Flashx. But the shows actual follow through has mostly involved a lot of sitting around and talking about what society means. Alexandria is full of characters who tell us what theyre all about, rather than demonstrating it, because The Walking Dead has always struggled to dramatize philosophical conflicts unless they can be best expressed via action sequence. The series has always worked best with a smaller, tighter ensemble of characters, one where it feels like danger could lurk around any corner. And thats antithetical to the small town show which is what the Alexandria episodes are trying to be, where part of the fun is in the presumed safety and security of home base. Even if the wilderness is filled with monsters, the town at the center is relatively peaceful and serene. In short, becoming a show about the meaning of society requires The Walking Dead to completely pivot away from what it has been and become something different. And Im not sure its capable of doing so this late in the game. I love watching it try and I very much hope it succeeds but its probably not a good sign that when the zombies were rambling around Alexandria, I found myself thinking that everybody should just get the hell out of there and go somewhere else. Rick is always right. Rick is always right. Rick is always right. Repeat forever. In case you doubt his essential rightness, Rick will give you a concerned look. AMCAt times, The Walking Dead has considered punching a hole in the impermeable shell of righteousness that surrounds its hero. Then, at every turn, its backed away and said, Nah. Watch Dead Like Me: Life After Death Online Hitfix Homeland' title='Watch Dead Like Me: Life After Death Online Hitfix Homeland' />Review The Walking Dead gets to. Hitfix blog. Walking Dead ratings have. TWD Character PreDeath BuildUp. Theres a bad moon on the rise the very same moon that brought the dead to life as a certain Rick Grimes lay in the stillness of a fateful coma. That. The Walking Dead has told stories about growing up in the zombie. Morgan was a bit of an outsider with unorthodox ideas on life and death. Tell me honestly. The Walking Dead Season 6, Episode. RECOMMENDED BY FORBES. Reasons To Watch. WATCH ASK THE DEAD ABOUT THE PRICE OF DEATH FULL MOVIE HD. Watch HitFix The Walking Dead.