AMC's The Walking Dead [Spoilers!]

I quit watching it about a year ago. No matter how "pretty" Daryl is, I just couldn't take the poorly written plot lines anymore.

I quit watching it about a year ago. No matter how "pretty" Daryl is, I just couldn't take the poorly written plot lines anymore.

Yeah, I hate to say it, because I've already invested so much and still enjoy the comics so much, but if this is the respect we're gonna get from the showrunners, they clearly don't care what they put out.

Maggie and Glenn separating is driving me crazy. He gets saved from certain death at the season break, and then they spend most of their time apart.

I think Carol is slowly approaching her comic end. I won't spoil anything, but she is not the badass she became on the show, and it seems like she's quickly losing her identity.

I don't know why, but I feel like she's going to convince Morgan to kill her? That's not what happened in the comics, but she clearly does not want to soldier on anymore, and she'll put that heavy decision on Morgan.

From the Talking Dead, I get the impression that all this laziness you all keep referring to will be expoundd on next season. I think they threw it out this season at the end so they could go back and further explain a few things in more detail. Not like half the season, but over a few episodes.

Scott Gimple kept going on about how the final scenes were the final scenes of "that story" and they feel that scene should have ended "that story." But I got the impression they now have the need to go back and explain "that story" and touch on the things we saw next season. If that's the case, then so be it.

Cliffhangers we hate but when did we all get so immune to being apart of something that has been around in TV for ages. And the comics, as Robert Kirkman noted, pretty much all end in a cliffhanger so he "loves" them and loved seeing it at the end of this season. In other words, we were screwed into getting this finale regardless of how fast or how quick we wanted to get to the point and get answers.

They have gone back and explained things in the past so we've heard this lazy story telling response before only for them to go back and explain things later in a few episodes here and there.

You don't just introduce a whole bunch of crap and say, "we'll cover it next season." What happens if the show gets cancelled? Showrunner leaves? Actors move on? You do that stuff at mid-season, not the end of a season.

It's as simple as the production of the show does not necessarily hinge its decisions on the need for instant gratification of the fans. This is an age old tradition in television but the responses have been as if this never occurs so how dare they.

I blame GoT personally They would drop bombs around about episodes 8-9 but at least have 1-2 episodes to follow up and though slow, would set up next season beautifully.

AMC just didn't have the balls to do it properly, and most everyone I've discussed this with other than you, felt cheated.

Carl should've died ... a long time ago.

Ehhh, I can't be counted in that mix. I've got a one-up. I've read the comics. I know what's coming up. I know who it was. I know how it happened. I know what happens directly after. I know how next season is going to go minus a few changes here and there and a few details. I don't feel cheated because I've gotten a preview already but I can understand why many feel cheated.

I've got the same advantage (I'm past #100), and even friends that are as caught up are pissed off. There's no reason to assume that the same end is met, because I don't even think the showrunners know who bit it yet. It's not necessarily who you think it is, that's all I'm saying.

They had a huge opportunity to set Negan up as pure evil - the guy you love to hate, just like Joffrey in GOT:S1, by brutally killing a beloved character on screen with no tricks/comeback. Makes you WANT to continue to watch, because you want to see him get his comeuppance, and maybe some satisfaction and closure. They totally dropped the ball on that, in my opinion, when they had a formula they could've followed, and everything.

Question: Do you think GOT would be where it is if that S1 scene was done how this one was ?

This was touted by many of the actors as the most gut-wrenching, best-ever episode of TWD, and we walk away with a big fat goose egg. Nothing accomplished, all told, except they drove around and now several people are where they previously weren't, kneeling in a semi-circle.

THAT'S why people feel cheated.

It's like that family member that keeps telling you he's got a beautiful wife and will bring her to Christmas dinner, but shows up empty handed. They totally under-delivered on this episode.

That's a tough call. I mean you can get away with cliffhangers more in Season 1 because it draws people in, sucks them in even more, and makes them want to come back for Season 2 if Season 1 was good. In later seasons, it's harder because of just what you're touching on, people have had good seasons, bad seasons, meh seasons, and some fans just may be at their limit when it comes to the show so a cliffhanger could be a bad thing. I think that's where we are at now with the show. I'm willing to bet that even with this backlash they may not do a cliffhanger like this again. Though based on the comics, there aren't a whole lot of huge moments upcoming like this again so that's not saying too much.

i may be in the minority, but i have always hated cliffhangers that intentionally withhold information. the last two episodes of TWD are perfect examples: in the penultimate episode of the season, Daryl is shot, but blood splatters on the lens so we can't get a good look at the severity of the injury, and the screen immediately goes black to further conceal it. they intentionally presented it in a way to withhold information from the viewer. the finale was the same: they changed perspectives for just the last scene to intentionally withhold the identify of the victim. and Glenn's "death" was one made even more frustrating by them letting the question linger over multiple subsequent episodes. i thought dumb cliffhangers like this went out of vogue after we found out who killed JR.

contrast that with a proper reveal, the best example of which i can think right now is the toilet scene at the end of Breaking Bad's season five mid-season finale (spoilers follow if you haven't seen it). it's where Hank puts together that Walt is Heisenberg, but the showrunners didn't withhold information from us by showing the quote and panning away, leaving us to wonder whether Hank actually put the pieces together: instead, they were good at their job and showed us the realization that opened up an entirely new route for the show/plot/main characters. the desire to know what would come after that scene was the impetus to tune in for the rest of the season, not to find out what happened during that scene. the big event at the end of season one of GoT was the same: we saw what happened, and it's far more interesting to discuss all the ramifications of that scene than to wonder for months whether that axe actually fell where we thought it did.

it seems like a small shift, but for me, it's the difference between feeling respected as a viewer and looking forward to new possibilities versus feeling manipulated by untalented hacks who rely more on gimmicks than cohesive and properly paced storytelling to bring viewers back next season.