Likewise, I was really engaged with the series but gradually started losing interest around season 6. I kept on trucking through Negan and the Saviours, but I was sooo annoyed & disappointed when the Whisperers turned out to not to be evolving Walkers that I tuned out for about a year and a half.
To me is it was a major creative mistake in not having the Walkers advance (*spolier* they finally advanced in the final few episodes). The Walkers ceasing to be a threat that even little Judith could kick their arses caused the series to be stuck in repetition with no where else to go - just the same battles with outside forces repeated over and over. The endless colonies with many forgettable characters, coupled with the Walkers no longer being much of a threat, also ruined the sense of dread & isolation from the earlier seasons. And none of the latter inner group conflict matched that between Rick & Shane in my books.
Oh and that trash can colony with their own language was ridiculous.
Anyway, I finally resumed watching the remainder of the series as I wanted to see it to the end. Despite all of the above, I still managed to enjoy most of it. I got into the Whisperers storyline, enjoying the dynamic between Alpha and Beta, loved the Negan flashback episode & thought the Commonwealth was engaging & suspenseful enough. (Loved how it just repeated the class inequality & corruption of our own society). And of course, loved the Walkers finally evolving (too bad Kirkman...)
Didn't like the lack of finality though. Should have been more shocking and impactful.
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scannerdarkly (1376)
a year ago
I have to agree with everyone on this post so far! I really feel the same about the ending, it didnt give finality because none of the main characters were present. I understand the showrunner didnt want it to end and wanted spin-off shows for each main characters story but thats what hurt the ending of the main show. Fear the walking dead has been great because of Morgan Jones (Lennie James) and its probably what made the showrunner think about giving each main exciting fan favorite character their own spin-off show, but now we gotta watch three more shows to see a conclusion...but will we even get one????
I wanted those sentient walkers so badly as well, it would have changed things dramatically and could have culminated in some epic war with the undead and humanity having to actually get over their differences and bond together to fight this new dread. But nope...they were just whispers, another deranged community. I liked the Alpha Beta dynamic and it was interesting but sentient undead wouldve been major.
Z Nation had sentient undead for its final season...but it became laughably about "Zombie Rights" xD gosh what a joke. They literally eat and crave human flesh and only the invention of a brain-biscuit edible could stop the "talkers" from wanting to eat a human. It was a terrible final season despite four seasons of Z Nation being badass!
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Retromogul (1082)
a year ago
Exactly, publicising spin-offs before the main series ended was stupid & killed a significant amount of tension. Just before I watched the final few episodes my friend revealed the Negan and Maggie spin-off... 🙄
And hell yeah the evolving Walkers should have been introduced in Season 9. The whispering and knife wielding Walkers were absolutely terrifying until the Scooby-Doo mask off. I literally groaned and said "not another group, come on!". And as mentioned, stopped watching for awhile.
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