The Walking Dead Season 8

I am still watching The Walking Dead although it's painful at times. It's such a mixed bag of a show that I can't help but keep watching through the glacial pace and full episodes of nothing really happening.

The Good

* Negan

Negan/Jeffrey Dean Morgan continues to be the main element of the show that keeps me returning. His sinister yet affable air is hard to pull off yet he seems to do it with ease. Rick's team is at war with him for the entire season, so there's none of the power plays we saw last season. We see some cracks in his facade when faced with mistakes, but even with his own underlings plotting against, he keeps confident, finds out their plans, and responds in kind. When Anne confronts him, Negan is honest about his past and about how he can make up for his own people's slaughter of hers. He had no idea, but he saw his mistake, wanted to survive, and also found it important to help someone who no longer has power. Negan also felt the loss when Carl died and mourned in his own way.  He obviously views himself as an actual savior and believes that what he's doing is right, just like Rick.

* The Saviors

In the last season, the Saviors seemed to be of one mind; all are Negan. Now, it seems as if that isn't true anymore. Simon and Dwight are two soldiers high in command than no longer follow Negan and have very different perspectives. Simon thinks Negan's practices are ineffectual and he generally just wants to kill anyone who oppose them. I'm more on Negan's side than his because of the resources even the disgruntled groups give, but I can see how this perspective would cut down a lot on uprisings. Plus Simon is a bit of a sadist with a vengeful streak. When Negan disappears, presumed dead, Simon seemlessly takes up the mantle and commands the Saviors to kill everyone in Hilltop. On the other hand, Dwight is playing a pretty good double agent to Rick's group and wants to see Negan dead due to old grudges and their shared past.

* Anne and the Trash People

I didn't care for the Trash People when they were alive, but their deaths were unexpected and tragic. Anne was the only one left alive and she immediately shed her cultivated shell after her people were dispatched. We get to see the woman who uses full sentences, creates art, and has lost people. Anne has to figure out how to dispatch the zombies of the people she loved and cared for while trying to protect herself. She comes out the other side a changed person. This part seemed genuine compared to Carl's needlessly melodramatic and drawn out death.

* Eugene

Mid last season, Eugene switched sides against his will when he was shown to be able to make bullets. Negan sees him as a useful addition to the saviors. Despite his cowardice and general social ineptitude, Eugene is pretty good at being a Savior. He follows orders and comes up with unexpected ideas like dipping weapons in infected blood. Through most of this season, I wasn't sure if he was genuinely on Negan's side or just too cowardly to do anything about it. Eugene ended up being the reason Rick's group won in the end in the most unexpected way. Despite his mistakes and shortcomings, he came through in the end and provided some comic relief like throwing up his weird mac and cheese concoction on Rosita.

* Maggie

Maggie has really stepped it up this season. She's still grieving for Glen, but she takes control of the Hilltop and rules pretty well. She knows when to attack, when to hold back, and when to be cruel. They capture around 30 Saviors and send a zombified one in a box with a threat. When the threat falls flat, she treats them humanely and even eventually accepts those who proven themselves. It's so refreshing to see a woman in a leadership role in the show and be more competent than most of the men.

The Meh

* Morgan

I'm tired of Morgan's antics. He's better than last season when he was a militant pacifist, but this whiny, hallucinating, murderous Morgan isn't great. He goes back and forth between seeming normal and completely losing it. By the end of the season, he insists that people are the most important thing in life and then isolates himself from everyone. I don't know why he's on this show anymore.

* Oceanside

Oceanside is the group of all women who hide themselves to stay safe. I get that they are mad at Rick's group for stealing their guns, but they really should have helped then. The leader attacks Enid, forcing her to defend herself. The leader is killed and they threaten Enid only to let her go later. Don't attack people if you don't want to be killed. I find them incredibly annoying and only used as a Deus Ex Machina in the season finale.

The Bad

* Pacing

The pacing is always horrible. They talk about fighting and plans for like 5 episodes before anything actually happens. It would be great to get new writers on the show instead of depending on delayed gratification to trick the audience into watch. Maybe just write a compelling show that moves forward sometimes. There are also way too many flashbacks that only serve to fill in innocuous details and slow the pace further.

* Most of Rick's group

So many of Rick's group fade into the background. Daryl barely says two words all season. Carol is usually amazing and doesn't do much all season. Michonne felt one dimensional. Jesus seemed to barely be there at all, only coming in to be super judgy. I think it's a byproduct of having so many characters stuffed into one show. The new shiny characters are more interesting, leaving the writers to give them parts by rote until they are needed. So many of them could be gone from the show and no one would really notice.

* Melodramatic Carl Death

Carl's death was one of the most annoying part of the season. It was shown before we saw how it happened so of course there has to be a series of flashbacks showing the bite and what happened afterwards. He writes letters to practically everyone, including Negan, because he had a dream where everyone lived in harmony. These scenes are complete with the vaseline lens to make everything look vaguely heavenly. They show Hilltop with new brick buildings, paved paths, orchards, gardens, and everyone getting along. Afterwards, Carl and his family cry and wring their hands until he kills himself because his dad can't bear to. The deaths of the trash people and the later conversation between Rick and Negan are more sad than Carl's death scene. 

* Random Dissent in Rick's Group

Shoehorned at the very end of the season finale is Maggie, Daryl, and Jesus banding together to plot against Rick. They wanted Negan to die as punishment for his actions. Daryl barely does anything but grunt and stare so it's surprising for him to have such strong feelings. Jesus browbeat Morgan into not killing people and convinced Maggie to have mercy on the captured Saviors since they would have to live together eventually. Does he think Negan is unworthy of being forgiven? It seems to go against the few things he's done over the course for the season. Maggie is literally the only person this makes sense for because she was understandably outraged when Rick decided to spare Negan. I'm not looking forward to this aspect of the next season.

Parts of the season were compelling, but so much of it fell flat or seemed unnecessary. I hope something changes next season. Maybe Rick's exit from the show will prompt some more change. We'll see.