TWD’s developers had their own proven way to run the action from the beginning, and they stuck to it, whether the plot suffered or not. From what I saw in the two-episode premiere, I conclude that they are not going to deviate from their beloved scheme even for the last lap. They have always been able to arouse enthusiasm even in the most bored viewers with a great opening, and then present them an unequal, sometimes even boring season. Who remembers Carol bringing death and fire in Terminus? The appearance of Negan and how – literally and figuratively – he crawled through Rick. I remember and sometimes think about those premieres, remembering how great I was able to have fun with TWD.
Seemingly still the same, but something… is happening
Over these eleven years, new heroes have come and gone, scenery and enemies have changed. There was the Governor, there was Negan and his team, and then the Whisperers. Everyone has passed away, and in the broader perspective, they did not give the show as much fuel as internal conflicts and the desperate need to survive in a world full of threats. The great threat, as the series shows us at almost every step, is not so great anymore – zombies are easily removable “sacks of bones”. It only remains to rummage through some long-standing conflicts.
The new season opens with another special mission, organized in order to get drastically ending supplies, i.e. a classic, painful theme. The team embarking on an important mission in the first episodes includes both Negan, whom viewers got used to long ago, and Maggie, who returned at the end of the previous season. And this thread, their cooperation over their long-standing hostility, and the undeniable trauma that Maggie associates with the person of her husband’s killer, is material that could build at least a third of the season. At least I hope it will, because the atmosphere in those few dialogue scenes between them was hot. In addition, Negan tried to mix very much, incite the ranks and, well … be Negan.
He and Maggie are doing better together than the other members of the group. Somehow, the creators did not worry about their emotions and condition during this trip. Besides, there are few heroes with whom the viewer would be close enough to sincerely cheer for them on this last journey. In addition, I got the impression that some of the cast somehow wanted to play less. It was as if they felt there were only twenty-odd episodes left and a freak.
Glimpses of past glory
There were other good moments in these two episodes aside from the Maggie vs. Negan interlude . Such reminiscent of the beautiful times when The Walking Dead was still a fresh idea, a captivating story of the survival and unification of a group of strangers against the deadly danger of the living and the dead. Few of the heroes got interesting threads that were like preparing them for the final season – but I emphasize that it only applied to the selected ones. There were also scenes where the imagery made something in the stomach turn, again like in the old days. The creators also managed to finish one of the episodes with a decent cliffhanger.
However, it is impossible not to notice that these good moments were not enough to maintain a satisfactory level of the whole. Even following the trail of those additional episodes of the 10th season, in which we got to know the individual heroes more closely, will not do much if the space between such scenes is slow, boring and reworked a dozen times, and to build tension and create threats will continue to be used, idiotic at this stage zombies -Epidemic story procedures, where one drop of blood wakes up a whole horde of zombies, putting the heroes in danger for a moment.
Wishful wishes
There are other things in this show that still have some potential – plots, characters and ideas. I did not expect the latter, because for several good seasons, the creators seemed to kill even their most classic motifs and finish interesting characters.
The revolution in the last season is unlikely to be done (especially when you have to leave ideas and strength for the next spin-off ), because the creators appreciate the comfortable narrative ruts too much. However, they could – at least on the last straight – grab on to something else, new … or what along with the character Maggie returned to the series, and end The Walking Dead on a decent level.
