Launched back in 2010, ''The Walking Dead'' was regarded as a game-changer at the time, setting new standards for the television landscape. Presenting a post-apocalyptic world where a mysterious plague threatens to wipe out all of humanity by turning all the human beings into zombies, this TV Show rapidly drew millions of viewers.
An Atlanta-based group of survivors was placed in the middle of the board and all the other stories had to go through this particular filter. It all went well for a while but using the same pattern of twists turned out to be a business-threatening strategy.
Season 8 was a slow and rather tasteless ride
Season 8 is done and dusted and its finale failed to deliver high-quality content. Rick Grimes and his group seized the opportunity and finally eliminated ''The Saviors'' and also Negan. An all-powerful villain over the last two seasons, Negan learned a tough lesson on betrayal. First, he scraped a way to outplay Dwight's design. Afterward, he got blindsided by Eugene who was seeking a way back into his prior group. Rick's decision to spare Negan's life seems to be the powderkeg we're likely to see exploding once Season 9 begins.
Overall, Season 8 suffered from something called narrative flatness. The lack of dynamism and dry dialogue were all part of the disastrous recipe.
The whole season could have returned to a handful of events like Carl's death and Negan being captured. That tendency to drag things on with no clear goals is the main cause for the show's decline.
Maybe it's time to move on from the show
Any ''The Walking Dead'' fan would agree with all the above but it would be a hard task to move away from the show.
Going back in the past, once those in charge with the script decided that there's no cure for the disease it was clear that lacking a long-term objective would affect the next seasons' narrative. Eventually, it all came down to a long and boring series of enemies and that flatline has grown some solid roots by now.
At this point, to try and revive the show by adding several twists seems like a total waste.
Finding a proper way to wrap up the entire series would be better. The Season 8 finale came with a predictable solution as Rick decided to honor his son's memory (naturally) by following his piece of advice from that famous series of letters. He even used those letters to outplay Negan.
''The Walking Dead'' has been a nice gig for many but it might be time to end it.
