The Walking Dead: Wrath (8x16)

I'm so pissed off right now I can't even handle it.

Cons:

My mercy was stronger than my wrath? Or whatever? Ugh come ON, Rick. As I was watching this episode, I was getting so excited to finally have something to write about with genuine enthusiasm in the "pros" section of my review. I haven't been this hyped over an episode of The Walking Dead in literal years. That moment when the guns started backfiring and the battle began? Damn, that was good stuff. And then Rick slashes Negan's throat! It was literally the perfect way for his character to die! I was so excited! I literally said "thank you!" out loud to my computer screen. And then Rick tells Siddiq to save Negan, and Negan doesn't die. I cannot express how annoyed this makes me.

In my real, everyday life, I am 100% opposed to capital punishment. But within the context of this television program, Negan needed to fucking die, you guys. He just needed to die. And I was all set to really admire the way that they did it. Rick using Negan's affection for Carl to get him to drop his guard for just a second, so he could get close enough to slash out and kill him? That's messed up, and in the perfect way. I could just see how that action would effect Rick moving forward, especially given his conversation with Morgan, and Carl's letter, and all of that. Sometimes people have to die in situations like this. And yeah, I get the idea - Negan's going to rot in jail forever, as a symbol that they're building a real civilization with humane law and order instead of merciless killing. Couldn't Rick have waited just a couple more minutes before making that decision? If anybody needed to be the last person to die in the struggle, it needed to be Negan.

There are so many things that I really wish I could indiscriminately praise in this episode, but it's just not to be - for example, the Oceanside folks show up at the eleventh hour to save the day, and Tara happily greets them. This doesn't work because Aaron's quest to bring them back was so disconnected from everything else, and I didn't really understand how their being there made all that big of a difference. Also, Eugene betrays Negan by making defective bullets. In retrospect it seems obvious that they were telegraphing this little switcharoo, but it still doesn't fit in with anything we've seen Eugene do all season. I don't understand how his brief little kidnapping adventure with Rosita and Daryl made him decide to switch sides. There were so many little moments like that, where the impact of the moment was less than it should have been, because the season failed to set it up properly.

And nowhere is that more evident than in the Maggie, Jesus and Daryl vs. Rick and Michonne bullshit. Maggie is right that Rick should have killed Negan. But am I seriously supposed to believe that Daryl would go against Rick like this? Behind his back? Biding their time to... what, stage a coup? It's completely unrealistic and does not track with anything we've seen from these characters. This is another example of something were more screen time between certain characters would have helped a lot. One of the highlights of this season was when Daryl and Rick were arguing and actually got into a physical altercation, because you could see that tensions were running high. But at the end of the day, they protect each other at all costs. If we'd seen more evidence of their slowly unraveling relationship, then this ending might have hit harder. Hell, if we'd seen more of Jesus this season in general, it might have hit harder. When he started having scenes in this finale, I wondered if he was going to be killed off, since that's the usual lazy pattern with this show. Instead, they re-emphasized his importance just in time to show that he, Maggie, and Daryl are conspiring against Rick. Which just. Makes. No. Sense.

I'm about to talk about how exciting the final showdown was, but I do want to say one quick thing: I wish I could have seen more of the planning of how this all came about. In trying to present a shocking moment to the audience, we lose out on examining some of the strategy that got us to that point. It might have been fun to spend some time on that.

Pros:

As I said, the moment when Negan is talking through the speakers and counting down, and all our heroes are in this big open field, totally exposed, and then... the guns start backfiring? That was one of the most tense, and most exciting moments I've experience on this show in a very, very long time. Even though Eugene's sabotage doesn't quite make sense, it was still just so satisfying to see Negan lose at his own game. And Rick slashing Negan's throat was this amazing, surprising gift that I wasn't expecting. I thought they'd keep dragging things out, and then bam! Rick killed him! Of course, my elation was shortly replaced by fury, as Rick elected to keep Negan alive. Come on.

That one random Savior guy who's been trying to get in Maggie's good graces? He's kind of okay. I'd like to track his progress going forward. I also really liked Daryl and Dwight's final scene. Daryl gives him a car and tells him to go, and that if he ever comes back, Daryl will kill him. It looks like Dwight is off on a journey to find his wife, and I find myself really rooting for him. I liked the moment when Siddiq told Rick more detail about Carl's final moments. It doesn't justify Rick's whole keep-Negan-alive plan, but it did add some context to Rick's hopes for a future. And Gabriel had a little moment where he thanked God for his sight, which apparently came back. Gabriel has been a surprising delight this season... there have been a number of moments with him that I thought were very impacting.

Surprisingly, one of the best aspects of this finale was the stuff with Morgan. He makes his decision to go off on his own, and he gives up his armor - the armor that his son used to wear - so that it can go to Henry. That was a cute idea. There's not a lot of closure for Morgan, of course, because he's off to continue his journey on Fear the Walking Dead. But what we got, I quite enjoyed. There was a lot of feeling here without unnecessary speeches that went on for far too long. And it looks like Jadis, now revealed to be named Anne, is going to come join the new community that Rick is building. Anne is still on my list for not killing Negan when she had the chance, but I guess I'm going to have to get over that if I want to keep watching this show, because apparently everybody but a select few have their heads up their asses.

As a final note, I should say this: setting aside the fact that Negan is alive, I do appreciate the closure that this episode provides. The Saviors are no more. Rick has decided to try and create the future that Carl imagined, or at least some version of it. He gives all of the Saviors a chance to join him in peace and cooperation, and it does look like next season is going to be the "civil war" of The Walking Dead, instead of another season of prolonged Saviors vs. Good Guys. I'm not thrilled about the concept of a Maggie vs. Rick situation either, but at least it's something new. We also see a giant hoard of Walkers in the distance, with the implication that there will need to be plans put in place to deal with that in the near future. That might be an interesting way to show some unification between these disparate groups of people as they finally come together.

I'm annoyed. I'm miffed. I feel betrayed. But at least I wasn't bored!

7/10