But first, the show takes a breath with an emotional moment Rick finally asks Siddiq to tell him how Carl had become infected. Thinking they’ve kept the advantage, they arm themselves and head out to take him down.
While Rick and the others felt they were going to be able to get the drop on Negan, they quickly discover that they were being set up when they take out a group of Saviors that just happen to be carrying a map of Negan’s actual location. But “Wrath” throws the entire Dwight subplot overboard in the first 15 minutes of the episode, wasting the immense emotional investment the show has encouraged viewers to make in his character.
Image by Gene Page / AMC Setting the stage for battleįollowing last week’s last-minute surprise, in which Dwight’s turncoat tactics came to light and Negan plotted an ambush against Rick, it seemed like TV viewers might get a radically different conclusion to the “All the War” storyline than the one that the comic book delivered. In that sense, the TV show’s version of the Negan saga ends the same way that it began: resigning itself to mediocrity by focusing on telling someone else’s story. The episode may ultimately be a satisfying episode of television, but aside from a few minor curveballs it plays things safe, and it takes almost all of its cues from writer Robert Kirkman’s comics storyline. Perhaps not surprisingly, the show’s ratings have responded accordingly.īut last night’s season finale, “Wrath,” fails to build on that creative momentum. Now, nearly two seasons later, the cheap character deaths and gimmicky cliffhangers have all but disappeared as more momentous world-building, narrative closure, and character explorations have taken center stage. That’s when Glenn was killed off and the show began feeling shackled by its comic book source material. Over the past few weeks, the show has displayed a level of unpredictability that would have seemed impossible back at the season 7 premiere. Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeĪt long last, The Walking Dead has arrived at the conclusion of the Negan saga.
Hopefully, in these final episodes, The Walking Dead can turn Negan into the big bad audiences have always wanted. A score of 10 means he’s the best, most complex villain we’ve ever seen a score of 0 means he’s pretty much the same ol’ Negan he’s always been. We’ll look at all the traits a villain is supposed to excel at - including those we detest - and boil it down into one single score on what we are calling the Negan - o - meter™.
I’ll be analyzing the season’s final episode through its presentation of Negan: how he acts, how he delivers his jokes and threats, and most importantly, how his character develops in contrast to our supposedly virtuous heroes. Overall, the show’s big bet on Negan has been a bit of a misfire, with ratings hitting staggering lows last year, and Negan himself largely absent from the first half of the show’s eighth season.īut a season-ending climax is an opportunity to bring all the threads together.
That means the end of the feud between Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his archnemesis Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) - and perhaps that’s a good thing. The Walking Dead is back and careening toward the conclusion of the “All Out War” saga.