I haven’t done anything like this in years, but for the finale of Walking Dead this year, I am going to live blog my reactions to every single moment.
A little bit of spoiler free back story before we get to the show itself.
In my opinion Season Six has been the best season of Walking Dead so far. There have been amazing moments, and a mounting tension that has appropriately evolved along with the evolution of the series.
In the beginning of the series the living had to fear the dead, but as the show has grown, the tension has come less from the dead and more from what the living are capable of. This season has seen us look at Rick’s crew in a whole new light as they are interacting with “normal” folks, and we see now that Rick and his gang are more like the Governor’s society than they may like to admit.
I have really enjoyed the pacing of the two halves of the season. The first half did a lot to break up the group and show the events from individual perspectives. The second half of the season has focused more on the group as it exists and how it interacts with the larger world (which is also the name of the TPB collection of this part of the season), and in particular the new threat that they’re facing.
All right, this lovely picture of the Season 6 poster is going to serve as official warning that there be spoilers ahead.
The Walking Dead – Season 6
If you’re still with me, you are in Spoiler Zone!
Previously on The Walking Dead. This has been a busy season, and has seen a return of “The Ricktatorship”, as Rick has realized that people need to do what he says for their own good. Last season saw the introduction of Alexandria, and the threat of the Wolves. This season starts out with Rick and Morgan discovering a huge group of walkers who have been trapped in a nearby quarry. Rick devises a plan to lure the walkers away from the community. The plan falls apart when a horn blares near Alexandria.
And that’s the first episode!
The rest of the first half of the season was a variety of solo stories of different parts of the group. Carol is back at Alexandria, Morgan is on his own (and has an excellent flashback episode), Glenn gets trapped with Nicholas, and apparently meets his fate. Darryl meets Dwight, who will feature prominently later in the series. The season all hinges around one call on a radio from an unidentified male voice saying “help”. It all culminates in episode 8, where the town has to defeat the zombie horde and after the end credits roll, we are introduced to the Saviours.
The second half of the season started out with a slaughter, as Sam, Jessie and Ron all die and Carl gets shot in the eye. The series time-jumps two months to Carl having recovered (sans eye), and the introduction of Jesus and the new community of the Hilltop (who have food and have a blacksmith who creates weapons). Rick and the gang go on the offensive against the Saviours, and cause major damage, until the 15th episode when the majority of the group has been captured by Dwight and his team of Saviours.
And that’s where we are right now.
Previously on The Walking Dead – a lot of stuff happened, and the Saviours use whistles to call people.
MORGAN! Not only did he find a horse, but it looks like a horse from The Kingdom. Considering how other horses have fared in the world of The Walking Dead, I fear for this poor pony.
OH NO IT’s MOCKING JAYS!!!
Carl and Enid, interspersed with the mocking jays, and Carl refers to them as Saviours.
We’re back to an S1 RV, this time we’ve got Eugene, Sasha, Rick and Abraham all taking Maggie. I like this all new Eugene, he’s awesomely badass.
OH DAMN! CARL LOCKED ENID IN A CLOSET! Nobody puts Enid in a closet. Carl with the call back earlier this last year – Just Survive Somehow.
Man, the Saviours are treating this dude like a piñata.
Now we’ve got Aaron in the RV. Gabrielle is now in charge of the town, and totally bad assed. Way to come out stronger on the other side! Rick is straight up arrogant at this point, somebody needs their comeuppance.
Morgan dans la Horse, and there’s Carol. She looks like hell, she’s just wants to end it all. Considering she’s survived about 3 times longer than she had in the comics, it’s impressive.
Maggie’s not doing so well, neither is Carol, there’s a nice parallel story going on here where Maggie has all of the help she could ever need, and she’s worried she won’t make it, while Carol has Morgan trying to save her life against her will.
“What the Bitch” is Abraham’s first “Abrahamism” of the episode.
The big stand off with Rick’s crew vs the dude from Grand Theft Auto V. Putting the X on the dude’s chest…there’s gotta be drones. Rick: “Do you want today to be the last day on earth?” oh Rick, this ends poorly for you.
Carol doesn’t understand that she is the heart of the community, she is a reflection of them, and the fact that she’s taken so many lives is just how society is evolving. She is telling Morgan that she can’t kill any more, and Morgan is like “Dude, that’s what I’ve been saying all year!”.
Aww, Abraham and Sasha making plans…well, this won’t end well…arrow through the eye anyone?
“Bitch Nuts” is Abrahamism #2 – aaaand the RV turns away, on blockade #2 because they’ve been waiting. Let’s leave, the next one will be less blockaded!
Zombie chain, probably not a trap of any sort, let’s just go take care of it. “Putting together a red rover like that takes people – a lot of them.” – OH DAMN! They’ve got Michonne’s dreadlock and Daryl’s arrow! Aaand, the crew is being pushed herded like a bunch of cattle. Oooh, call back to Rick chopping off Jessie’s hand!
Wow, look at that! The blockades are getting bigger! You know it’s bad when Abraham doesn’t have an Abrahamism for it. “Go back.” “Where?”
Morgan is finding dead zombies and Carol’s rosary…Carol is looking more and more zombie like every moment. Man, the zombies are getting pretty liquid. And here’s our Saviour dude who’s been after her for days. SHOT TO THE SHOULDER. Damn, this is gonna suck. SHOT TO THE LEG! This guy’s gonna die real bad. Carol knows how to push the buttons on little men. MORGAN!!! Oh god Morgan, your horse is all alone.
Wow, Morgan just unloaded on that dude. See that Carol? Some times it’s okay to end things. “Would you please just let me go?” – Morgan – “It’s not your time, you are going to come back from this.”
ZOMG! It’s Kingdom soldiers! Oh this is great, they’ve got the knight motif without being straight up knights! I love it.
Meanwhile, back in the RV- Verse as they come across a massive barrier, Abraham says “We are neck deep up shit creek with our mouths wide open.”, and the dude the Saviours marked earlier in the episode gets tossed off over a bridge…and now the barrier is on fire and GTA Dude says “You’re treating your people good right? Like it’s your last day on earth? Or maybe one of theirs? You better go, it’s gonna get hot.”
Wow, they are completely screwed. Eugene volunteers to drive the RV as a distraction, and he’s giving the recipe for bullets over to Rick, aww shit. Eugene and Abraham have a great moment. “You’re a survivor, you always were. We just didn’t know it. Me and you both.” Aww, a bro-hug! Sad music…is this the last of Eugene? He’s handed his plans off to Rick…it could be!
OH NO! MOCKINGJAYS!
The gang is running, they totally don’t see they’re being coralled…and there’s the lights. So much whistling! How many damn Saviours are there? It looks like the answer is “all of them”. As they pan across the people, I don’t think I’ve seen one woman yet. DAMN, they’ve got Eugene strung up. And it’s GTA guy, taking all of their weapons. My call is Carl kills GTA guy.
“Okay, let’s get her down, and get y’all on your knees. Lot’s to cover.” Oh, this is not good. Scared Rick is creepy looking, he’s just blank.
Here’s Dwight, and he’s got Rosita, Michonne, Glenn, and Darryl. Holy crap, the gang is all here.
“All right, we’ve got a full boat. Let’s meet the man.”
IT’S NEGAN! Oh my god, Jeffery Dean Morgan looks absolutely perfect as Negan.
“Pissin our pants yet? Boy do I have a feeling we’re getting close. Yeah, it’s gonna be pee-pee pants city here real soon.”
“Hi, you’re Rick right? I’m Negan, and I do not appreciate you killing my men. Also, when I sent more men to kill your people for killing my people? Not cool.”
My favourite part about Jefferey Dean Morgan is that he can be an absolute shit-heel, and then turn on the charm with his dimples and his smile, and it’s even creepier.
“The New World order is this, and it’s real simple and even if you’re stupid, which you may be, it’s simple so here goes – Give me your shit, or I kill you.”
Essentially Negan says you work for me. I get half your shit. If that’s too much, you beg, borrow, or steal more and it will even out in the end.”
“I don’t want to kill you people, I just want to make that clear from the get-go. You work for me, and you can’t work for me if you’re dead. I’m not growing a garden.”
“So now, I’m gonna beat the holy hell out of one of you. This, this is Lucielle, and she…is…awesome. All this, all this, is just so we can pick out which one of you gets the honour.”
Here’s the group we have in front of us:
- Aaron
- Carl
- Darryl
- Eugene
- Glenn
- Michonne
- Maggie
- Sasha
- Rick
In the comics, Abraham is already dead, Sasha and Daryl don’t exists. The group that Negan stops consists of Maggie, Glenn, Rick, Carl, and Michonne.
Negan threatens Maggie, and Glenn loses his shit. Negan says that the next time anyone gets out of line, he will shut that shit down, no exceptions.
Negan recognizes that Carl is Rick’s kid “Do not make me kill the future serial killer!” the tension is palpable as Negan walks up and down the line
“I simply cannot decide, I got an idea. Eeny – meeny – miney – moe – catch – a tiger – by – his toe – if – he hollers – let him go – my mother – told me – to pick – the very – best one – and you – are – it.”
As Negan recites the lines, he goes up and down the line pointing at each person in turn.
“Anybody moves, anybody says anything cut the boy’s other eye out and then we’ll start. You can breathe, you can blink, you can cry hell, you’re all gonna be doing that.”
SMASH.
“Oh, no! Look at that! Taking it like a champ.”
Smash, smash
“Damn.”
Smash, smash, smash, smash, smash.
Fade to black. That’s it. We’ll find out who died in the fall.
Damn. This sucks.