Warning: Spoilers for the Season 6 finale of The Walking Dead follow…
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I suppose I should be surprised, but in many ways this cliffhanger of an ending feels predictable. We've already see The Walking Dead pull the “is he or isn't he” dead shenanigans with Glenn this season, so that big “who IS it?” that Negan is beating with Lucille as a build-up to season 7 is right in line with what we've come to expect from the series.
It also fits with the overwhelming number of commercial breaks (just as things got cooking) that AMC inserted into this episode. In other words: The network is milking this cash cow for all that it's worth. They want to keep audiences coming back — of course — and they want to take advantage of the opportunity to make a great deal of money on advertising. Again, that's natural. They also seem to want to keep Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman happy by, as we've mentioned previously, aligning the show as much as possible with his original comic. Whether that is a good or bad thing is in the eye of the beholder.
What's unfortunate is that often character and logic are sacrificed in service of reaching certain comic “moments” and manufacturing “edge of your seat” moments. We've seen that happen with Carol this season and again, to a larger degree, during this episode. Perhaps more to the point, The Walking Dead spent the last 8 episodes building to a climax that they did not pay off.
We expressed great distress a few weeks ago (ranted) when it felt as though the writers were betraying their created characters in service of a plot that doesn't make much sense. Tonight that played out with a finale that will likely have The Walking Dead viewership split.
Donna Dickens and Roth Cornet discuss the finale in the video above or below.
We also name the two characters that cannot be dead, and the one/s that most likely are.
Take a look and let us know what you think here or on Twitter.
Roth: @RothCornet
Donna: @MildlyAmused