Maggie needs to get to a doctor, but the Saviors keep blocking the way herding Rick and every viable soldier in Alexandria (now left pitiably open to attack) to a long-awaited meeting with Negan.
Screw you, The Walking Dead. Screw you, Scott Gimple. Screw you, Matt Negrete. Screw you, Greg Nicotero. Screw you, AMC. Screw me for thinking they were going to do anything different than just baiting. They should just call this show The Walking Bait because that’s what it’s become.
I am so sick of television series giving no closure or resolution to a story because of lame artistic reasons. We invested in this season, we sat through Negan’s admittedly chilling and entertaining speech waiting for the dreaded moment to come when Negan beats one of the survivors with his beloved Lucille and, who does Negan pick? The cameraman!
I have to admit, it’s a death I didn’t see coming!
So, someone died but we don’t know who it is and we won’t know until next season.
Screw. You. The Walking Dead.
What a cheap way to end the season; like a bloody slap to the fact that completely derailed and destroyed the better than average episode it came in.
Most of it was National Lampoon’s Post-Apocalyptic Vacation with the gang driving around in circles in an RV while having finger-waving contests with the Saviors, but when Negan showed up and started to talk, Jeffery Dean Morgan owned the role and owned the scene. I have to give kudos to Andrew Lincoln too because you could tell that the situation was out of Rick’s hands and it terrified him. The introduction of Negan was just a cool and chilling scene and I loved every tense and uncomfortable minute of it.
And then… the cliffhanger.
I don’t mind cliffhangers if they’re done well. Who will ever forget “Mister Worf… Fire!” or “We have to go back!” or “Who shot JR?” This cliffhanger was just… bad. It was cheap in execution, it cheated the audience, sullied the show, and exists only to give the writers more time to weasel out of any decisions they might have made and bait the audience to watch the premiere in several months time.
I often write about how bad television makes me angry, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt anger like I’ve felt upon finishing this episode. I feel used and manipulated. I honestly do.
Even that stupid Flight 451 thing they’ve been doing all season had no resolution. Screw them too.
This is television created by a monster that thrives on ratings and doesn’t give two turds about telling a decent story. “The Last Day on Earth” was a cheap shot, it was gimmicky, and basically straight up destroyed the very few things that the episode built in its 90 minute run.
Even the Morgan/Carol story seemed to putter out without any real resolution. It might as well have not existed at all!
“The Last Day on Earth” was embarrassingly bad. As a baseball analogy seems more than apt, it swung for the bleachers, but the bat slipped out of its hands and few into the dugout, killing three orphans, a nun, and Mister Rogers… only we didn’t get to see any of it, only the screams.
I’m angry.
I’m so angry.
This is why I hate investing emotionally in television anymore.
Jason Gaston 