The writing for Negan is BAD. The actor himself is a good actor who's done great work in other tv shows and movies.

@movie_nazi said:

@ChefC said:

Personally I think a large factor in the shows decline is how easily zombies are dealt with now. They're just not even slightly scary any more. Even though I get that 'The Walking Dead' always applied to the survivors, and humans were the new danger - ultimately I originally tuned in to watch people trying to survive a zombie apocalypse - now with ZombiesLite it just isn't as engaging.

Well, that is what most zombie films of the past dealt with. The initial apocalypse and people's ability to quickly adapt and survive such an ordeal. I think what made TWD more intriguing than the dozen or so previous zombie films was that it got more into the complete logistics of surviving the apocalypse after people learned how to defend themselves against the infected and how that really was just a minute first step in the entire ordeal. Getting into how humans act when there is no law and order and seeing who steps up and shows he's a mensch and has the cajones to do what needs to be done, IMO, is also quite interesting. Killing zombies and the "OOO scary" factor appeals more to the childish side of people and the actual survival and rebuilding appeals more to the psychological interests in people. I am also a strong proponent of character development but this spending entire episodes on character development of a single character is also a show stopper. That type of shit just reeks of filler. I honestly think if they would have kept the pace up the show would be running strong. They are just squeezing blood from a rock and the show is doomed to go out with a wimper.

Oh I agree, seeing how civilisation attempts to rebuilt 'after' a zombie apocalypse is certainly something most people would like to watch. Although something that always disappoints me about Zombie movies/shows in general is how they skip over the period of turmoil, the days/weeks that a world goes from normal to dealing with Zombies - usually they just have main characters sleep through it and emerge into a world already destroyed.

I don't expect a show to stay within these opening stages forever, and fully accept that it will move on (and am just as interested in that stage as well) but I don't think Zombies should ever be watered down. Season 1 a couple of zombies were a terrifying thing, Season 7 a fair ground full is just a matter of playing whack-a-zombie.

Although I guess this is the inherent issue with slow zombies anyway, they're just not scary unless there are a horde and you're surrounded. I guess ultimately my point is the show doesn't fundamentally feel the same / conjure the same peril when characters can wipe out 40+ zombies as easily as you or I walk to the local shop.

The show, like many others like it, suffers from a lack of overall plot, by that I mean there is no end goal that we're working towards. Following the group and how they deal with a post society world is fine but eventually we get to the point (like now) where we've seen everything (or it certainly feels like it).

The Zombies aren't a threat anymore so that side of the show just isn't interesting, so we've moved on but now we've encountered different types of groups; Hershel's farm where we met a group of people who are in denial about the new world, the Governor and his community which is at odds with Rick's group. The cannibals, the wolves, Alexandria where again we meet a group who are in denial about the new world and then Negan's community who, like the Governor, is at odds with Rick's group but much more extreme.

I really don't see where we can go from here, they squashed any cure storylines (which I'm fine with), we've seen no evidence of actual civilisation surviving, so are we just going to see the group going up against increasingly unstable groups?

Personally I think they need to announce that they are ending the show, either next season or the one after, then the writers can decide how to end it and then use the final one or two seasons to organically get to that ending. If they carry on like they are the show will gradually lose popularity and eventually get cancelled causing the writers to bodge together a half-assed ending.

Personally I want to see Rick take charge of the communities and grow increasingly unstable and become the extreme Rick-tator that we've seen glimpses of. It'll come to a head with Carl leading a coup and having to take out his father. The show has to end with the death of Rick in my opinion, this show has always been Rick's story and it's his story that needs to come to an end, a happy "Hollywood" ending would just feel out of place for this show I'm my opinion.