Thank you for the thoughtful post.

@DRDMovieMusings said:

I re-watched the last episodes of season 2 and got into the first episode of season 3 again when it dawned on me about a few things that were present but are now missing in the last few seasons of TWD - rhythm and craft.

On rhythm

We're naturally inclined to day/night, light/dark, winter/summer, plant/harvest, work/rest, tension/release...we're naturally inclined to cycles, balance, an opportunity to reset emotions and gear up for the next uptick.

Early TWD did a masterful job of taking us through cycles of action/repose, loud/quiet, intensity/ease. There were dark heavy times, and then there were light times, times to laugh, joke, times when the sun shone and things were, for the moment, okay. There were mini-arcs that had a start, middle and resolution within a reasonable amount of time for the emotional gas tanks of the viewers. In fact, the last episode of season 2 had exactly that situation, when the truck Rick was driving was "on E" and they had to stop.

There is a natural reality to the laws of physics that create a humanely familiar context. Ever since Negan (and, I'm not blaming the lack of this on Negan's character at all), the show has essentially dismissed it altogether, and it leaves us viewers disoriented, discombobulated. We don't know when to breathe, we don't know when this is going to end, and there's no opportunity in the script/screenplay to come up for air.

There has been little to smile about, little for two characters to share that are touching or sweet or connected to what makes being human, being alive, worthwhile. It's been one long broodfest, one long oppressive blanket of darkness with no rays of light to lighten the load, to provide the viewers with emotional release and reset.

[Funny thing is, as I write this, I'm thinking I've either had or seen this conversation before...just can't remember where that thread might be. ]

On craft

Back in season 2, the last episode, when the farm fell, what remained of the group regrouped on the highway, and ran till they ran out of gas, there was a subtle but nicely developed visual of Carol and Daryl on the bike; Herschel, Maggie, Beth and Glenn in the small SUV, and Rick, Lori, Carl and T-Dog in the old clunker. While they were a group, yet, within the group, there were also these subgroups - there's a real sense of humanity, a sense that, even in this apocalypse, vestiges of humanity remain, are worth fighting for. This is further reinforced in the first episode of season 3 when Carl is opening up a can of dog food; everyone watches him, resigned to their situation, starving, desperate. Rick, however, takes the can from Carl, throws it away, and looks, eye to eye, with each member of the group. They are all sitting, Rick is standing, and the message is clear - we are not dogs, we are not animals, we will survive as human beings. The look on their faces, particularly Carol's, shows clearly that they all got the message. Rick is their leader, and they will survive this as human beings.

Speaking of that opening scene, that was another aspect of the show's craft. That opening scene had no verbal dialog, and was typical of the craft of opening scenes back then. They used these dialog-less opening scenes as a device to tune the audience's senses in to all the non-verbal communication that was going on. We really got engaged, wholly, viscerally, through the craft of this device.

Why we mourn

I could write ad nauseum on the various ways the above two aspects were once great, and now lay in tatters.

For one last example, the cycle of "going back". Rick went back for Merle; and went back for Glenn; they went back for Sophia...they set a going-back cycle to provide the audience with mini-story-arcs, a point with a start, middle and resolution, and also reinforced the character of the group. But, by the end of season 2, in one episode, we had Lori wanting to go back for Carl/Rick, and she got her way over T-Dog (establishing pecking order); and we had Carl AND Daryl wanting to go back (for Lori, and Andrea, respectively). But both were overruled by Rick, again, establishing pecking order but, more importantly, breaking that cycle, signifying that this group was moving into a new phase. The early, more naive yet noble state of the group has evolved with the situation. While we have seen enough to know this group is basically good, the situation is wearing on them, they are still human and, as such, will begin to show questionable decision-making that challenges us to continue to support them. (they got really heavy handed and trite with how they attempted through Negan to question the integrity and character of our group, which is a shame because they had so painstakingly laid the foundation for the story to set that conflict...but I digress...)

This show was great. Truly one of the great TV shows of all time. Those who were fans of the show mourn its demise. It is a shadow, a shell, of what it once was. And, while nothing lasts forever, we will always have the early seasons to enjoy a spellbinding display of storytelling.

Beautifully written. You made me tear up. Thank you.

I agree with everything... although I liked the finale