by Jay Wilburn
It is funny to me whenever the question of whether zombies are “over” comes up. This question has been going on since the turn of the century or before. As digital and small press publishing grew, the onslaught of zombie stories have flooded the inboxes of publishers until many include “No Zombies” in their submission guidelines. Still, zombie stories continued to pile up on Amazon and everywhere else. The Walking Dead comic was an incredible new and innovative addition to the genre. It was a pearl in a broad bed of dead shells. When I heard they were making it into a series, I was floored. I couldn’t wait. The graphic novels were promoted from the beginning as the zombie story which never ended. Now, people are asking whether The Walking Dead TV show is over. In the eighth season as I began to write this and with a spin-off Fear The Walking Dead series still rolling along, I’m starting to wonder if the idea of The Walking Dead being done is done. This question has a way of shambling on and on in the zombie genre much like the undead monsters themselves.
I remember people complaining in season 2 as the Farm narrative played out along with the slow burn between Shane and Rick and the endless search for Sophia. People were growing weary of the show then. Carl’s wandering and Lori’s parenting got under people’s skin. I found that the story arc with Sophia benefited from binge watching. It did not bother me as much seen back to back. The growth and waffling of characters made more sense. The cliffhangers did not bother me as much either as I could decide when I wanted to watch the next episode instead of stewing on the stories for a week or more. This binge watch experience helped me a great deal with future seasons too.
Seasons three and four at the prison had issues for many viewers. Some portions seemed too long for some viewers. Transitions and plot points bothered fans at different stages. The “soap opera with zombies” accusation started up in these seasons with complaints about character development versus action arguments too. Rick’s dance between madness and saint irritated others. All of this worked better for me in binge too. Andrea’s story with Woodbury bothered fans. Carol’s story arc bothered fans. Some of my favorite episodes came out of these seasons though.
Season five opened with one of the strongest action-packed episodes. The season took us many different places. Some story arcs felt like detours to many fans. Through all the seasons, as characters spread out and stories were left behind for weeks at a time, people didn’t like it. Fans debated whether our heroes were really heroes at all.
Season six was compacted in time for the first half. There was a lot of action. Some fans like the compressed storytelling while others did not. As the world expanded, some fans had trouble adjusting and felt like the story was getting away from them. Some people felt that we were reaching a point where new characters were being introduced just for the purpose of killing them off later. Season six ended on the biggest cliffhanger yet which bothered many people.
Season seven opened with one of the most controversial episodes ever. Many fans swore they would never watch the show again. It was a similar situation as shown in other seasons of the show. In a way, it was almost foreshadowed more than once. It was beloved characters though this time and people were affected differently. In some ways, that is a testament to the writing. Not everyone saw it that way and accused the show of becoming torture porn. Some of the same people who complained nothing happened in too many episodes of the “soap opera with zombies” now had the exact opposite complaint. Now we saw our characters hurt and vulnerable and they didn’t like it. It took too long for them to get their fight back, many people thought. Then, we moved into All Out War.
The show opened its eighth season with action, but still many complaints. Many feel the writing and the storytelling has fallen off. More key character deaths have set viewers on their heels. Yet more have sworn off the show again. Viewership is down from previous peak ratings numbers in the past. Choices of characters bother fans and sometimes feel like they are made for plot convenience versus any sort of character or story reason. Some are upset about the move to take a key character from the main series over to the spin-off. Others feel Fear the Walking Dead is the better show now whereas many used to think the opposite was true. A few people found the season finale for season eight satisfying while other reviews called it an episode that seemed to want to be over from the moment it started. With each new season, more and more comic fans have questioned the choices made where the show diverged from the graphic novels in bigger and bigger ways.
Still people ask if the show is done. Others ask why people are still “hate watching” the show, if they really think it is done. Both questions may be valid, but some have been asking these things since season 2. The show will end eventually as all shows do, but people keep asking the question of it being done even as it continues forward. It makes me wonder if the question is any different than the one that asks whether the whole genre is done while more shows, movies, and books come out in the genre every day.
I go back and watch episodes from seasons people have written off and I love them more than I did the first time around. Separated from the hype and counter-hype, there are some real gems mixed into every one of these seasons. Some of my favorite scenes and stories lie in the midst of these lease-liked stretches. I believe some of the most hated episodes and characters have real legs when given time to age away from the heat of the moment.
Other scenes look different when viewed again. I find myself realizing as I watch an early episode “none of these characters are still alive from this scene.” Everything that was said and experienced here has been lost. No one alive knows this conversation occurred and now it is forever in oblivion. Isn’t all of history that way though? Eventually every person in every life in every moment of history is gone. Every individual conversation is lost except for where it is recorded and this show is no different. History is just accelerated a bit in a zombie apocalypse. The show is the record of the history for these characters.
The risk of a show where anyone can die is that eventually you lose the characters who know the history. Sometimes they do a great job bringing in and using new characters. Other times, you miss having people who know as much as you do about how this all started. I laughed out loud when they brought back an old face just to kill them off right away.
The recent rumor is that actors Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes and Lauren Cohan as Maggie will be leaving the show a few episodes into season 9. This may pose the greatest challenge of the series so far. This breaks most of the “Grimes through line” which carries the source material. While there are popular characters who could still carry the stories, this may leave the remaining hardcore fans asking who and what the show is really about. It may also, however, liberate the show from some of the anchors of the story. Only time will tell. No matter what happens, the show is certainly closer to its end than its beginning at this point, but we already knew that about any show going into season 9.
There is an X factor of fans that needs to be considered. While arguably too many beloved characters have exited at this point with the potential exit of Rick, there is a subset of fan, who instead of identifying directly with core characters, have secretly all along imagined themselves in the midst of the apocalypse with the characters. They imagine what they would do and picture themselves making different or better choices along side the characters in the story. These and many other zombie fans are attached to the franchise at a different level. They are very, very forgiving of zombie films. The Walking Dead at its worse is better than many of the movies they suffered through before they had a weekly show about their favorite monsters. These core fans will still imagine themselves rising to hero status as they project themselves into the story and into the void left by Rick and Maggie, if the show goes beyond a ninth season.
There will be episodes that will stand out for me in later watchings from this season and every season they ever put together as far as the series goes. People will be watching no matter how long it carries on. People will continue to swear off the show right up until it is finished for real. There is almost no point in speculating when it is done because it is a phenomenon whether we still each individually like it or not. It will be done one day, but not yet and some day, new people will start the series from the beginning and watch it straight through every season they make, experiencing it all in its entirety. That kind of blows my mind when I think about the scope of the world this show has created. Some people will get to experience the whole thing in a long binge from one end to the other. Maybe they get the last word because they will know for certain that the show is done and completed in total for them.
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