I concluded Part I with the awesome change that was Lori’s death. And other characters have those moments as well. Merle’s emotional death and turnaround as he goes against the Governor is nothing short of heroic. And the pain that Daryl has as he cries, breaking down at the thought of having to kill his estranged brother is something we felt just the same as a viewer. I’ve noted how Daryl and Merle are original characters to the show that means none of this happened in the comics! Just another example of awesome changes in adaptation!

One of these changes, however, not so awesome. While many of Michonne’s changes made her an interesting character to watch, her time in season three is mostly the Randall situation on repeat. The show finds itself in this dilemma of repeating plot lines a lot. After Rick handles the group of prisoners once his group gets to the prison, one gets away and you assume he’s dead.

But then the show has the famous “stalker cam” that so many shows and movies have done before and you wonder who it is, only for it to be Andrew who gets killed immediately after it’s revealed it was him. This “stalking” idea happens again the very next season, with the Governor watching the group. Both times the payoff is minimal.

That being said, the way the Governor turns on his people and the big battle of the comics being delayed are two things I loved. Yes, the Governor coming to the prison to be overrun by walkers or “bitters” as he calls them is stupid. But the way he turns on his people is psychotic.

This delays the big battle from the source by presenting something completely warped about his character. I’ve heard people complain about this, and I’ve heard people blame the first half of season four being so slow because they were trying to clean up the mess of delaying the prison battle.

But they shouldn’t. Season Four starts with Scott M. Gimple being in charge and he just sucks as a showrunner. Season Four could have just opened with the Governor returning and the battle could have been a two-part opener and been fast paced with all hell breaking loose (And that difference doesn’t explain the shit that is Season Four B).

This final season in Glenn Mazzara’s dynasty I think helps show Rick get to a point where he almost becomes a villain, and the delay in the prison battle shows Rick instead welcoming the people of Woodbury as his own. It shows him try to recheck himself back to the man of morals he is meant to be.

For this season, I do not have as many negatives to point out. In my opinion, this season started to really format the tone of the show and established a stronger pacing then first two. It’s pacing has never been great, but I think this season started to come up with one that worked. And the tone was darker than the previous two. The show was a bit grittier and more “balls to the wall” than the first two. The stakes were higher, there was more action and violence, more death and the sense of “this is the end” really started to find ground on the show.

However, with that, a whole new slew of problems began. The tone was gone the minute Scott M. Gimple came on board, and that’s because he is a different writer with a different vision. While I think his run at being in charge is the weakest, the tone inevitably changes.

It is seen with every franchise when a different director comes in for a sequel; there forms a disconnect because someone else’s vision comes into play. That issue is on AMC for changing showrunners so much. Seriously, The Walking Dead has to have the record for most showrunner changes in a show’s airing.

But the real issue is that the stakes being higher, more action, violence, and death and the sense of “this being the end” hurt the show. While it made a better season, how do you continue from there? In Breaking Bad we have five seasons (with the fifth being split into two halves) where Walter’s character changes and evolves and has highs and lows. He gets to his worst, and then in the second half of Season Five, he becomes a shell of himself again, just as the show had started, but for different reasons. Rick’s character kept changing but by the shows the current time, he can’t evolve much more, at least not in the way the writers are making him.

He’s become borderline Governor and tried to revert back. He’s realized he needs to be in charge of the group and tried to find a balance of being tough and still being Rick. And he’s forgone that “being Rick” several times for no reason. When Hilltop is introduced, Rick kills a guy just to prove he can. And then he still preaches he’s the good guy.

By the show reaching the point it did in Season Three, it almost forced the show into a limbo currently, because now the show has no direction to take the characters. And that’s the writing team’s fault, not Mazzara. But his season pushing the envelope possibly ignited that issue with the writing team moving forward.

That being said, Season Four still could have gotten better and taken the ideas further. Terminus is a great idea that could have been explored more; the Wolves could have been explored more; Slabtown (Dawn’s people) could have been explored more… The show has since introduced so many issues that just have resolve and never really add anything deeper to the show (I realize these examples are for the seasons after four, but you get my idea... nothing happens in season four other than the Terminus intro in the finale [which leads to another problem I’ll get to in next week’s article]).

As stated, the show is dangling in suspension at this point. After Rick’s little mental breakdown in the streets of Alexandria, the show could have concluded, or introduced Negan then and have the All-Out War storyline occur in season 6, rather than starting in season 8. And with Nick on Fear the Walking Dead hinting at the birth of the Whisperer’s, the two shows could have been linked a bit more strongly at this point.

All in all, I think Season Three is the strongest in the show. It begins the greatest change from source allowing the show to form its own identity. From Season Three on, the show handles the first half of Season Four decently, while the second half falls apart. And then moments of good shine through in Season Five, but it is ultimately weighed down by the moments that suck. And Seasons Six and Seven, personally, I feel are a waste. But I’ll get to those. Next week is Season Four Of The Walking Dead Part I: 30 Days Without An Accident.