The ten Worst The Strolling Lifeless Episodes, Ranked

First, let’s get one factor straight — “The Strolling Lifeless” is a defining work of 2010s leisure and one of many biggest tv reveals of all time. It debuted on AMC firstly of the last decade, a time during which reveals like “Mad Males” and “Breaking Unhealthy” had been positioning the community as the subsequent HBO. However these two reveals, which started years earlier than “The Strolling Lifeless,” ended lengthy earlier than it as effectively.

The latter present continued to feed on a fanbase that itself was pressured to stay off of scraps — “bonus” episodes, upsetting deaths used as mere shock worth, and, oh God, so many cliffhangers. This cycle continued till the present successfully died — then, appropriately, continued a number of seasons extra. It sprouted a number of spin-offs (which you need to watch within the right order), and the creators even threatened to supply films like fungus on a zombified corpse!

Okay, we’re being slightly dramatic, however the later seasons of “The Strolling Lifeless” acquired actual messy actual fast. As a refresher, we went by means of all 11 seasons and located which had rotted worse than a zombie on the seaside, rating them by way of how little they matter to the story, how weird the narrative selections are, and the way merely drop-dead boring they’re to look at now.

The primary season of “The Strolling Lifeless” is generally wonderful — by some requirements, it is likely to be an instance of peak status tv. Nonetheless, maybe we should always have been much less shocked when later seasons started packing within the filler, when the collection struggled to take care of momentum in its greater than manageable six-episode debut outing. Even if you wish to name “The Strolling Lifeless” season 1 “peak TV,” you need to acknowledge the startling valley that’s “Wildfire.”

Some followers might instantly disagree with this choose. On the time of its airing, when the present was nonetheless recent, it was a forgivable or maybe even welcome change in tempo. If you have not seen it since your first watch-through of the collection, you possible do not have robust reminiscences about this episode particularly, good or dangerous. However revisiting after so many seasons of lethal wheel-spinning, it is onerous to not acknowledge the early indicators of the present’s decay in “Wildfire” and never be slightly aggravated they let the issue unfold like … effectively, you realize.

The episode picks up proper after “Vatos,” which is nearly its polar reverse, highlighting the human battle and fixed sense of hazard that will mark the present’s most traditional moments. Within the aftermath, “Wildfire” is a strolling story concerning the group making their method towards the CDC, the place they hope to be taught the origins of the zombie virus. It is a miserable, hour-long teaser for the primary season finale that defines all of the hallmarks of a foul episode of “The Strolling Lifeless.”

A beneficiant and never fully inaccurate evaluation of “All the time Accountable” is that it is delicate in its necessity to the overarching story of “The Strolling Lifeless.” Upon first watching the episode, you won’t notice you and the survivors are stumbling proper into one of many final nice arcs of the collection total — although that is additionally a purpose why we do not prefer it as an episode very a lot.

Primarily all the principal collection forged is absent for the season 6 episode, which follows the aftermath of a mission gone improper undertaken by Daryl (Norman Reedus), Abraham (Michael Cudlitz), and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Inexperienced). After they’re pressured to separate as much as flee the then-unknown human troopers who attempt to ambush them, Daryl winds up working into Dwight (Austin Amelio) for the primary time. In fact, as followers would quickly come to be taught, Dwight was himself on the run from the Saviors, the cult-like group of psychopaths led by Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan.

That apart, “All the time Accountable” does not have something of substance to supply by way of significant battle. The outdated dependable “Ought to I actually belief this stranger?” is the one factor near a story spine this story has, and boy, does that bone crack when Dwight winds up betraying Daryl anyway. As for Abraham and Sasha’s story, they’re left to stall and pad the runtime to make for a logical sufficient reunion by the episode’s finish.

In a vacuum, “Stradivarius” is not essentially a foul or poorly-told story, nor an unwatchable episode of tv — in truth, coming to it by itself as a brief movie of types is likely to be a method one might even name it a fantastic piece of storytelling — props to author Vivian Tse and Abraham actor Michael Cudlitz, who made his directorial debut with this episode.

However within the context of “The Strolling Lifeless” — its dwindling and more and more meandering overarching narratives, and miserable lack of momentum 9 seasons in — the episode is a frustratingly complacent entry within the collection. It signaled that the present would refuse to finish gracefully and that its high quality would proceed to steadily decline because it trudged ahead. In different phrases, “Stradivarius” is the second “The Strolling Lifeless” crossed the brink and dedicated to turning into a full-time zombie present … in a foul method.

For online game followers, the plot runs like two parallel escort missions. Carol (Melissa McBride) and her adopted son Henry (Matt Lintz) enterprise into the wilderness with Daryl, the place some run-of-the-mill forest zombie stuff occurs whereas Michonne (Danai Gurira) leads a small group of Alexandria survivors to their post-apocalyptic utopia on the Hilltop Colony. With so many new character introductions and revelations about older characters, “Stradivarius” ought to hit method more durable — besides we do not actually have a purpose to spend money on these newcomers, nor do we’ve got any vitality left to pressure curiosity in no matter untold trauma is about to be unearthed by the outdated ones. It is an hour of tv that’s weirdly made worse the extra you keep in mind concerning the present main as much as it.

If “Stradivarius” brings concerning the zombification of “The Strolling Lifeless,” then “Monsters” — which aired a season earlier — sees the present within the closing phases of mind demise. This is not to say the writing, directing, or the rest all of a sudden turns into “dumb” logically, however that the collective reminiscence of the collection at massive has severely deteriorated. That is evident within the episode’s pretty didactic exploration of morality within the post-apocalypse, a bedrock thought for “The Strolling Lifeless” that was already crushed to bits by the fifth season. And but, maybe as a result of the present had already lived far previous its expiration date, it selected to dig deep into the bottom, re-discover the nuggets they’d already proven off to viewers, and attempt to tout them as one thing new and profound.

At no level is that this efficiency of thoughtfulness extra insulting than within the battle between Andrew Lincoln’s sheriff-gone-bad Rick Grimes and Morales (a member of Negan’s bloodthirsty cult of killers referred to as the Saviors, performed by Juan Pareja). Each piece of tropey dialogue you can consider is used to trick the viewers into pondering that Rick really has one thing to wrestle with right here, both relating to the lives he is taken to outlive the apocalypse or the demise of the deranged assassin holding him at gunpoint. This is similar Rick Grimes who was capturing first and asking questions by no means as early as season 2. (Keep in mind “Nebraska?” The present certain does not!)

One might make the argument that Rick’s arc all through the collection is about dropping his humanity to the apocalypse early on, then being pressured to redefine his values each time he is requested to be a frontrunner. However the present simply does not promote that thematic justification as something greater than nice-looking sand that may’t help the aspirations of an episode like “Monsters.”

Within the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the next security measures enforced on public gatherings, movie and tv crews needed to modify the way in which they informed tales for the instant future. However for “The Strolling Lifeless,” this additionally meant determining a strategy to fill six further hours of tv added onto season 10, all of which aired considerably later than the season correct. Some name these the “bonus” or, derisively, the “COVID” episodes, and sadly, both title is fairly becoming when referring to the episode “Splinter.”

It begins with a bunch of survivors, together with Paola Lázaro’s Juanita “Princess” Sanchez, being captured by Commonwealth troopers, after which they’re imprisoned individually as they await interrogation. Throughout this era of isolation, Princess principally spends the episode speaking to herself and having revelations about how her traumatic upbringing formed the way in which she treats individuals within the current. It is actually unhappy and explanatory, however the story struggles to carry the viewers as a result of it finally does not matter to the overarching narrative until you are hyper-focused on Princess’ arc. It’s the most “bonus” of the bonus episodes, within the worst methods potential, although, as we’ll talk about additional down, it is actually not the worst bonus episode total. 

When it comes to the COVID-ness of all of it, the truth that the actors are unable to work together with one another as they usually would just isn’t the fault of the collection — however that does not imply it is not distracting in principally each scene.

Plenty of episodes of “The Strolling Lifeless” disappoint as a result of they do not transfer the story ahead — however we might usually take that over an episode that basically drags the story backward like “Swear.” As is the case for one among our prime contenders for the worst “Strolling Lifeless” episode of all time, “Swear” is a standalone episode that capabilities as an prolonged “Beforehand on…” section for a personality the writers needed to have disappear for some time. Right here, it is Tara, a former soldier within the Governor’s (David Morrissey) military, launched in season 4 and performed by Alanna Masterson. By season 6, Masterson was a part of the central “TWD” forged, till Tara left for a provide run towards the top of the season with Corey Hawkins’ Heath.

“Swear” makes an attempt to elucidate what occurred to those two characters through the a number of intervening episodes (which included a season break between 6 and seven) and justify why they have not returned (and, within the case of Heath, won’t ever return), whereas additionally tying issues into the overarching story – sike. On that final level, “Swear” is one more completely skippable episode within the grand scheme of issues, the one issues of observe being Tara’s eventual return to Alexandria (the implications of which are not even targeted on right here) and her discovery of the Oceanside neighborhood. In any other case, the misadventures of Tara and Heath are simply that — adventures you’ll be able to miss.

At first, “The Different Facet” looks like it could possibly be one of many extra strong episodes of the notably uneven seventh season of “The Strolling Lifeless.” The meat of the episode will get cooking when the Saviors ambush the Hilltop neighborhood, forcing everybody current to have interaction in frantic, tactical warfare in opposition to an enemy who’s stronger and higher ready than they’re — to not point out, it additionally seemingly serves to kickstart the grand finale of Negan’s seasonal arc. All good, proper? Oh, wait — there are two episodes after this one within the season.

See, “The Strolling Lifeless” has a constant pacing quirk. Towards the top of a given season (particularly the later ones), the writers appear to have all the pieces they need to go down within the final two episodes all deliberate out, stuffing all of the climactic motion into what basically quantities to a two-part finale. That is all very effectively, besides that normally means the third-to-last episode is the place everybody has to scramble (typically in convoluted or manufactured methods) to get to their locations for the ultimate showdown.

In “The Different Facet,” this results in storylines like Sasha’s, the place she’s pushed towards a predetermined endpoint not by dramatic motion or character improvement, however by the invisible hand of the script that is aware of she’s being arrange for a two-episode imprisonment-betrayal-sacrificial-assassination arc. It is serviceable storytelling in probably the most literal sense, which is all the time a bummer to look at.

Once you see the title “The King, the Widow, and Rick,” what pictures does it encourage? A superb old style western-tinged journey about three of probably the most charged characters on “The Strolling Lifeless?” A play on an Arthurian legend that blends this post-apocalyptic with the unusual, neo-medieval code it launched? An homage to “The Good, the Unhealthy, and the Ugly?” Sadly, any of these choices could be projecting extra which means onto the present than it even cared to fake at on this episode — the title is only a blunt, nearly placeholder-like assertion about which three grumps we’re trailing behind this week.

There’s nothing thematic or cohesive about “The King, the Widow, and Rick.” It’s actually simply an episode that shifts between the views of “King” Ezekiel (Khary Payton), “Widow” Maggie (Lauren Cohan), and Rick, and solely Rick is basically doing something that furthers the plot. The three-way alliance between the Kingdom, the Hilltop, and Alexandria has gotten all of them to a spot that seems like a step away from victory in opposition to the Saviors. So, naturally, “The Strolling Lifeless” stays in that step so long as it may by having Ezekiel sulk about how dangerous of a king he is-slash-was (and take no new actions), make Maggie wrestle for your entire hour about whether or not or to not feed their prisoners (and take no new actions), and ship Rick on fetch quest with the Scavengers (which teases some new actions the next week on “The Strolling Lifeless”).

In the meantime, the opposite six storylines jammed in listed below are equally pointless — significantly Michonne’s, as she dangers her life to go spy on the Sanctuary (for causes), practically will get killed, however then will get saved on the final minute, even foiling the Saviors’ briefly attention-grabbing countermeasure to the walker siege. It is a boring episode with no motion — dramatic or in any other case — and nearly no penalties for the remainder of the season.

We have famous quite a few instances all through this piece that “The Strolling Lifeless” ought to have ended a lot sooner than it did — and if we needed to choose a season the place it might have been laid to relaxation with the dignity its earliest efforts deserved, we might say “The Strolling Lifeless” ought to have ended with season 5. That is for a wide range of causes, good and dangerous, however (most vital for our functions) season 5 is the place the world begins to get slightly too large, and the tales begin to get slightly too comfy isolating themselves someplace the place they’ll kill an hour with out shifting the story ahead a lot in any respect. Living proof: “Slabtown.”

Beth Greene (Emily Kinney) — the daughter of farm vet Hershel Greene (Scott Wilson) and sister to Maggie — just isn’t a personality who exists within the authentic comedian e-book collection, a reality which (particularly earlier within the present’s run) made her distinctive and considerably extra unpredictable than the vast majority of the forged. By “Slabtown,” nevertheless, it grew to become clear that this had develop into one thing of a hindrance to the present, as they could not work out what precisely to do together with her even because the story diverged dramatically from Robert Kirkman’s supply materials. Thus, the writers did what “The Strolling Lifeless” does in its weakest moments — losing simply sufficient time making an attempt to persuade you she’s emotionally vital in order that they’ll use her as an inexpensive demise.

That is what “Slabtown” is. After conveniently making her disappear in season 4, this episode reveals us the place she’s been — sadly, the reply is that she’s simply being pressured to work in an Atlanta hospital with/for a bunch of different new characters the story does not care about. So as to add insult to damage, she vanishes once more on the finish of this episode till the writers need to kill her off within the mid-season finale.

We tried, expensive reader. We tried. Selecting one of many inherently pointless season 10 “bonus” episodes for the No. 1 spot appeared like low-hanging fruit — to not point out one which has been so unanimously dismissed by critics and followers alike that it’s unquestionably thought of the worst episode “The Strolling Lifeless” has ever put out. We tried to discover a extra stunning choose; we tried to search out episodes that had been one way or the other worse than individuals keep in mind. However then, reader, we tried watching “Diverged.” And that proved most making an attempt of all.

It is an enormous, relentless, indulgent bummer. It focuses on Carol and Daryl, two characters who’re more than pleased to be alone. The oversight right here, nevertheless, is that loner characters nonetheless want somebody to work together with in an effort to develop, particularly when their most compelling battle is with one other main character on the present. Admittedly, attributable to circumstances past the present’s management, Carol and Daryl could not actually work together to resolve the rift of their relationship — however that does not imply the most effective use of an hour of tv is to ship them every off to a nook to mope unproductively on their very own. 

Carol’s portion of the episode is actually making an attempt at … one thing. Her deep must make soup within the face of a rat infestation feels impressed by probably the most relatable however miserable components of COVID-era isolations and a half-rewatch of the “Breaking Unhealthy” episode ‘The Fly.'” There’s something human there, however gosh darn it, that simply is not sufficient after 10 seasons of storytelling.

We tried not to decide on so many episodes from the later seasons. However finally, our post-mortem of this present is that it was lifeless lengthy earlier than it died. Episodes like “Diverged,” regardless of how admirable their makes an attempt at ingenuity or humanity are, nonetheless do not give their story, their characters, or most significantly, the viewers, a purpose to really feel alive.