According to reviews, the 8th season of The Walking Dead, which kicked off on October 29, shows the worst ratings in the US among viewers. What is this film about and for what reason is there a drop in interest in it?
What is the series about?
The film by Frank Darabont tells the story of the family of Rick Grimes, who is trying to protect his relatives from danger and find a secluded corner where you can safely live in an apocalypse.
During their wanderings, heroes periodically meet other survivors. Some join Rick's group, but they have to fight with someone.
The series shows not only the horror that carries a zombie apocalypse, but also conveys the atmosphere of hopelessness and doom that characterizes the conditions of the fall of civilization. This is drama, and thriller, and horror in one bottle. After all, nightmares are not in constant danger, that you can turn into a zombie. The director showed a world in which there are no signs of a civilized society: there is no police, ambulance, fire services, television, radio broadcasting, and the entertainment industry do not work. And man has no choice but to descend to primitive instincts: the extraction of food, water and fire. The main thing is to survive.
This is far from an action movie, because fans of dizzying chases with gunfights should better pass by. The picture is filled with unexpected moments, sudden turns of events, as well as moral dilemmas. The viewer has to watch how the characters experience rebirth when they have to make a deal with conscience.
Previous seasons
Unfortunately, not a single creation of this format is complete without errors, because the rating of the series is rapidly falling.
The pilot release of The Walking Dead was amazing. The plot of the first season was kept in suspense until the main character, police officer Rick Grimes, met his wife and son, who managed to survive with the protagonist's partner. Many viewers at this moment had an explicit facespalm, because it’s clear what will happen next and what it will all lead to: group survival, love triangles and stupid actions. All the same hackneyed record, but in a slightly different performance.
The second season turned out to be a frank disappointment for many fans. The repulsive effect due to factors such as excessive tightness, melodramatic and absurdity of the plot: to look for the missing little girl all season, which, as it turned out, was sitting “under the nose” of the group in the barn for 13 episodes. And has long turned into a zombie.
Perhaps, from the second to the fifth seasons, the series dragged by the ears to the top exclusively Daryl with his extraordinary views on the situation, the ability to appear at the right time, as well as a crossbow with endless arrows. Another key character that deserves attention is the old Carroll, with her amazing weapon skills. All the rest either die very quickly and are not even remembered, or they are some kind of discs with poorly developed dialogs. As a result of which, too, they do not linger for a long time either in memory or on the screen.
The cases that are really interesting to watch are the moral transformation of Rick from a caring and scrupulous father to a strong leader who constantly fights with himself, smoothly balancing between the opportunity to turn into a soulless killer or to remain a balanced person in an apocalypse.
New Year's Eve
You should study the events of the previous series in order to understand what is happening in the 8th season of The Walking Dead. Reviews and comments from viewers do not always reflect the essence. Basically, they contain emotions, impressions, sometimes spoilers or assumptions about the further development of the plot.
We can safely say that Rick's moral growth ended around the seventh season. At the end of the sixth, the hero makes the most terrible mistake - he takes for granted the invincibility of his group.
The events resulting from the error are the preamble to the season 8 of The Walking Dead. The reviews reflect that part of the audience was disappointed in Rick, and someone saw him different - real, alive, defeated, but not broken. Ready to continue to fight for their ideals, to resist a new misfortune - the slavish dependence that the group of survivors fell into - the need to pay tribute to the "Savior", led by Nigan. Something reminiscent of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Russia.
The seventh season ended with the first worthy rebuff to the "Savior", the identification of traitors and an open armed confrontation with a group of Nigan. The latter, in turn, intend to take revenge. Will it succeed?
Ahead of the “Battle of Kulikovo” and “Standing on the Ugra”, but only in the format of “The Walking Dead”.
Season 8, Episode 1: Reviews and Impressions
The creators took into account all the mistakes made earlier, and promised to make the continuation more dynamic and eventful. At the presentation of Comic-Con, it was announced that there will be fewer episodes dedicated to individuals, more dynamics, plot twists, and some characters will show themselves in a very unexpected way. What happened in the end?
The first reviews of the 8th season of The Walking Dead were exclusively positive. True, if you delve deeply into the content of those, you can understand that the opinions were expressed by the most devoted fans of the cinema universe, who, for their love, do not notice obvious oversights.
Eric Cain, a Forbes reviewer, emphasized eye-cutting problems. He noted that the attempt of the creators to throw pieces of different time periods of the cinema universe into the starting series of the new season only confused the audience even more. It is emphasized that the authors did not take the mistakes of past years very seriously and, as before, force their heroes to commit absurd acts. But this can be attributed purely to the human factor.
Most of all, the Forbes representative was outraged by the fact that the cartridges in the series are endless. At the beginning of the sixth season, a number of film critics drew attention to the fact that every time the members of the Rick group appeared on the screen with new weapons, but there was never a series where a military warehouse of an appropriate scale was robbed.
In a post-apocalypse environment, everything should have been looted, sold, shot, or hopelessly buried under a layer of rust for a long time, since for a long time, ammunition will not lie without proper storage conditions. At the same time, Eugene’s ability to manufacture cartridges is not taken into account either by Rick or the "Savior".
Another opinion
The authoritative western edition of the New York Times focuses on the protractedness of the series and attempts to turn it into a soap opera. Critics' reviews of the 8th season of The Walking Dead say that it seems as if more than 100 episodes have been shot. While other promising films such as “Game of Thrones” are gradually coming to a logical conclusion, “Walkers” do not even think of ending and acquire all the features of a “long-liver.”
In addition, for the premiere series of the new season, the story is too boring and fixated. It has remained so for the past two or three seasons and is compared by film critics with a decaying corpse.
With the appearance in the show of Nigan, the most striking antagonist, because of which I really want to watch the series further, the danger from zombies has practically come to naught. If earlier the dead were a threat, now there are no more problems from them than from a herd of hungry sheep. The balance of danger has shifted towards interpersonal conflicts between the two groups of survivors.
Facets of Rick: Episode 2, reviews
The 8th season of The Walking Dead tried to reanimate in the second series, which turned out to be more successful compared to the premiere. Rick is shown from a very unexpected direction. This makes it clear to the viewer that the beloved hero has not turned into a cold and dry killer and is still able to worry, sympathize and sympathize. This manifests itself after a fight with an armory guard. In a fit of rage, Grimes did not even hear that he was trying to say, "There is no weapon." And if he had heard, then he would hardly have believed it.
But then I saw a cradle with a baby. It was here that the audience felt the other side of Rick, and according to reviews and comments about the 8th season of The Walking Dead, many presented themselves as the protagonist. A truly catchy episode.
Explicit Cons
Without the negative sides, too, nowhere. In the series, the sense of danger for key characters completely disappeared. Faceless extras participate in the shootings on both sides, which no one knows and will not remember. All important points are landmark: without them, nowhere, they are very necessary, but all this has already happened before. None of the audience’s favorites will die, as there is an extras that have not yet been killed.
A sharp change in the behavior of Jesus, who suddenly became a moralist, hurts his eyes and ears. Of course, the character was extremely positive, but hit the extreme at the most inopportune moment (as if someone had pulled a lever).
According to reviews of the 8th season of The Walking Dead, the new series has a number of extra points that do not even have any artistic value. For example, for several minutes in slow motion for some reason they show a close-up of the faces of the heroes.
The appearance of Morales is not to say that greatly surprised. It was impressive that the authors decided to return the old forgotten character, who had long intersected with Rick's group. In the end, there was intrigue, whatever one may say.
Opinion on the third series
Criticism and reviews of the 3 episodes 8 of the Walking Dead season are mixed. The genius of the idea with the return of an old friend was never revealed. Everything was limited to a dialogue on the strengths and weaknesses of this world, the plight of Morales and Rick's attempts to convince him. But Daryl's punishing bolt interrupted the conversation and the life of the "savior."
Someone in the comments suggested that the directors express their attitude towards old characters. But, most likely, there was an idea here, which will probably be revealed closer to the end of the season. After all, there is a war, and there are many innocent victims.
The negative sides that immediately catch the eye - the shooting started in the second series, have not been completed so far. Of course, it should be understood that the time frame runs counter to real life, but those are captured if the viewer watches one part after another excitedly during the evening.
When there is a week between them, an illusory impression of a drawn plot is created. But it was not without positive aspects.
What did you like in the new series?
According to reviews of the 8th season of The Walking Dead, the audience was affected by the lively way that Morgan lost his head and instantly reborn into Neo from the Matrix, destroying all the Savior that fell in the way. As a result, a conflict with Jesus on the basis of moral principles leads to the fact that Morgan leaves the group.
There remains a feeling of understatement, incompleteness and intrigue, because in the trailer for the new season there was a frame where the hero returns to Hilltop under cover of night. Now, according to the reviews of the 8th season of The Walking Dead, many believe that this controversial character will deal with the captive Savior.
Finally
All this indicates an amazing acting. In the new season, the creators promised "more of a Nigan", that is, different sides of the personality of the antagonist will be described.
The director’s wise move, capable of blurring the familiar lines that clearly divide the characters into good and evil. But they still don't learn from mistakes. The series clearly slipped from fear of the dead to the social and political confrontations of the two leaders, one of whom wants to build his society in justice, and the other - to rule with an iron hand and decide by right of the strong.
There is only one question left: why in all this turmoil with bullets flying back and forth and a clear advantage on the part of Rick, no one thought to just go and shoot Nigan?
The question, of course, is rhetorical. But the logic completely disappeared. All that remains is to monitor the release dates for Season 8 of The Walking Dead, review reviews periodically and leave comments in the hope of not being completely disappointed in the franchise.