2) Terrible Season Finales
Another cornerstone of Kirkman’s comic are these epic, game-changing story shifters that are equivalent to television season finales, changing the tone of the comic and restructuring the group in ways that leave you breathless from intensity. The show on the other hand has done nothing to tie up each season in a way that drops any bombshells, and ends up causing more harm than good.
Season 1 of course has the grand CDC ending, which really was a bowl of fail-pasta covered in lamesauce. All that work just to get Rick into a building where some scientist can whisper a secret, Andrea can almost make a bad decision, and then have some crazy lunatic self-destruct a perfectly livable area? Cue Willie Nelson’s “On The Road Again” and watch everyone drive into the sunset. Pass.
Season 2 was a little better, as Hershel’s farm is overrun by zombies and the group fights to get away safe. People are split up, there’s some decent action, and Andrea meets Michonne. OK, sure, even though season 2 was a steaming pile of nothing (which I’ll get to soon), I’ll admit the season finale was the only thing that made me continue on to season 3.
Don’t even get me started on the season 3 finale though. Whatever credibility was built during the first half of season 3 and our first glimpses into Woodbury are completely wasted by ending the season on such a sour note, leaving a bad enough aftertaste to overpower a strong seasonal start that had me gearing up for a brand new ass-kicking rendition of AMC’s The Walking Dead.
Why Season 3’s Finale Sucked:
I mean, why didn’t it? The whole Governor arc was left wide-open so he can lurk around the jail and attack at random, but with what army? At this point all he has left as backup are Martinez and Bowman, and even they are getting flaky on their maniacal leader. But still, even armed to the teeth, it’s 3 against a whole town now. Hell, the Governor couldn’t even beat Rick’s gang by attacking with like 20 foot-soldiers, what’s he going to do with three people? What could have been a grandiose shootout turned into nothing but an old-timey western where bullets fly freely but never seem to hit a single person. Didn’t Shane teach everyone how to shoot, dammit?!
Let’s not ignore the fact that Rick had the chance to take Woodbury for himself, and didn’t. I mean, OK, given the choice, where would you want to make camp? In the gloomy old jail cell which has a gaping hole in the back discovered by Tyreese, or the tried and true fortress that is Woodbury, a place that’s actually meant to house people in an entire town-like setting complete with amenities? Nah, let’s just pile everyone in a bus, leave the completely secure and walled-in town alone, and stuff everyone behind some chain-link fences that no longer are protected by guard towers because Martinez blew the shit out of them with his grenade launcher. Everyone can get a cell, it’ll be great!!
It’s the happy ending nobody wanted, that made zero sense.