With the final episode of The Walking Dead on the horizon when the eleventh season comes to a close, fans are understandably gearing up to watch the zombie horror from the beginning. The struggle against the Commonwealth will finish the show’s story, but there’s a long history before it. Not all episodes qualify for rewatches, even for binging purposes, though.
From stories revolving around extremely heavy material like Negan’s torment of Daryl to slow-moving episodes like Tara’s introduction to Oceanside, The Walking Dead has installments that fans don’t like to watch again after the first time, whether they missed the mark or were just too sad to see again.
Season 4, Episode 14 “The Grove”
There are plenty of sad things that happened to Carol in The Walking Dead, but perhaps none more so than her having to kill her adoptive daughter. “The Grove” depicts Carol, Lizzie, Mika, Tyreese, and baby Judith settling down in a place to live after escaping the prison’s disaster.
It’s an episode that is disturbing to watch for the way the child Lizzie portrays her homicidal tendencies. Moreover, it carries a very dreary pace that makes a lot of the content skippable. While Carol’s reluctant decision to kill Lizzie before she took everyone else’s lives was heartbreaking, it’s a bit too heavy-handed for most to want to watch it a second time.
Season 6, Episode 16 “Last Day On Earth”
There’s little doubt that Negan is the biggest Walking Dead villain, and he first appeared in the sixth season finale. Unfortunately, the episode drags along sheepishly until Negan’s introduction, which has no payoff because the person he picks to kill isn’t even revealed at the end.
Much was ado made about this finale prior to its release, and the lack of thrills led to negative reception. There’s not much that happens here apart from the heroes trying to evade the Saviors’ blockades until they are caught. It’s a needlessly long affair that overplays its tension.
Season 7, Episode 1 “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be”
Glenn is a Walking Dead character fans feel deserved to live, but he meets a brutal end along with Abraham here. The problem with this episode is the extreme gore to be found, with many viewers unable to watch such violence against their favorite characters.
Negan’s torment of the group was stretched out to an entire episode that had nothing but misery for the protagonists. In addition to bashing Abraham and Glenn’s heads in, Negan nearly had Rick killed by Walkers and Carl’s arm cut off. Fans were turned off by the show’s pleasure for violence at the time of airing and that sentiment hasn’t gotten any better since.
Season 7, Episode 3 “The Cell”
Daryl is a fan favorite and the breakout character from the show, so it’s natural that fans don’t like watching him be tortured for an entire episode. “The Cell” depicts just that, with the story’s events revolving around things like Daryl being trapped in a cell eating dog food and having the song “Easy Street” blasted in his ears endlessly.
Like the majority of the seventh season’s episodes, this one also has a slow pace – adding that to an already depressing premise doesn’t do the replay factor any favors. “The Cell” was good for viewing the first time around, but not many will be clamoring to watch Daryl’s slow torment once again.
Season 7, Episode 6 “Swear”
While Tara was a member of the main group in The Walking Dead, she didn’t have the star value someone like Daryl did. This is why watching an episode fully devoted to her isn’t an attractive prospect. Moreover, “Swear” introduced the Oceanside community, which many don’t like for the unwelcoming attitudes of its residents.
While a change of scenery from the Saviors was what many wanted, a boring community that killed people on sight wasn’t a great alternative. Since everyone involved in this episode has now left the show, there’s no real weight attached to it to validate a rewatch.
Season 8, Episode 6 “The King, The Widow, And Rick”
It’s hard to keep track of so many stories running at the same time, especially when none are resolved. This episode has Carol confronting a wallowing Ezekiel, Rick trying to get the support of the Scavengers, Carl meeting Siddiq, and other subplots in between.
The Scavengers are a wildly unpopular group with fans of the show, so watching Rick appeal yet again to those traitors isn’t worth checking out to most. The subplots feel more like filler content that could’ve been resolved earlier and just aren’t that important. In a season filled with action, this slow-moving episode is an easy pass.
Season 8, Episode 9 “Honor”
Carl was expected to be the next protagonist after Rick, only for The Walking Dead to shockingly kill him off. This decision was unpopular with the fans and its relevance is mainly during the first viewing. “Honor” is largely about the characters saying goodbye to Carl before he dies.
A sad premise such as this one isn’t designed for repeated playthroughs, and viewers generally skip it during binge-watches. Since Carl’s demise is also a cause for negative reception, those who didn’t agree with killing him off don’t like to rewatch the episode.
Season 9, Episode 15 “The Calm Before”
“The Calm Before” is a solid episode that sees Alpha discreetly capture people from the community and make a border with their heads on pikes. While it tells a good story, the mass kill count is too heartbreaking to watch again, with some long-running characters like Tara getting eliminated.
It’s an episode that works for shock value purposes but doesn’t have the same impact when viewers know what the ending twist will be. With a somber conclusion depicting the many deceased cast members, the downer style of the episode isn’t an inviting prospect for most.
Season 10, Episode 18 “Find Me”
Some fans appreciated Daryl getting a love interest after 10 years when this flashback episode showed his relationship with Leah. The reason why it’s a skippable story is that Leah turned out to be a villain, along with the fact that the episode is set during events that happened during the beginning of the previous season and just isn’t relevant.
Certain members of the fanbase were also against this pairing because they wanted Daryl’s first love interest to be Connie and choose to ignore this episode altogether. Its events are mentioned during Season 11 as well, which turns this into an installment of the filler variety.
Season 10, Episode 21 “Diverged”
Not many zombie shows would be successful if they were to focus on one character fixing his motorbike while the other tried to catch a rat. This is the premise for “Diverged,” which has nothing exciting for viewers to check out since there’s nothing plot-related happening here.
The episode was one of the filler episodes designed to fill the airing block during COVID-19. As such, Carol and Daryl are seen doing extremely mundane things that would never otherwise be shown. The episode was largely skipped by viewers when it first aired, which makes it obvious why no one returns for a re-run.
