Warning: Spoilers for The Walking Dead season 11, episode 23
Important moments in the lives of the main characters are beginning to take place off-screen in The Walking Dead’s final season. Admittedly, not showing key events isn’t a long-standing issue in the AMC series, but it’s emerged as a problem for The Walking Dead season 11 part 3. It would seem that the final episodes are skipping over a few key developments, and it remains to be seen if this new trend will continue into the series finale.
In The Walking Dead season 11, episode 23, titled “Family,” Daryl shared a scene with Judith where they discussed his plan to leave the Commonwealth. Part of what stood out about this is the fact that Daryl and the others had just led an assault on Outpost 22 in the preceding episode. This most assuredly would have been followed up by an emotional reunion between Daryl and the two kids, but this event wasn’t even acknowledged in “Family.” Also, this wasn’t the first time this has happened. Similarly, Negan expressed his determination to get back to Annie throughout episode 21, and in episode 22, they were already together again.
Why The Walking Dead Is Skipping Big Moments In Season 11
Clearly, certain moments were considered non-essential for The Walking Dead season 11 part 3. It appears that scenes like Daryl reuniting with Judith and RJ and Negan finding Annie were deemed events that viewers could assume happened, but not ones that were so significant that they needed to be shown. The Walking Dead taking this approach when it’s reaching the end of the road is a sign that the show’s goal may be to ensure that everything is fit in before the ending. When looking at what’s left for the series to tackle, that tactic would make sense to a degree.
After all, The Walking Dead has no shortage of stories that need to be wrapped up. In addition to resolving the individual storylines of each character, it has to conclude the battle with the Commonwealth, fully address Judith’s gunshot wound, explain what happened to Elijah and Jerry, and finish the search for Coco. There’s also the matter of Daryl finally finding out that Rick is still alive, not to mention any setup the finale might provide for its Daryl Dixon and Walking Dead: Dead City spinoffs.
The Walking Dead Is Copying A Fear The Walking Dead Problem
For its final episodes, The Walking Dead has inadvertently taken a page from the most recent season of its first spinoff, Fear the Walking Dead. The focus on the conflict with Strand and Morgan unfortunately resulted in the series neglecting the bulk of its cast for episodes at a time. One of the worst examples of this was when Daniel and Luciana’s group battled the Stalkers off-screen. This fight could have received its own episode or at least some level of screen-time, but was skipped over entirely. It’s best that The Walking Dead – and all of its spinoffs – don’t repeat Fear the Walking Dead’s mistakes.
The Walking Dead releases new episodes on Sundays on AMC.
