What to Watch Verdict
The Walking Dead final episodes are a celebration of everything that fans love.
Pros
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The final episodes celebrate everything fans love about TWD
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Entire cast stands out in the final episodes
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Each episode has the scope and feel of a mini-movie
Cons
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Eight episodes aren't enough to wrap up this huge story
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We don't want to say goodbye
The Walking Dead is going out in a blaze of glory. With the stakes higher than ever, a battle’s brewing as the survivors navigate the complexities of the Commonwealth with their lives on the line. The final group of episodes in The Walking Dead season 11 start off like a bolt of lightning and the nonstop action never lets up.
Having watched the first two episodes of the final eight of the series, you can feel the tension and the pressure as the cracks in the Commonwealth become giant fissures. There’s no holding back now that the floodgates have been opened, but don’t expect the Commonwealth’s rulers to go down without a fight. The most beautiful overarching theme of 11C is that it takes a village to survive; good thing coming together to fight as a family is what our survivors do best.
New to the final batch of episodes are supersized opening credits. The animated sequence is longer and more detailed, with a closer look at some of the iconic locations from the season. Bear McCreary’s original score has been modified in several sections to accommodate the changes and now the names of the entire cast appear during the opening credits.
It’s a fitting start to the final episodes of the series because The Walking Dead has always been and will always be the sum of its parts. Every single member of the cast deserves a chance to be recognized for their contributions as the series winds down.
In addition to showrunner Angela Kang, who breathed new life into the series since taking over in season 9, there are lots of other familiar faces from around the TWD Universe, including Matthew Negrete and Eli Jorné, who are consulting producers on the final episodes. Negrete was the showrunner behind The Walking Dead: World Beyond, while Jorné is presently working on the newest The Walking Dead spinoff, The Walking Dead: Dead City, with TWD’s Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
Here are the details about the first two episodes of The Walking Dead 11C:
Episode 1117
Title: "Lockdown"
Synopsis: "Daryl and Negan rush to the Commonwealth to stop Hornsby from going after their families. Pamela deals with protestors demanding justice for Sebastian's crimes. Mercer needs Rosita's help to fight a swarm."
Director: Greg Nicotero
Writer: Julia Ruchman
Episode 1118
Title: "A New Deal"
Synopsis: "Carol makes a deal with Pamela to wipe the slate clean on behalf of her friends. Aaron, Jerry, Lydia and Elijah get on the road to Oceanside to fill them in on a plan. The Commonwealth celebrates Founders Day."
Director: Jeffrey F. January
Writers: Corey Reed and Kevin Dieboldt
Greg Nicotero, makeup and special effects guru and executive producer, steps behind the camera for the first episode, titled "Lockdown." As with previous season premieres, the action picks up where the story left off at the end of 11B as the leaders of the Commonwealth face new scrutiny from its residents while Hornsby (Josh Hamilton) pursues Maggie (Cohan) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) to protect his secrets.
The second episode, "A New Deal," peels back the layers of the Commonwealth to expose its ugly underbelly for what it is. All of the action in "Lockdown" tees up the story in "A New Deal" and sets up what’s to come in the final six episodes.
We won’t get into any spoilers here. But what we can say is that these two episodes exemplify everything we love about The Walking Dead, including lots of walkers, explosive kills and tons of blood, guts and gore. Team Family comes together yet again to fight the true evildoers of the apocalypse: other people who would exploit others for their own gain. And if you’re wondering about whether or not you’ll see your favorite characters, based on the first two episodes we can safely say that yes, yes you will.
If all eight episodes in The Walking Dead 11C average 45 minutes, that means that we have 360 minutes — that’s a mere 21,600 seconds — left with these survivors. It’s still so very surreal that this iconic and groundbreaking series is ending. For over 10 years we’ve been on this journey together; thankfully, Angela Kang and her team are dedicated to giving the show the fitting conclusion it deserves.
The nostalgia levels are high and we’re pretty sure you’ll need some tissue as the push to the series finale begins.
The final episodes of The Walking Dead premiere Sunday, October 2, at 9 pm ET/PT on AMC.
