Your world is about to get a whole lot bigger. - Paul "Jesus" Rovia
Season 6 of The Walking Dead is arguably one of the most explosive seasons aired. Season 5 amped up the action in its season opener and Season 6 takes that idea and brings it to a whole new level. The first three episodes in particular set the tone for the rest of the season giving fans hear-pounding tension and stand out action scenes. In Season 6 we get a good balance of both the walkers and other survivors as the main threats that our group must deal with. The first story arc of the season contains the best walker killing montage I've ever seen on the show hands down. For those of you who wished that the show would go back to large scale action this is your season!
This season is much like Season 3 in its dedication to scope and action packed scenes, however where I thought the former season sacrificed character drama for action this season keeps both in the forefront in an excellent way. We get the largest walker heard in the history of the show. We get wonderful character moments and development. We get heartbreaking deaths and twists. We even get the build up to the most memorable villain of the entire comic book! The production value is spot on and the cinematography continues to shine in new ways thanks to Michael E. Satrazemis. WATCH THIS SEASON. I will warn that there is a misstep in the finale that I will discuss later, but this does not diminish the overall enjoyment of the season in my opinion.
This is The Walking Dead at its best so far! So without further ado, here is my review for The Walking Dead Season 6!
Season 6 starts off as Rick is giving a speech about a large walker threat. The group along with the Alexandria survivors are supposed to be practicing for a large scale redirect of a large hoard. In the middle of his speech a semi-truck falls creating an opening for the walkers to get through. The group is thrust into chaos as they must now take care of the threat without a practice run. The first episode is told non-linear with flashbacks showing the gap between the Season 5 finale and opening of this episode. The creative team decided change up the visual style of the show by making the flashbacks in black and white to create a contrast between the present day story. This is an excellent premiere setting up the first half of the season that provides both intriguing group politics and a new kind of walker threat. For those of you who missed the walkers being a huge threat on the show you will be greatly pleased with the first half of Season 6.
The entirety of Episodes 1 through 9 take place in little under a week. This is a new pace for the show as we've never been so hyper focused on such a small amount of time, but so much happens in that time period that I really can't see any other way to write this. Episode 1 shows us where all our characters have ended up and what part they are playing in the effort to divert the walker herd. By the end of the first episode we are left with three main groups. Rick, Michonne, and Glenn are with a group of Alexandrians trying to make sure the herd stays on the path they have laid out. Daryl, Sasha, and Abraham are driving in front of the herd leading them miles away from the Alexandria Safe Zone. Finally, Maggie, Carol, and the rest are back at Alexandria holding down the fort until Rick and the others come back. The plan seems to be working until a loud horn sounds off at the end of the episode from the direction of Alexandria.
The rest of the first half shows us how our group deals with the herd. We also get an explanation for how the horn sounded, which I will not spoil as that is one of the most shocking episodes of the season. We even get a tease to what will come in the second half during Episode 6 as Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha encounter a new threat. This whole half leads up to the herd breaking through the gates of Alexandria flooding the streets. Rick and the rest of the group are left in a horrible situation trapped inside the safe zone as walkers mass around them. The first half of the season ends on a cliffhanger (you'll notice a trend this season) as Rick, Carl, Michonne, and a family from Alexandria are left walking through the herd covered in guts (a great callback to season 1) as one of the kids begins to cry out for his mother.
Episode 9 ends this story arc in the best way possible! This is one of the best episodes the show has ever produced. After traumatic events causing the loss of the Anderson Family and Carl to be injured, Rick and the rest of the group unite with the Alexandrians in literally the best walker killing montage ever! They all decide to make a stand against the walkers and finally come together as one united group. This arc ends with Rick, who is now the leader of Alexandria as Deanna was lost during the herd attack, telling Carl that he knows they can all come together now and finally has hope again. I want to show you the new world, Carl. This is the theme of the second story arc in the season: A Larger World.
We pick back up with our group months after the herd attacked Alexandria. Rick and the others are adjusting to their new life. We see the community thriving and Maggie even starting to plant crops. Rick and Daryl go on a run where they meet a mysterious new figure named Paul "Jesus" Rovia. After he is brought back to Alexandria he tells the group about a colony that he is from named Hilltop. Your world is about to get a whole lot bigger. This kicks off the second story arc of the season as our group travels to Hilltop in order to set up a trade. Once at Hilltop they learn of the newest threat, another group called the Saviors led by a man named Negan, who force the surrounding communities to give them half of their supplies or they will kill them. After Gregory, the leader of Hilltop played by Xander Berkley, is almost killed on Negan's orders our group makes a deal with him to get much needed supplies. They will take out Negan and his men in return for half of the supplies.
This arc continues with our group going after a compound that they believe to be the Savior's base. In this sequence we get something we've never seen before from our group: a preemptive strike against another group of survivors. This puts Rick and the others in a new morally grey area. We watch them as they break into a compound and assassinate other people while they sleep. Much debate has occurred between fans as to if they were justified in their actions. This decision by the group sets off a chain reaction as the Saviors are a much bigger threat than they believed. We get multiple encounters with them as the episodes go on, including more casualties on both sides of the fight. The question on everyone's mind is, Where is Negan? Every time our group believes they have killed him more Saviors appear claiming to be him. All of this leads up to a very different finale for the show.
The season finale sees our group traveling to Hilltop as a pregnant Maggie is having complications. They cannot treat her at Alexandria, because Denise has been killed by the Saviors. On top of this multiple members of the group are missing including Daryl, Michonne, Glenn, and Rosita. What follows is an extremely well thought out game of cat and mouse as every road they travel they are met with a new group of Saviors blocking their way. This continues until our group is completely surrounded and lined up on their knees. We then are introduced to the big bad himself, Negan. After giving a long expletive filled speech about how the new world order works, Negan proclaims that he is going to punish our group by beating the 'holy fuck fucking fuckity fuck' out of one of them with his baseball bat named Lucille. At this point the tension of this scene is through the roof. He says that he cannot decide who to kill, so he begins to choose by Eenie Meenie Miney Mo.
This is where the finale makes a misstep. After the rhyme is over we switch to a POV shot of the victim as Negan proclaims, You can breathe. You can blink. You can cry. Hell, you're all going to be doing that, then takes the swing. The episode ends on a black screen never showing who the victim is. This leaves the audience to try to guess which one of our survivors is going to be lost. In my opinion, this choice takes away from the scene as all of the tension that was built up throughout the episode dies the minute you realize the victim will not be shown. Of course we will pick back up with the conclusion of this scene in the Season 7 premiere, but every time I see this episode I feel a missed opportunity to make a truly shocking and heartbreaking scene.
Overall, Season 6 is a great season of the show! Despite the annoying cliffhanger in the season finale the season really shines as a stand out piece of art. Now, I'm not one to let the cliffhanger ruin the whole season or even the finale for myself, but some fans will really hate it. The Season 7 premiere does a wonderful job at making the cliffhanger feel somewhat justified, but even with that in mind I still have a hard time completely backing that decision. It's just not a choice I would've made as a writer, but that's fine. Another thing to keep in mind with this season is that there is an alternate extended version of the finale where Negan is given comic accurate dialogue. This is the preferred version of the episode, however this can only be found on the Blu-Ray release.
For creating amazing heart-pounding tension, large scale action, and a healthy dose of character driven drama I give Season 6 of The Walking Dead 4.5 out of 5 cauldrons!
This season is much like Season 3 in its dedication to scope and action packed scenes, however where I thought the former season sacrificed character drama for action this season keeps both in the forefront in an excellent way. We get the largest walker heard in the history of the show. We get wonderful character moments and development. We get heartbreaking deaths and twists. We even get the build up to the most memorable villain of the entire comic book! The production value is spot on and the cinematography continues to shine in new ways thanks to Michael E. Satrazemis. WATCH THIS SEASON. I will warn that there is a misstep in the finale that I will discuss later, but this does not diminish the overall enjoyment of the season in my opinion.
This is The Walking Dead at its best so far! So without further ado, here is my review for The Walking Dead Season 6!
The entirety of Episodes 1 through 9 take place in little under a week. This is a new pace for the show as we've never been so hyper focused on such a small amount of time, but so much happens in that time period that I really can't see any other way to write this. Episode 1 shows us where all our characters have ended up and what part they are playing in the effort to divert the walker herd. By the end of the first episode we are left with three main groups. Rick, Michonne, and Glenn are with a group of Alexandrians trying to make sure the herd stays on the path they have laid out. Daryl, Sasha, and Abraham are driving in front of the herd leading them miles away from the Alexandria Safe Zone. Finally, Maggie, Carol, and the rest are back at Alexandria holding down the fort until Rick and the others come back. The plan seems to be working until a loud horn sounds off at the end of the episode from the direction of Alexandria.
The rest of the first half shows us how our group deals with the herd. We also get an explanation for how the horn sounded, which I will not spoil as that is one of the most shocking episodes of the season. We even get a tease to what will come in the second half during Episode 6 as Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha encounter a new threat. This whole half leads up to the herd breaking through the gates of Alexandria flooding the streets. Rick and the rest of the group are left in a horrible situation trapped inside the safe zone as walkers mass around them. The first half of the season ends on a cliffhanger (you'll notice a trend this season) as Rick, Carl, Michonne, and a family from Alexandria are left walking through the herd covered in guts (a great callback to season 1) as one of the kids begins to cry out for his mother.
Episode 9 ends this story arc in the best way possible! This is one of the best episodes the show has ever produced. After traumatic events causing the loss of the Anderson Family and Carl to be injured, Rick and the rest of the group unite with the Alexandrians in literally the best walker killing montage ever! They all decide to make a stand against the walkers and finally come together as one united group. This arc ends with Rick, who is now the leader of Alexandria as Deanna was lost during the herd attack, telling Carl that he knows they can all come together now and finally has hope again. I want to show you the new world, Carl. This is the theme of the second story arc in the season: A Larger World.
We pick back up with our group months after the herd attacked Alexandria. Rick and the others are adjusting to their new life. We see the community thriving and Maggie even starting to plant crops. Rick and Daryl go on a run where they meet a mysterious new figure named Paul "Jesus" Rovia. After he is brought back to Alexandria he tells the group about a colony that he is from named Hilltop. Your world is about to get a whole lot bigger. This kicks off the second story arc of the season as our group travels to Hilltop in order to set up a trade. Once at Hilltop they learn of the newest threat, another group called the Saviors led by a man named Negan, who force the surrounding communities to give them half of their supplies or they will kill them. After Gregory, the leader of Hilltop played by Xander Berkley, is almost killed on Negan's orders our group makes a deal with him to get much needed supplies. They will take out Negan and his men in return for half of the supplies.
This arc continues with our group going after a compound that they believe to be the Savior's base. In this sequence we get something we've never seen before from our group: a preemptive strike against another group of survivors. This puts Rick and the others in a new morally grey area. We watch them as they break into a compound and assassinate other people while they sleep. Much debate has occurred between fans as to if they were justified in their actions. This decision by the group sets off a chain reaction as the Saviors are a much bigger threat than they believed. We get multiple encounters with them as the episodes go on, including more casualties on both sides of the fight. The question on everyone's mind is, Where is Negan? Every time our group believes they have killed him more Saviors appear claiming to be him. All of this leads up to a very different finale for the show.
The season finale sees our group traveling to Hilltop as a pregnant Maggie is having complications. They cannot treat her at Alexandria, because Denise has been killed by the Saviors. On top of this multiple members of the group are missing including Daryl, Michonne, Glenn, and Rosita. What follows is an extremely well thought out game of cat and mouse as every road they travel they are met with a new group of Saviors blocking their way. This continues until our group is completely surrounded and lined up on their knees. We then are introduced to the big bad himself, Negan. After giving a long expletive filled speech about how the new world order works, Negan proclaims that he is going to punish our group by beating the 'holy fuck fucking fuckity fuck' out of one of them with his baseball bat named Lucille. At this point the tension of this scene is through the roof. He says that he cannot decide who to kill, so he begins to choose by Eenie Meenie Miney Mo.
This is where the finale makes a misstep. After the rhyme is over we switch to a POV shot of the victim as Negan proclaims, You can breathe. You can blink. You can cry. Hell, you're all going to be doing that, then takes the swing. The episode ends on a black screen never showing who the victim is. This leaves the audience to try to guess which one of our survivors is going to be lost. In my opinion, this choice takes away from the scene as all of the tension that was built up throughout the episode dies the minute you realize the victim will not be shown. Of course we will pick back up with the conclusion of this scene in the Season 7 premiere, but every time I see this episode I feel a missed opportunity to make a truly shocking and heartbreaking scene.Overall, Season 6 is a great season of the show! Despite the annoying cliffhanger in the season finale the season really shines as a stand out piece of art. Now, I'm not one to let the cliffhanger ruin the whole season or even the finale for myself, but some fans will really hate it. The Season 7 premiere does a wonderful job at making the cliffhanger feel somewhat justified, but even with that in mind I still have a hard time completely backing that decision. It's just not a choice I would've made as a writer, but that's fine. Another thing to keep in mind with this season is that there is an alternate extended version of the finale where Negan is given comic accurate dialogue. This is the preferred version of the episode, however this can only be found on the Blu-Ray release.
For creating amazing heart-pounding tension, large scale action, and a healthy dose of character driven drama I give Season 6 of The Walking Dead 4.5 out of 5 cauldrons!
Some stand out episodes are:
Directed by Jennifer Lynch
Written by Seth Hoffman
Directed by Michael Slovis
Written by Angela Kang
Directed by Greg Nicotero
Written by Seth Hoffman
Directed by Greg Nicotero
Written by Seth Hoffman
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