'Walking Dead' Review: All-Out War Begins with Badly Aimed Bang

In a sign that season 8 of The Walking Dead might be the same kind of drawn-out affair that the past couple of seasons have been, this week's season premiere got the promised all-out war started in a stuttering, logically problematic way. Could we be facing another season where a simple goal eludes the show's characters for episode after interminable episode? Forbes' Erik Kain fears that might be the case. Read on, but beware the spoilers.

Via Forbes.

There's a moment in the Season 8 premiere of The Walking Dead that transformed a reasonably decent season opener into an hour of television I wanted to smash to pieces with Lucille.

The members of Hilltop, Alexandria and the Kingdom, have all come together to bring the war to Negan's doorstep. That's not figurative, either. They quite literally drive up to his doorstep, cars rigged with big sides of sheet metal for protection, armed to the teeth.

Earlier, in Rick's speech, he made clear that only one Savior had to die: Negan. (They go and kill several lookouts right after that speech, so it's more like "only five people have to die" but who's counting?) And who should walk out onto his doorstep in plain view of all these heavily armed rebels? Who gives them all the perfect chance to take him out then and there? Who swaggers like he's the king of all he sees, never once worried that maybe Rick had given orders to shoot him on sight?

If you guessed Negan, you win. The Big Bad walks right out there like he hasn't got a care in the world. He's soon followed by his lieutenants, including the coward, Eugene, and the traitor, Dwight. It turns out, he had nothing to be afraid of. Despite being heavily armed, despite having multiple weapons with scopes and a clear shot, despite coming to do this very thing, nobody opens fire on Negan. Why?

This is one of those incredibly frustrating moments that have come more and more to define The Walking Dead. Because there's really no good explanation as to why nobody shoots Negan the moment he showed his smug face. There's no reason one of the dozens of rebels couldn't have popped him at such close range.

In the end, Rick "tricks" Negan and his men. He gives them one last chance to forsake Negan and switch over to Team Rick and starts counting down from 10. But, like that fake old black white movie in Home Alone, he starts shooting before the count is up. And you know something else? Rick shoots with the accuracy of a Storm Trooper from Star Wars. 

See, Rick spent all his time making speeches and none of his time devising a plan that actually made any sense. By now, Rick would have known that Negan would come out with his little hip-swoop move and start talking crap in the most annoying way possible. He knew that this would afford them the perfect shot. And since he only wanted to kill one guy, having sharp-shooters take Negan out the moment he walked outside would have made perfect sense.

Read the rest of this review at Forbes.

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