Ah... this show. *sigh*

I'm a reader of the comics, so I'm naturally a little biased toward the superior version of the story, but it really does boggle the mind how they can hit perfection in one episode (the season premiere, probably my favorite episode of the whole show) and then fall back into the crippling pacing and character development problems that have plagued them for most of the run despite having the best arc in the comics as a launch pad. Jeffrey Dean Morgan always turns in a great performance as Negan, whose comics incarnation is one of my all-time favorite villains, but so often the show's writers give him lines and actions that turn him into a generic sadist overlord. And don't even get me started on the new villainous group they just introduced, who are basically just a deathly dull repeat of the already bland Wolves unnecessarily distracting from the Savior war.

And yet I can't quit it. I have to see what happens next, whether they can once again pull off a genuinely superb episode or just let more iconic moments slip through the cracks. The next season is undoubtedly going to be more of the same, and the big battle will probably be a letdown, but I just need to see it. I can't stop. I need help.