Walking Dead Season 8 - Unmarked spoilers for aired eps in thread

[Vincent, Thunder God]

Well after skipping most of Season 8 and hearing Season 9 was a bit better, I gave it a go.

The episodes before Rick and Maggie left were probably the strongest. Afterwards it lost a bit of steam but I was surprised to find the new characters growing on me a bit. The scene with Connie in the fields was surprisingly tense. I'm also glad Daryl and Carol have gotten some scenes together (though I wondered if Carol was the one who trapped Dog to get Daryl to go with Henry, which is pretty mean when you think about it). Once Danai Gurira leaves though next season aside from those two from Season 1 the next longest-serving main characters will be from Season 4! (SPOILER) I'm pissed off they killed off Jesus because he was just starting to have more potential as a character and was one of the better Season 6 additions.

Episode 15 updateAt first the cold open almost felt like a low-budget parody of the actual show, until it turned dark (Alpha's Lydia song reminds me of Phoebe's Smelly Cat song from Friends lol) but man that ending was brutal. I think the last "death" I was really upset at was Glenn's fake dumpster death, and then when he really died it just seemed exploitative/emotional manipulation. I will admit Darryl's tears at Rick's fake death were somewhat affecting, and now trying to take Carol's eyes off Henry. Disappointed most at Enid actually, I guess Tara as well. Sort of felt bad for poor blacksmith dude - guess he'll have to be a single adoptive dad. Apparently in the comics the King and Rosita died instead. If they keep killing off all these regulars it's going to mostly be new cast members and random extras. Clearly they like to kill off some of the longer-serving actors to avoid giving them a higher salary. But they're giving Reedus a $90 million deal and Carol $30 million, so clearly they've got cash to throw around for salaries. I think Lauren Cohan left because she asked for a raise and they refused. Mistake IMO.