The Walking Dead Season 10 Finale Review: Was A Certain Doom Worth The Wait? – Forbes

The long-awaited Season 10 finale of 'The Walking Dead' is almost here. Was it worth the wait?

The Walking Deads Season 10 finale was about to air when our very own real-world pandemic put a halt on the fictional zombie apocalypse.

COVID-19 arrived and everything ground to a halt, including what must have been a great deal of last-minute post-production work on The Walking Deads 147th episode.

Ive finally had a chance to watch a pre-release screener of A Certain Doom and I must admit, like so often with this show, I find myself with mixed feelings. This will be a spoiler-free review, minus some surface discussion of the premise and the bits weve already seen in the opening scene of the episode which, for instance, reveals the return of Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan).

Maggie is a good example of what bothered me most about the Season 10 finale. She returns, and its cool to have her return, but even though she plays an important part in one segment of the episode, we get very little of her and no explanation of where shes been.

Likewise, the finales biggest action sequences feel hamstrung by the episodes 45-minute runtime. In a lot of ways, this episode feels less like an epic culmination of the Whisperer War than the one-two-punch of Morning Star and Walk With Us (episodes 11 and 12 respectively) in which Alpha (Samantha Morton) and Beta (Ryan Hurst) attack Hilltop, scatter the good guys, and then Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) chops off Alphas head. We discover in the next episode that hes been running a long-con with Carol (Melissa McBride) going in as a double agent and assassin to take out the Whisperer queen.

A Certain Doom

That whole sequence was pretty epic and exciting, with some of The Walking Deads absolute best battle scenes, one of its better plot twists and a satisfying end to the current arcs Big Bad. After that, the survivors had the remaining Whisperers, led by an increasingly unhinged Beta, and a horde of zombies to contend with.

We also got the frustratingly bad Michonne (Danai Gurira) exit episode tucked in there at the end, because obviously it makes sense for Michonne to leave her children behind during the middle of a terrible confrontation with a massive zombie horde to go follow some scraps of evidence that Rick (Andrew Lincoln) is still alive. After all, Rick is less capable of taking care of himself than two small children. Or something.

But I digress.

Negan and Daryl in "A Certain Doom"

The point Im getting at here is that the show hit its climax several episodes from the finale, and A Certain Doom suffers from it. Alpha was the primary antagonist of the last season-and-a-half. Beta was merely her very intimidating lieutenant. He was never positioned as the True Threat. That was always Alpha. And following her demise, Beta has mostly floundered. Yes, hes led the horde to the tower, gathered the might of the Whisperer army to hurl it upon our band of survivors. But hes also gone completely insane.

I suppose whats required at this point is a truly epic showdown between Beta and the survivors, and in some sense the finale provides this, but in others it most certainly does not. We had a more epic confrontation between Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Beta in Season 9, Episode 13 Chokepoint. Again, this feels like an issue with runtime more than anything. I was expecting more from the last battle given the recent battle of Hilltop and the sheer menace of our current villain.

Daryl in "A Certain Doom"

Granted, much of the episode is very satisfying. A Certain Doom has its share of heartwarming character moments and interactions, especially between Carol and Lydia (Cassady McClincy). Its also surprisingly funny at times, with a couple scenes that should get some laughs or at least grins. Theres really nothing inherently wrong with how any of it goes down, except that it all feels a little rush and anticlimactic, though the very final scene is quite the exciting cliffhanger.

The Season 10 finale should have probably been at least a full hour long (not counting commercial breaks) to give us a bit more action before the denouement. There are so many different characters to juggle, for one thing, and all navigating the largest zombie horde theyve ever encountered. The return of Maggie should be a big deal, but its really just a blip in the overall story.

Carol in "A Certain Doom"

But even with more time to flesh things out, Im not sure we could have avoided a sense of anticlimax. This is the problem with killing off the chief antagonist several episodes before the end of the season. It can be done, but its tricky.

Theres a lot to like about A Certain Doom including one of the prettiest musical arrangements Ive ever heard on The Walking Dead, not to mention the terrific zombie special effects.

Carol is terrific throughout, and Daryl and Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) both shine. The secondary plot, featuring Eugene (Josh McDermitt) leading Ezekiel, Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura) and colorful newcomer Princess (Paola Lzaro) is also a fun diversion from the Whisperer showdown and sets the table nicely for the next seasonor, perhaps, for the six bonus Season 10 episodes. We shall see.

This is the second-to-last season finale for The Walking Dead. The next one, if you dont count the bonus episodes, will be its last, a true Series Finale. Thats probably for the best, though Ill miss it and miss writing about it, when its gonedespite the many things this show and its creators have gotten wrong (or perhaps because of themdiscussing imperfection can be just as gratifying, after all).

Father Gabriel in 'A Certain Doom'

Then again, we still have Fear The Walking Dead, which looks surprisingly good in its Season 6 trailer (deceptively good, I suspect). We have The Walking Dead: World Beyond which Ill be writing a spoiler-free review of next. And we have a Carol and Daryl spinoff which could be interesting despite that news giving both characters unrivaled plot armor going forward (along with Rick and Michonne who are both set to appear in the Rick Grimes movies).

We are a long ways off from the end of The Walking Dead and the expanded zombie universe just keeps getting bigger. Whether it will ever match its heyday remains to be seen, but Im dubious. The Walking Dead was once a cultural phenomenon. Now its just another popular TV show. Nothing lasts forever.

To answer the question posed in the headline of this review: Yes, I think it was worth the wait. But I was expecting a little morea little more doom at the very least, though I suppose weve had plenty of that already. Perhaps my expectations are the problem.

The Walking Dead Season 10 finale airs on October 4th followed by the premiere of World Beyond. Look for my recap/review of the episodes after each show here on this blog. Id also love a follow on your social media site of choice. You can find me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube. Cheers!

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The Walking Dead Season 10 Finale Review: Was A Certain Doom Worth The Wait? - Forbes

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero