THE WALKING DEAD Season 10
The beginning of the end
US AMC, streaming now
UK FOX/NOW, streaming now Showrunner Angela Kang
Cast Samantha Morton, Jeffrey Dean
Morgan, Norman Reedus, Danai Gurira
Peculiar. That’s the only way to describe the circumstances around The Walking Dead’s penultimate season, a run of television that started in October 2019 and has only just wrapped up some 16 months later with an unexpected six-episode coda. Yet for a show that’s definitively winding down, it’s surprising just how much life there is still left in its shambling, stumbling corpse.
The bulk of season 10 tracks the conflict with the Whisperers as Alpha (a chilling Samantha Morton) goes on the offensive and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) flirts with a return to the dark side. If the twists and turns have become predictable by now, showrunner Angela Kang has at least brought a welcome return to the compelling character drama that was missing during the Saviours arc.
The bonus episodes, however, are a mixed bag. They narrow the focus, hitting pause on the main plot and instead dwelling on small-scale character pieces.
A wise choice, perhaps, but most of them drag. Maggie (Lauren
Cohan) makes her long-awaited return, but is a dour presence even by this show’s standards. Carol (Melissa Mcbride) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) bicker and, in “Diverged”, Carol chases a rat. It’s up there with the worst episodes this franchise has ever delivered.
Happily it’s followed by one of the best. Season finale “Here’s Negan” makes good on the show’s attempts to bring some sincere depth and development to a character that has often been cartoonish. Surprisingly tender in places, it finally convinces you that he’s been worth sticking with all this time.
Will Salmon
Episode 19 features a bottle of “Duane Jones bourbon” – a nod to the star of Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead.