In what was a deviation from the usual The Walking Dead midseason/season finale, “Start to Finish” chose to focus on melodramatic climaxes instead of a big action set piece. While the thought wasn’t a bad one, the execution left much to be desired. Some of the decisions of the few characters within Alexandria the episode focused on were questionable and the overall emotional core of the show felt hollow. If it wasn’t clear by now, “Start to Finish” was the final nail in the coffin of what was an exciting beginning to the season.
“Start to Finish” picked up where “Heads Up” left off; the steeple of the church just collapsed the outer walls and zombies began to pour into Alexandria. Glenn and Enid watch from afar -- Enid requiring another pep talk from Glenn to go to Alexandria -- as our Alexandrians scramble to find shelter. In the ensuing chaos, Deanna falls on a jigsaw and Rick helps her into Jessie’s house. Meanwhile Morgan and Carol are forced together in a different house by themselves. So these are our two main groups: Morgan and Carol and Rick, Michonne, Carl, Jessie, Ron, Sam, and Deanna. Maggie is left alone on a scaffold, Eugene, Rosita, and Tara get a couple scenes, and Glenn and Enid are only seen one more time.
After the initial scramble to safety, the episode focuses on the tension within the two safe houses. Unfortunately much of that tension feels out of place because of odd choices the characters make. At Jessie’s house, Ron is still hell bent on killing Carl for Enid running away (supposedly). Ron corners Carl in the garage to shoot him and after some teen pushing they break the door and zombies begin to flood into the garage. Carl covers for Ron for whatever reason and now the house has to worry about keeping the zombies from coming into the house.
The whole Carl and Ron subplot was poorly managed from the beginning, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that its possible conclusion was even more idiotic. It makes some sense why Ron would believe that everyone was doomed, but it makes no sense why he would still try to kill Carl if he thought he would die by zombie anyway. Ron’s docile nature after the defeat can’t last either, but at least this subplot should be over for now -- hopefully.
Even worse was Morgan and Carol. At least with Ron his teen angst could be blamed for his stupidity. Carol’s decision to run away from Morgan to find out what he was doing in that house made no sense. Here they are being overrun by zombies and Carol still needs to know what Morgan needed Dr. Denise for? Not only that but when she finds out it’s because he was holding a Wolf her decision to fight Morgan allowed for the Wolf to gain the upperhand. While we all know Carol is not afraid to get her hands dirty when necessary, she was uncharacteristically reckless. Her distrust of Morgan because he refuses to kill anyone was always somewhat unfounded and it was her violent tendency that allowed the Wolf to escape with weapons. At least Dr. Denise and the Wolf had some alone time before all this went down, which was utilized well as the audience got a glimpse into what this particular Wolf, and possibly all the Wolves, believe.
After having a diminished role this season, Deanna did get a proper send off in “Start to Finish.” Though her wound didn’t look that bad, it was revealed she had also been bitten. The rest of the episode allowed for Deanna to impart the wisdom of finding a reason to live on Michonne. It seems like Michonne has become the de facto leader of development for Alexandria with both the plans passing to her and Deanna’s blessings. The one good scare of the episode also came when Rick thought Deanna had turned to a zombie and went to feast upon baby Judith. Though nothing was better than Deanna deciding to not take her own life and instead take out as many zombies as possible as she struggled to stand at the end of the episode.
But the episode as a whole failed to resonate. Deanna’s goodbye wasn’t as emotional as you would think because the audience never really got to know her. The fights between Ron and Carl and Morgan and Carol lacked intensity because of their stupidity. Glenn and Enid and Maggie were relegated to backup duty. And Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha didn’t have a scene until the first commercial break for AMC’s other show. There was little tied up and even Rick’s seeming willingness to help out the Alexandrians still seems in question despite the holding hands at the end.
“Start to Finish” was the fizzling end to a once promising beginning to the season. Now that beginning seems eons ago and what is left is another example of The Walking Dead’s inability to maintain momentum for an entire season and an unwillingness to really try new things for the show. While the time playing structure seemed like a step towards a more interesting way to portray this story, its execution left much to be desired, especially since what was actually happening in all the storylines was fairly uninteresting. It is the show’s unwillingness to truly shake things up -- to actually allow for a time of peace and a time to grow -- that continues to hold The Walking Dead back.
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