'The Walking Dead' Recap: 'Wrath'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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It is darkness that drives the horror genre and it is in fact a necessity since stories from said genre are meant to terrify and unsettle us, and if there is one horror series that has done a phenomenal job of embracing the darkness and rattling its audience, it’s The Walking Dead. Because over the course of its eight-year run, we’ve been privy to some powerfully scary and disturbing moments, the kind that people talk about for days on end and season after season, the story has grown progressively darker and bleaker, and for proof of that, look no further than the past two seasons on the show. 
 
Because the arrival of Negan and the Saviors brought forth some painful moments for the audience, and it seemed as though the darkness would only get worse as this conflict continued to escalate, to the point where I am of the belief that a fair majority of the fans were dreading the season eight finale, ‘Wrath’. After all, since Carl’s passing, it appears that no one is safe on this show and a final showdown between these two groups would likely mean wholesale slaughter on both sides, resulting in more heartbreak for the audience as more fan favorites lost their lives during a final push for peace.
 
As it turns out however, the season eight finale of this series…was actually filled to the brim with unexpected surprises. Because this particular episode actually bucked the norm when it comes to horror by setting up something incredibly new and exciting and hopeful for the future of this series. But, before I get ahead of myself, let’s take a moment and discuss the fact that at first, the show really did do a fine job of making it seem as though an ugly hour of television awaited us, since the march to war had quite the ominous feel to it, especially when one considers that Negan managed to put together trap after trap for Rick and his friends.
 
That tension culminated in one hell of a unsettling moment, where it truly seemed that blood was going to be shed in devastating fashion and that’s when the first real surprise of the night arrived, when every single weapon that the Saviors were toting, malfunctioned due to some bad bullets thanks to Eugene, who enjoyed redemption at last for this noble act and because of that unexpected failure, the Allies were able to quickly gain the upper hand, to the point where most of the Saviors surrendered rather than take a bullet, and with so many of them standing down, effectively ending the war, there was only one final critical matter to deal with…Negan.  

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​It was of course, up to Rick to finally handle Negan and after one hell of a showdown between the two of them, wherein Rick once again used positive notions to gain the upper hand, the true surprise of the night came about. Because hearing Negan say to Rick that Carl didn’t know a thing and realizing that he had just invoked his son’s peaceful mantra in order to vanquish an enemy…something snapped inside of Rick, and he saved Negan’s life, much to the chagrin of Maggie Rhee, and he declared this awful mess over, and gave everyone a chance to begin again, reminding everyone that Negan’s way, came about from a world that no longer existed and that the only way forward was to forgive one another and work together from here on out. 
 
If anything, it was a stunning twist to see, and in many ways…this is a shaking up of the horror genre through and through. Because for the first time ever on the series, there is a sense of hope, a sense of purpose and the distinct possibility that at long last, these people can move forward and build a better world, the kind that Carl envisioned where people are good to one another and work to protect each other from the walking dead that roam the countryside and well…I think it’s a brilliant direction for the series to move toward since the characters and the audience have suffered for long enough and I honestly cannot think of a zombie story out there that’s ever remotely tried to show us a rebuilding of civilization in positive fashion.
 
Of course, there will be challenges in making that happen, since there are others in Rick’s inner circle that don’t quite believe in this new mantra of live and let live just yet, because Maggie and Daryl clearly have a long con in mind to get their revenge upon Negan when the time is right, and well…that’s truly unfortunate to say the least. Because whether they want to acknowledge it or not, Carl was in fact right. It can’t be a world filled to the brim with hate and fury anymore. It’s about the future and justice has indeed been served since Negan will spend the rest of his life in the cell that Morgan built in Alexandria and hopefully, they will eventually come around to Rick’s line of thinking when all is said and done.
 
But in the here and the now, I have to admit that I was quite impressed with this episode because in reality, it ended happy, and that’s just such a rarity for the horror genre and this series for that matter, and if anything, this shift in storytelling toward something positive has me extremely excited to see what the future holds for The Walking Dead, because at this point, the possibilities storytelling wise are endless. Either way, the war is over. Welcome to ‘The New World’, and all the wonder that comes with it. Until next time.

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