'The Walking Dead' Season 8 Spoilers: Early Reviews for Premiere Bear Good and Bad News for Zombie Drama
As the premiere of "The Walking Dead" season 8 draws closer, reviews from early screenings paint a picture of what to expect.
Unfortunately, media outlets appear to be divided. While many of them believe that the premiere, "Mercy," allowed the show to return to its roots, there are still those who believe that the season opener has been bogged down by the same issues that plagued the zombie drama for years now.
This is Insider and Den of Geek are one in saying that "The Walking Dead" season 8 premiere marks the show's "return to its former glory," which is a good sign since many have felt like the show has lost its flair as it progressed.
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The later seasons of the show, especially season 7, featured standalone episodes that focused on one character, which many deemed unnecessary and could have been handled better.
These episodes felt like nothing but fillers dragging the story along, which is why "The Walking Dead" has earned the reputation of only being eventful in the first few episodes and in the finale with the middle installments worthy of being skipped.
However, with season 8 set to cover the all-out war between Rick's (Andrew Lincoln) group and Negan's (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) army, it allowed the series to revert to earlier seasons in which the characters were huddled together, united and working together.
Forbes, however, disagrees, explaining that "The Walking Dead" season 8 premiere is "far from a return to the glory days" and is nothing but a hot mess.
The publication says that it switches from three different timelines that obscure the present for the sole reason to "confuse audiences and create artificial tension." Add to that the tendency of the episode to have some members of the group do things out of character just to move the plot along.
With the differing opinions about the "The Walking Dead" season 8 premiere, fans are left to decide for themselves when the show returns on Sunday, Oct. 22. The synopsis reads:
Rick and his group, along with the Kingdom and Hilltop, have banded together to bring the fight to Negan and the Saviors.
Watch a sneak peek of "The Walking Dead" season 8 premiere below.