The following contains spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 11, Episode 21, "Outpost 22," which debuted Sunday, Oct. 30 on AMC.
When AMC announced that The Walking Dead would be wrapping up with Season 11, fans were obviously disappointed. The series had been a television staple for over a decade, so the news was difficult. However, there was also excitement. With eleven seasons worth of drama and zombies, a series finale would have to be big -- really big. A finale would also have to lead into the multiple TWD spinoffs so viewers could look toward the future.
Unfortunately, that excitement has waned. While a lot of Season 11 has been good, the final episodes have been subpar. There's a lot of story potential -- especially with the variant walkers -- but the episodes haven't made the most of it. The writers even killed off the wrong villain. As if that's not enough, the final episodes have also highlighted TWD's biggest mistake in series history.
The Theme of TWD's Final Episodes Is Family
The major problem with TWD's final episodes has been the pacing. The back end of Season 11 has almost adopted an anthology-style format. That has left certain characters and plotlines dormant for multiple episodes at a time. In this and other ways, TWD is starting to resemble Fear the Walking Dead -- and that's not a compliment.
Season 11 has at least had a consistent message: the TWD survivors operate best as a family -- like when Daryl and Carol team up. "Outpost 22" was a bit of a set-up episode, but it did have a great scene between Maggie and Carol. Maggie was thinking back on when the Commonwealth soldiers had taken Herschel from her, and Carol told Maggie that she couldn't blame herself because she was only one person. Carol added that they would find Herschel and the others because the survivors could do anything when they worked together.
Pamela Milton saw how separating the survivors' group was a crucial step in defeating them. That alone proves that protecting their family is what keeps them going. Judith Grimes' narrations are further evidence that they need one another. However, the whole "better as a family" theme isn't a new idea. It was established several seasons earlier.
Killing Carl Grimes Was TWD's Biggest Mistake
When The Walking Dead started, Carl Grimes was just a kid -- but he quickly developed into a strong character. He had his own trials and struggles, yet there were times when he was telling his father Rick what the group needed to be doing. That was particularly evident when Carl wanted Alexandria, the Kingdom and Oceanside to unite. He knew that the communities were stronger together and that they needed to start trusting each other.
Fans assumed that Carl would always be around since he was a mainstay in the comics. When the character was killed off halfway through Season 8, everyone was appalled. Carl's death and the overbearing Savior arc caused a lot of fans to give up on the series. Seeing The Walking Dead's final episodes recycle the dream Carl pursued seasons ago has been off-putting, even if Judith is a big part of Season 11's messaging. If Carl hadn't been killed off, he could have played a major part in this final story. As it is, the show is just repeating what he already said -- proving that he never should have died.
New episodes of The Walking Dead air Sundays at 9:00 p.m. on AMC and stream a week early on AMC+.