Now that the initial disappointment has subsided some things just don't add up.....
Eugene: If he has planned to sabotage this thing all along, why didn't he tell Rosita/Daryll when they captured him, instead he risked getting killed
Rick: His change in character from cold blooded killer to mr lets make the world a better place in the space of 2 episodes was too quick
Jesus: From day 1, he's been reluctant to kill anyone. He's the peace bringer and all of a sudden he's in on a plan to kill Negan and possibly others.
Daryl: Within the space of a few minutes he went from sparing Dwight's life, the man who killed Denise to wanting to kill Negan.
While I'll agree with you all, it didn't live up to a "Big Finale". I still thought it was a pretty good episode.
I think the trouble is, and we've all said it before, we didn't want a cliffhanger that we were teased with In S7 (Who does Negan Kill/Negan's Introduction), so really can they win when people complain 'Oh don't leave us hanging you milking teases' or 'Oh come on, you haven't teased us enough'. Fine, have a balance but you can't moan it's too cliffhangery (new word) one minute, then moan it' not enough.
The Finale, they pretty much followed the Negan story to the letter and his impending life sentence. I have no qualms with that at all and it actually surprised me in the finale how they came to that conclusion. When Rick cut his throat they had me H, L, and S that Rick had killed Negan.
With Maggie/Jesus/Daryl, I don't think what we think (or are being made to think) will happen, is going to happen. If you listen to the lines, Maggie doesn't say that she's preparing to take Rick down, she just said 'We have a lot to do, Rick was wrong about Negan. We'll bide our time and we'll show him'. Maggie quite rightly has big beef with Negan and I'd say Daryl feels responsible for Glenn's death. So she's bound to be pissed (well she went through a range of emotion) as it was a genuine opportunity to finally kill Negan and truly end this. As well as being pregnant too. Daryl likely still wants vengeance too as he was tortured by Negan and the responsibility of Glenn too. However Norman Reedus has said pretty much straight after 'I'm not turning against Rick, so y'all chill.'
With Jesus, I think he's just going along with Maggie as some kind of negotiator. Don't' forget he was always a mediator between Hilltop and The Sanctuary, I see him going to talk to Negan when he's in his cell.
In Rick's defence, his character has always struggled with bad guy/good guy. His own battle to lead hs group in S1. His growing anger suspicions with Shane in S2. The internal battles at the prison (existing prisoners and letting new people in) and deciding not to use his gun anymore and focus on building a community. His battle with the governor but also looking to find reason or a way to live without fighting. His murderous rage in Alexandria before the Negan plot was even around. His strained friendships with Morgan and Daryl. You can't say Rick has changed in two episodes, over the course of his character he has been torn between peace and war, and how to actually achieve some kind of middle ground, whilst retaining leadership. He's always felt duty to do that but not necessarily wanted to have that role.
I think with Daryl not killing Dwight is he has some moral compass. He knows Dwight was trying to help but also Dwight was always under instruction as a Saviour to kill. That or be killed by his own boss (Negan). I think Daryl did the right thing there, that wouldn't change his opinion on wanting Negan dead. I see Daryl talking with Rick to convince him to finally kill Negan. They'll disagree for a while but they've always discussed things and they haven't always agreed. S1 when they handcuffed his brother Merle to the roof (deservedly so) but Daryl was torn obviously and certainly didn't agree with Rick. Even up to S3 they still didn't always agree.
Eugene, I probably agree with you most on. I know Rosita has this love/hate thing going on and he's stubborn af. He also has some cracking phrases that no one truly understands. I actually think Rosita digs him as those two traits are very reminiscent of Abraham's - however Eugene's ahem, 'bravery' is less to be desired. I can understand why he did it (rig the bullets, thanks to Gabriel's error) but yes he should've cried into Rosita's tits and told her. He could've gone back to the bullet factory and pretended to continue his committed coward routine. He definitely shouldn't have vommed on her. That's not how you get chicks Eugene (or is it). He deserved a good wallop around the chops and that's a guarantee she actually likes him. However sadistic that may seem.
Btw Chubbs I'm not actually singling out your comment. When I say you, I mean 'you' collectively. As it happens, you (singularly) gave the most response the individual character theory, so it made sense to comment on those and then build my rambling upon and around it.
I know I'm in the minority here but I did still think it was a good finale. I think more makes sense than not and historical character profiles do support that. There was good reference and a nod to Chandler Riggs character (I know most of us hated him in several seasons), he'd been there from S1E2 so to give that to him was pretty good. I thought. I liked how they linked up the smaller montages/vignettes from earlier episodes in the season; chiefly with Rick under the tree, which was shown during either Mercy or Honour. At that point I thought Rick had given up and then when Carl died, I was even more convinced that he was going to commit suicide or try to. In the end it was the blood of Negan on his hands. But yeah, I liked the continuity there.
I'm not totally (even if somewhat) deluded. Things I wasn't too happy about was the non conclusion of the helicopter/Jadis (Ann)/Georgie/Some new group parts. I suppose you cold say, that was one teaser I was hoping to have a few answers about. Also, while Lennie James, Morgan parts were yet again great, they didn't infer any crossover with FTWD. Not a sniff. If you hadn't seen anything about it or say you binge watch these, you'd just assume Morgan was staying at the Scrapheap. Which then leads me to, why would Jadis (Ann) go to The Hilltop/Alexandria if she was signalling or whatever for this helicopter?
With her character in mind, I may be completely wrong but there is an important character called 'A' or Alpha. 'A' the letter has been used for several seasons as a visual theme. At the prison and the prominent A for the A block. Between the prison and terminus the letter kept popping up, some walkers had A carved on their foreheads (as well as W as claims of the Wolves). In the containers at Terminus where Rick's group got held. At The sanctuary - namely Daryl and Dwight wearing that A jumper. So this could be a major foreshadowing within Robert Kirkman's mind but obviously some of that content wouldn't have been written at the earlier times. However, are we about the see the introduction/revelation of a very important character?
Finally, if you want to get a better idea of how Morgan's exit knits into his FTWD introduction watch FTWD S4P and that will give you a more insightful look at him leaving Alexandria/Hilltop etc. Not saying watch the whole episode, although I did find it quit good, but yeah just for Morgan's parts. I think he will be back in TWD in future though.
Well that's my rambles worth. Cheers if you read