For a long time, I didn’t know if I would ever watch The Walking Dead. I figured that I had missed that train, and it was one of those hit TV shows that I would never see and become a fan of. Well, now I’ve seen 5 seasons of this show. I gave it a fair shake, but I can’t say that I’m a fan. I think the season 5 finale is a good place to stop.

From what I’ve read, people seem to agree that season 6 is the point of no return, in which the show began to rapidly decline. I’ve pretty much been spoiled on seasons 6 through 8, and I’ll be honest, when I reached the end of season 5, I knew that there wasn’t a lot to look forward to. However, there was quite a bit about the first 5 seasons that wasn’t so great either, in my opinion. So I’ve dropped The Walking Dead, and I want to discuss a couple of the biggest issues that led me to this decision.

There are way too many characters, which wouldn’t be the worst thing ever, except the writers don’t know what to do with so many of these characters. The majority of them don’t get substantial development, whether they’re in for the long haul or not. Some characters who have been in the show from the very beginning get development, but not much depth to them, no sense of their history, who they were before the outbreak, and no effect that has on them in a zombie apocalypse. Then, the development they do get isn’t that good. Other characters who are just barely introduced get a flashback or two to neatly explain their reasons for being there, which is only to serve the plot. They hardly get any development other than those reasons why they need to join Rick’s group.

And lest we forget: there are the deaths of these characters. There are those who are killed off right as they’re starting to get interesting and show potential, and there are those who stick around and are kept alive with nothing to show for it. Also, there’s the manner in which these characters die (Beth… why would you do that? Wait, Tyreese just died too??). It’s the stupid decisions that led to these deaths that really bother me, not even the violence that caused them.

Most of the characters are likable and relatable for their personalities, yet in some cases, that’s all they have going for them. Otherwise, they’re inconsistent, poorly-written, and unrealistic. After 5 seasons, I had maybe 3 or 4 characters that I actually cared about and became invested in, only for them to go nowhere.

The pacing kills me with how much it fluctuates from good to bad, fast to slow, purposeful to superfluous. I think that the amount of episodes per season is mostly to blame here. When the show jumps from 6 episodes to 12 and then chooses to go with 16, it’s simply too many. The writers have to come up with distractions, filler, and fluff to fill in the runtime of each episode. Many storylines and character developments lose focus because the episodes aren’t as tight as they could be.

Plus, the timing of certain things makes the pacing fly all over the place, and this is mainly due to new locations, villains, and ideas being dragged into the next season when they should’ve been cut off before that. The opposite of that happens, too, with things that are cut short when they should’ve stretched for a much longer time in order for the audience to learn more about them. I’d like to provide several examples of this:

• In season 1, when Rick’s group arrives at the CDC, the doctor there, Jenner, whispers something into Rick’s ear. This isn’t addressed until 13 episodes later at the end of season 2 when Rick tells the group that they’re all infected and will become zombies when they die. This is never mentioned again for the next 3 seasons.
• Morgan is a character that’s introduced in episode 1 of season 1. He doesn’t come back until episode 12 of season 3, and then he doesn’t return again until episode 16 of season 5.
• Merle is introduced in episode 2 of season 1. He saws off his own hand and disappears in episode 3. He shows up again in episode 3 of season 3, only to die before the season even ends, in episode 15.
• The search for Sophia in season 2 lasts 7 episodes, almost half of the season.
• The Governor comes in during episode 3 of season 3. He actually has a pretty good stint and flees by the end of the season. However, he’s back by episode 5 of season 4, and after two meaningless flashback episodes, he’s killed in episode 8.
• Terminus is a place that’s teased in episode 11 of season 4. No one even reaches it until episode 15. We learn that cannibals live there in episode 1 of season 5, but by episode 3, the cannibals are all dead, and Terminus is entirely forgotten right after.
• Beth is captured by a mysterious enemy in episode 13 of season 4. She isn’t back until episode 4 of season 5, and after a couple more episodes of her not doing much, she’s killed in episode 8, just as the group was about to save her. SO CLOSE, BETH.

I enjoy some aspects of The Walking Dead, and I get why millions of people enjoy it so much. Yet with every element I like, there are multiple things about it that I hate as well, and there’s really no recovering from that. Oh well. I gave this show a chance, and I’m glad that I did. That doesn’t mean that I have to finish it… whenever it’s going to end!