You're not in the minority. People need to vent is all. It was a well done scene. I think everybody who watched the finale, no matter how cheated and upset they feel, will tune back in, or keep an eye on spoilers at the very least. But given the number of people who claim "I'm done" but continue to discuss the show like they ain't nowhere near done, the writers did their jobs and told an effective story. You're supposed to be upset.
I think it was the wrong move to cliffhanger this scene, not because it has ticked off so many fans, but because it's going to be a nightmare to keep it a secret. I don't think they will be able to keep it a secret until the October. I'm not sure, from a production standpoint, why on earth they'd even want to try.
I think you're supposed to be upset, but not for the reasons people ARE upset. You're supposed to be worried about the characters, questioning which one will die (because one obviously will), etc., but you aren't supposed to be saying "WTF?!?!?! What BS is this?!?! This sucks!!!"
The problem isn't the cliffhanger itself, but rather the fact that it's a cliffhanger in a show that has already used way too many narrative gimmicks and failed to pay them off effectively, especially within this season. The fake-out with Glenn's "death" was
extremely poorly handled, and people's tolerance for gimmickry at this point is all but spent. Go ahead and kill a main character in a season finale. Lots of shows do that. But do it in a way that isn't a massive...uh....rooster-tease. Do it in a way that has narrative integrity and that serves the
story rather than for the
meta-story purpose of manipulating the audience. I think, ultimately, that one thing people are fed up with about this show is the tendency to hit certain story beats for what appear to be meta-story reasons.
Too often, the writers have the characters behave in particular ways during the show that sort of force the story in a given direction, but which seem at odds with their characterization in previous episodes. Carol suddenly becoming a pacifist, Rick's group alternating between ninjas and morons as the situation dictates, etc. A lot of it doesn't seem true to the story or the characters.
Basically, the audience is now hip to the fact that the writers are consciously manipulating them, and they don't like it. It's not surprising, really. Couple that with dragging out storylines from the comics for no good reason while simultaneously sacrificing the integrity of the narrative, and it makes perfect sense why people would be sick of this. My theory is that the writers are at a point where they're consciously trying to drag out stories from the comic so as to avoid (A) catching the comic the way Game of Thrones caught up to (and surpassed) the books, and (B) because it guarantees more seasons which means more $$$. The problem is that the writers themselves aren't good enough to actually manage making the added stuff work well, and instead resort to gimmicks and audience manipulation.
And I can't speak for anyone else, but...yah, I think I'm basically done with the show. Certainly, I'm only gonna catch it on, like, Netflix if I get bored months after each season has been released. I'm done with live versions or next-day On Demand viewing, mostly because the show just seems like too few really good moments to justify all the meandering bull**** and cheap manipulation the writers love to jam into each season.
Especially after all they've encountered and the people they've lost from walkers popping out of nowhere and biting an arm or a leg or getting overwhelmed and getting bitten in the neck. How many of the situations that Rick & gang have gotten into and had somebody bitten could have been prevented if they bothered to armor themselves up? The closest we see to that is the time where Glen wore the riot gear but most of that didn't protect the most vulnerable areas most likely to get bitten like the arms and legs.
Yup. The lack of armor at this point just...doesn't make sense. Tough leather, kevlar, duct tape, homemade shields, etc., do something. And have a ******* sense of situational awareness. I get that you can get bitten on the ankle by some hidden zombie, but the number of times people get ganked from behind is just...well, it's getting a bit unbelievable at this point.
As for why people keep posting to this and talking about the show, I'd say that's a testament to what the show does well when it bothers to do things well, and to the underlying draw of the concept itself, rather than to how good the show is on a regular basis. Moments of brilliance, no question, but those moments come farther and further between the longer the show drags on.
