The Walking Dead season 8 episode 16 spoiler review: Puts the 'final' into finale

*Major The Walking Dead spoilers follow*

Another The Walking Dead season finale, another series of scenes featuring our band of heroes surrounded by the enemy facing an uncertain fate. Only there's been a change in the wind - this is a very different show to what it was two action-packed if intermittently arduous seasons ago, and it shows. 'Wrath' puts the 'final' into finale and does so rapidly, an episode serving as the pay-off to the multitudes of introductions fans have contended with. The chapter of The Saviours and Negan - as we know them, anyway - is over.

'Wrath' ties its disparate plot points together by bringing all characters together for one final showdown which we were initially led to believe will either end with either every single Saviour or Alexandrian dispatched of. After two seasons, the culmination of All Out War - an arc in which the writers' willingness to place all its cards lost the show a number of fans - had no choice but to live up to unprecedented expectation, and its thanks to decisions which saw the addition of characters not present in the comics (Jadis) or key deviations (Carl's death) that the finale was infused with an air of unpredictability.

The showdown, as a consequence, remained a breathtaking television viewing experience. As Negan gained the upper-hand on Rick and company, the leather-jacket-clad megaphone-clutching villain is on the cusp of giving an order that'll see every character executed on the spot - signalled by a gunshot to Father Gabriel's head. One, two, ten - as they pull the triggers, viewers realised Eugene's evolution into villainy hit a snag somewhere along the way: he's been making dud bullets. In an expertly-directed scene, the weapons backfire leaving scores of Negan's army dead, not to mention shredding half his hand. If you weren't on your feet cheering for joy, you clearly wanted to be.

The war's climactic scene between Rick and Negan began how the majority of them end - with Rick's gun conveniently running out of bullets at the very last moment to keep the war alive. Fans were treated to the swansong - this being the finale and all - with a twist seeing Negan give Rick 10 seconds to describe Carl's views of a better life beyond blood-spill. Negan's villainy erodes away with each word, tears rolling down his cheeks - the deranged killer becoming a human in front of Rick's eyes who responds by slashing him in the throat with a shard of glass. It's a shock heightened even further by his ordering of medic Siddiq to patch him up, played to stellar degrees by Andrew Lincoln and Jeffrey Dean Morgan who have kept the season afloat with ease.

Maggie, a character who has been a beacon of poise all season long, is distraught by Rick's decision, Lauren Cohan finally being handed some material to sink her teeth into. She believes the entire venture has been futile if Negan doesn't die, a notion exemplified in a later scene which sees Rick's former allies including Jesus and Daryl, agreeing to go against their leader to kill Negan. While a tantalising turn of events, it smacks of tacked-on season 9 setup.

Rick may have won All Out War, but it's implausibility which reigns supreme. We're led to believe Negan was the only one keeping every single member of The Saviours from championing Rick, including Laura who was last week chomping at the bit to turn in the traitorous Dwight. Everyone's now friends, and it seems like Carl's vision of a future could become realise.

'Wrath' was a well-plotted cleanup job. It'll be interesting to see how Negan can assimilate into a Walking Dead world where he's not sneering on the other side of the Alexandria fence, Lucille slung over his shoulder, murder on his mind. With any luck, the wisecracks. will remain as Rick and Michonne's prisoner.

It smacks as a modestly twee conclusion yet is a testament to these characters that the overarching feeling fans feel is sincerely happy that they'll live to fight another day.

The Walking Dead season 8 finale airs tomorrow evening on FOX and will be available to stream on NOW TV. It will return to AMC for season 9 later this year.

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