As you all know, this is a review of The Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 16 titled “Last Day on Earth” by the Thug, written for and endorsed by thugs and Grue-believers all over the world. With that being said, y’all know I’m going to spoil this like a champ. So, in the words of A Tribe Called Quest, sit back, relax and let yourself go.
Well, family, friends and thugs, the time has finally come for my review of the season six finale of The Walking Dead. We laughed, we cried, we complained; but, in the end, most of us loved the heck out of this season (all apologies to quitters…ahem…Santos and, from the looks of it, Thomas). So, without further ado, here is the thuggish ruggish review (Bones Thugs and Harmony).
The moment we’ve all waited for has come, the arrival of the baaaaaaaaaaaad man, Negan played splendidly by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Unfortunately, we only get about five minutes of him, so I will spoil that right off the bat (no pun intended, well kind of). Even though it was five minutes, it was an intense five minutes of “what is about to go down”…we will cover this later.
Morgan (Lennie James) is still on his search for Carol (Melissa McBride) and he finds himself a steady steed to accompany him. He does indeed locate Carol balled up on the steps of a building. He awakens her and gets her inside and they converse. Carol tells Morgan that he will eventually kill again when it comes to protecting someone he cares for. Carol feels she can’t go back to the crew because she does not like who she has become so holding Morgan at gun point she forces him to leave.
Meanwhile, back at Alexandria, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and the gang are saddling up the RV to get Maggie (Lauren Cohan) to the doctor at Hilltop. Rick’s leadership role he really embraced this season seems to have had its effect. So many characters have grown under the tutelage and want to go on the trip including Aaron (Ross Marquand) and Eugene (Josh McDermitt) whose character has really grown on me as of late because of comments like he says here: “I’ll be your anchorman, yes I damn will”. With that Rick, Aaron, Eugene, Carl (Chandler Riggs), Abraham (Michael Cudlitz), and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) head out to take a very sick Maggie for the road trip. Before they leave Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) who has also grown this season is left with the charge of protecting Alexandria and foremost Judith.
On this road trip our heroes are detoured several times by the saviors. The first time was a blockade of 3 vehicles and a group of armed men who have kidnapped a stray man and have beaten him. They want to deal with Rick and use the beaten man as leverage. Rick wisely backs away and the gang takes another route. This happens several times with another road being blocked by a wall of fallen timber to which Eugene quips “they got big ass toys and capabilities”. The timber gets set on fire as the saviors throw the captive over the side of the bridge and hang him. Another road was blocked by a chain gang of zombies; what set the gang off was one had a Michonne (Dannai Gurira) dred attached to it and yet another had some Daryl (Norman Reedus) arrows through it. The final road block is that of numerous vehicles and 16 men, Rick wisely decides that engaging is the wrong idea so they try to find another road.
Meanwhile, Morgan decides he cannot leave Carol behind but can’t find her where he left her so he gets back on his horse (literally and figuratively) to find her. Carol is walking along and is attacked by the lone survivor of her gun down from last week’s episode. He proceeds to put a bullet in her arm and leg so she can suffer as she dies. Carol chastises him and he decides he is going to end her. Morgan shows up like a knight on his horse with a gun pointed at the gentleman aiming to take Carol out. After pleading with the man to lower the gun, Morgan caps him, several times. See, what Carol said comes to fruition; he does love her! Just then the guys in the make shift BMX armor show up. Their characters are not quite developed yet but they do seem friendly because they want to help Morgan and Carol; Morgan tells the one that he found his horse. Apparently these guys are from the comics as well and are from a group known as The Kingdom. Like I said, I do spoil things: in the comics they team up with the remaining Alexandrians and Hilltoppers to make things happen against Negan and the saviors.
The RV gang formulates a plan, thanks to Eugene’s idea that the saviors seem to want the RV and are unaware of who is inside. Eugene offers to take the RV as a diversion and continue to drive as the rest of the gang attempts to take Maggie to Hilltop on foot. Some heartfelt conversations happen including an embrace between Eugene and his old buddy Abe.
All this was for not; because, as they are making their way through the woods, they see moving shadows and hear the familiar whistling. After a brief chase they end up in a series of spotlights, surrounded by Saviors and forced to their knees. They are joined by Eugene, Michonne, Daryl and Glenn (Steven Yuen) who gets a little chippy when he sees Maggie.
And now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for: heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere’s Negan! He and Lucille step out of the RV which they procured after beating Eugene. The next 5 minutes is Jeffrey Dean Morgan at his best. Think of him in his role as the Comedian in Watchmen without the mask, a little more subdued but with the same abrasive, violent tendencies. He speaks to the gang and lays down the law telling them one of them has to pay for all his gang members they killed. He proceeds to let them know they are now in the new world order which simply means: give me your shit or I will kill you. He then officially introduces Lucille telling them. Lucille is a bat wrapped in barbed wire and she is awesome! Negan leans in and tells Rick “it sucks, the moment you realize you don’t know shit.” He proceeds to make his choice of victim by eenie, meenie, miney, mo and then just as the Thug suspected, we get a first person viewpoint of Lucille crashing down on the victim as the screen reddens and then fades to black as we hear the last few sickening thuds of that characters last day on earth, just like the episode title.
A great ending to a great season. The episode is directed by none other than Greg Nicotero and written by the dynamic duo of Scott Gimple and Matthew Negrete. I am very interested, as I’m sure most of you are as well, as to who the bludgeoned victim is. I am officially going to go on record and say it is Abraham. Please let me know your guesses and thoughts either in the comments or on Facebook or twitter. And I sincerely want to thank all of you that take time out of your lives to read my silly musings and articles. You guys and gals truly rock and I appreciate all of you. Stay tuned to Gruesome Magazine for the other excellent material from my bros and sisters at the magazine and as I delve into Season 2 of Fear the Walking Dead and some films.
The Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 16 “Last Days on Earth” 
(4.5 / 5) on the Thug Meter
