"Start to Finish" is the eighth episode and mid-season finale of the
sixth season of the
post-apocalyptic
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...
horror television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
''
The Walking Dead'', which aired on
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
on November 29, 2015. The episode was written by Matthew Negrete and directed by Michael E. Satrazemis.
The episode focuses on the survivors fleeing and finding shelter from the gargantuan swarm of walkers that have invaded the Alexandria Safe-Zone.
Plot
The church tower smashes three panels of the wall, and everyone scrambles for whatever shelter they can find as hundreds of walkers pour inside Alexandria.
Maggie
Maggie is a common short form of the name Magdalena, Magnolia, Margaret.
Maggie may refer to:
People
Women
* Maggie Adamson, Scottish musician
* Maggie Aderin-Pocock (born 1968), British scientist
* Maggie Alderson (born 1959), Aust ...
is forced up the ladder to a lookout post and lies back on the platform, trapped but out of sight from the walkers that surround the lookout post.
Eugene finds a walkie-talkie on the ground but only mutter "help" before being rescued by
Tara and
Rosita and taking shelter in a garage. The group of
Rick
Rick may refer to:
People
*Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name
*Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality
*Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...
,
Carl Carl may refer to:
*Carl, Georgia, city in USA
*Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
* Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name
*Carl², a TV series
* "Carl", an episode of te ...
, Judith,
Michonne
Michonne ( ), later revealed as Michonne Hawthorne, is a Character (arts), fictional character from ''The Walking Dead (comic book), The Walking Dead''. The character also appears in media adaptations of the series, most notably the The Walking ...
,
Gabriel
In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር ...
,
Deanna Deanna or DeAnna is a feminine given name.
People with the given name
* DeAnna Bennett (born 1984), American mixed martial artist
* Deanna Bogart (born 1959), American blues singer, pianist, and saxophone player
* Deanna Brooks (born 1974), Americ ...
, and her own sons Ron and Sam take shelter in the home of
Jessie. Outside the wall,
Glenn convinces
Enid to enter Alexandria and help the others. They later climb the wall opposite the breach and spot Maggie trapped atop a lookout post.
At Jessie's house, Deanna has been discovered to be bitten. Later, Carl checks on a distressed Ron who blames Rick for what's happening and lashes out at Carl, breaking a garage window and drawing the attention of walkers. Rick breaks down the interior garage door to get the boys out as the walkers enter; Carl covers for Ron while confiscating his handgun.
Meanwhile,
Carol has taken shelter with
Morgan in his house. She feigns a concussion in order to have Morgan drop his guard, and she attacks him and breaks into the basement. Denise has been locked down there treating the captured Wolf. Carol bursts in and threatens the Wolf with a knife, but Morgan interposes himself between them. They fight and Morgan defeats her but he is then blindsided by the Wolf.
Eugene picks the interior door lock of a garage to gain entry to the attached home. He, Tara, and Rosita end up walking in on the Wolf who holds Carol's knife to Denise's throat, taking her hostage. They surrender their weapons to him, and the Wolf escapes with Denise.
The damage Ron had caused in the garage allows the walkers to break through into Jessie's house, forcing everyone to retreat to the second floor. Knowing they will soon be overrun, Rick decides to make a desperate attempt at escape: he kills and guts two walkers, hoping they can camouflage themselves with their insides and pass through the herd. They slowly make it to the porch while Deanna, left behind, kills several walkers before letting them kill her. Holding hands to stay together, the group enters the walker-infested street quiet but for a frightened Sam who repeatedly calls out for his mother.
In a post-credits scene,
Daryl
Darryl is an English name, a variant spelling of Darell.
Male variations of this name include: Darlin, Daryl, Darrell, Darryl, Daryll, Darryll, Darrell, Darrel.
Female and unisex variations of this name include: Daryl, Darian, Dareen, Darell ...
,
Abraham
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...
and
Sasha are still headed back to Alexandria, but are stopped by a group of bikers blocking the road. One of the bikers tells them to give up all their supplies and their truck, to which, Daryl asks, "Why should we?". The biker then claims, "Your property, now belongs to Negan".
Reception
Critical reception
"Start to Finish" received poor reviews from critics. The episode received a 36% rating with an average score of 6.23 out of 10 on the review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
. The critics' consensus reads: ""Start to Finish" fails to live up to ''The Walking Dead''s potential with a midseason finale that is both dull and frustrating."
According to
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, "Start to Finish" was the worst reviewed episode of the series until it was surpassed by the
eight season episode "
The King, the Widow, and Rick
"The King, the Widow, and Rick" is the sixth episode of the eighth season of the post-apocalyptic horror television series '' The Walking Dead'', which aired on AMC on November 26, 2017. The episode was written by Angela Kang and Corey Reed, and ...
".
Matt Fowler of
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
gave it a 7.3 out of 10 and wrote in his verdict: ""Start to Finish" gets points for keeping Alexandria around and in the mix, but loses a bunch for dropping us right as things started to get exciting. Especially since the rest of the episode was filled with conflicts we hoped we wouldn't have to see in the midst of a giant walker invasion (Carl/Ron, Carol/Morgan)."
Zack Handlen of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' gave it a C+ grade and wrote, "a bunch of cliffhangers sounds like a smart way to close things out for the year, but none of this is promising us the sight of anything new." He also wrote "the only scene tonight that sets up a new storyline happened after the credits—happened, in fact, ten minutes after “Start To Finish” (sic) had actually ended. But judging this hour on its own terms, it’s full of clumsy, stupid people doing clumsy, stupid things."
Ratings
The episode received 13.98 million viewers, an increase from the previous episode, which had 13.22 million viewers overall.
References
External links
"Start to Finishat
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
*
{{The Walking Dead episodes
2015 American television episodes
The Walking Dead (season 6) episodes