Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Walking Dead: The Complete Eighth Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 5, 2018

The worst has been outpacing the best lately.

The Walking Dead's eighth season is in some ways true to form and in some ways fairly unique. The season holds firm to the concept that the living are more dangerous than the dead and that the focus remains on what the apocalypse has made of man, bringing his darkest, most primal instincts to the surface. But in this season there's a shift in the tide: there's a concerted effort, in some circles and through some characters, to find a way out of it, not to put an end to the zombie uprising but to put an end to the endless cycle of violence amongst various factions of the living. Throughout the show's run, survival has evolved from escaping and evading the dead to battling the worst of the living head-on. And even those with the best of intentions have slowly, but surely, devolved away from fighting a necessary battle to seeking out blood and retribution against evildoers. And their motivations are not always true, either. Violence born of vengeance, hatred, and fear has become the new normal for even characters like Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) who, in this season, faces his most difficult personal test and must choose whether or not to adhere to wise words and seek a peaceful solution to the circle of violence that is plaguing his ever-thinning group or confront it head-on and risk everything he hasn't already lost, including his own soul. Of course his course of action is also largely determined by Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), the intimidating leader of a band of violent survivors who is himself hellbent on seeing Rick and his group fall to his might and wrath.

As season eight begins, Rick's group, its numbers dwindling, is putting up a fight against Negan's "Saviors," a collection of individuals under his rule, some of whom believe in his fork-tongued rhetoric and sadistic intimidation and some who do not. But all fear him. Rick's plan, which sees his groups scattered and aligned with several outside sources, including residents of the Hilltop, led by the squirmy Gregory (Xander Berkeley), and Ezekiel's (Khary Payton ) Kingdom, is put into motion and partially a success, but the relentlessly violent and cunning Saviors do not go down without a counter punch. Meanwhile, Rick's son Carl (Chandler Riggs) risks everything to save a random survivor named Siddiq (Avi Nash) and bring him under whatever semblance of a protective umbrella Rick's group can offer.

While season eight explores several ideas of merit, it struggles to find pacing and purpose in its actions, ideas, and sacrifices, to maintain the grit and realism and thematic excellence of seasons past. The season begins slowly, even if it’s largely wall to wall gunfire. The narrative is scattered, with various groups in various places performing various tasks. The geography never really gels, and the show has become such a morass of characters and actions that many of them, and much of it, fail to resonate. The show has become so littered with, and almost reliant on, secondary and tertiary characters on all sides that it’s a little hard to keep up beyond faces, and even then various individuals pop in almost out of nowhere to grab a momentary or even episode or season-long spotlight without much of a foundation for the audience to stand on.

The roster is so random because the show has not only introduced so many different bands of survivors but has killed off so many characters, and continues to do so. Not only have the mounting losses eaten away at the show's base and thinned the connective tissue between show and audience, but losing them has also all but cost The Walking Dead the emotional resonance from past seasons when deaths psychologically ripped open the audience and left scars that, in some cases, still have not healed. At this point, the show appears to be killing off characters only to elicit a response rather than to carry dramatic weight. It may reflect the reality of the world, but it's slowly and surely begun to hinder the show's dramatic arcs, its pacing, and its power.

But this season's highlight death does attempt to solidify the season's primary clash, which is not necessarily between Rick and Negan but between the reality of blood and vengeance and the dream of kindness and togetherness. There's a juxtaposing duality in play throughout the season, with various characters seeing nothing but red and some dreaming of the possibilities of a brighter tomorrow, free of fear and the constant battles with the increasingly scant number of people still living in the world. Carl leads the charge on the side of the dreamers. He breaks from his father's wishes by seeking out a random young man, more or less his age, in hopes of saving him from a life of scavenging and solitary survival, not taking pity on him but trying to rekindle that increasingly dim light of humanity. His father finds himself on the other side, concerned only for the people under his charge and bloodthirsty in the battle against Negan. Several other characters find themselves fighting with an increasingly grim and bloodthirsty drive, including Morgan (Lennie James), who remains the show's most interesting and well-defined character, and Henry (Macsen Lintz), a prepubescent boy with an insatiable bloodlust of his own.

Away from the central story lines and themes, season eight proves rather interesting in the depicted evolution of the living's dealings with the dead. While zombies remain ever dangerous, they've become almost a necessary tool. They have always been thematic tools, driving the true plot about the downfall of man from the inside out rather than the outside in, but this season they are very much physical tools that are manipulated, bended to man’s will. They are used to keep people in a place or to keep people out. They are herded to a certain location for timely attacks enemies both in large and small numbers alike. They are certainly dangers -- and they prove as much this season -- but the more compelling component of their existence comes in what man can do to them rather than what they can do to man.

The Walking Dead: The Complete Eighth Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A mildly desaturated palette, lightly soft but revealing and complex details, and nicely textured grain: essentially, season eight's image is right in line with The Walking Dead's previous seasons on Blu-ray. Season eight holds firm to the show's familiar and complimentary visual structure from the outset. The image reveals world decay quite nicely, and by season eight, it's a bit more significant than before. Cars are more rusted out, overgrowth is much more obvious, zombies are more decayed and grotesque. Essential textures are really great. Close-ups reveal fine little examples of wear, fabric, and the like on nearly every article of clothing. Facial textures impress and gore is gooey and visually complex. Grain density can increase in spurts, such as a shootout around the 37 minute mark of episode nine, but is generally very even and texturally agreeable. Colors lack significant punch but essentials like natural greens and red blood produce enough saturation and stability to carry the show's needs. Skin tones appear accurate and good, dense black levels are the norm, even in challenging scenes such as inside a low light trailer for parts of episode five. Episode eight takes place primarily in very deep low light nighttime exteriors where crush is borderline but there's never any push to a lighter, grayer shade of black. No significant source or encode flaws are readily apparent. This is another winner of a Walking Dead season on Blu-ray.

The Walking Dead: The Complete Eighth Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Walking Dead: The Complete Eighth Season's Dolby TrueHD 7.1 lossless soundtrack presents most every element with impressive balance. Exterior ambience is a constant. Light insect din, moaning zombies near or far: the world springs to life with even the minor details that give life to a dead world. Gunfights deliver some quality surround detailing. Shots explode from the rears with regularity, and the addition of the extra two center-back channels over the traditional 5.1 setup allows for a much more expansive and properly placed barrage with discrete elements popping in through every speaker. Gunfire occasionally, and particularly early on, it seems, lacks the sort of ear-shattering intensity that would accompany such a symphony of shots in real life, but the net effect isn't bad, even if it's a little light. Later through the season there's more depth and low end intensity to be heard, a welcome explosion exemplified in a few places, notably a firefight heard at the beginning of the season's 13th episode. Music is expansive, wide, and stage enveloping. Surrounds are not fully engaged with every beat, but the positive qualities at the most intense examples of score and the lightest notes of support are handled with care and clarity. Episode four sees perhaps the most immersive surround use while also featuring occaisonally scratchy (but seemingly by design) elements. Dialogue is well prioritized and firmly planted in the center, though a few exchanges extend to the edges, such as some chatter in episode 12.

The Walking Dead: The Complete Eighth Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Walking Dead: The Complete Eighth Season contains two audio commentaries on disc one, another on disc five, and three featurettes on that fifth disc. No DVD or digital versions are included (a Wal-Mart exclusive ships with a VUDU digital copy). The supplements spoil the season's most important moment.

Disc One:

• Audio Commentaries: For "Monsters:" Executive Producer Scott Gimple and Writer Matt Negrete. For "Some Guy:" Executive Producer Scott Gimple and Director Dan Liu.

Disc Five:

• Audio Commentary: For "Wrath:" Executive Producer Scott Gimple and Writer Angela Kang.
• Carl Grimes: Leaving a Legacy (1080p, 8:47): A look at the character's role in the series and in this season.
• In Memoriam (1080p, 9:57): A look back at the key characters who lost their lives throughout the season and how the actors and characters responded to their losses.
• The Price of War (1080p, 10:34): An exploration of the season's story and themes.

The Walking Dead: The Complete Eighth Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Season eight suffers from, amongst other things, a relative lack of Negan's unrelenting ferocity and eerie magnetism that carried season seven to commendable heights. The plot is too scattered and character side stories are too widespread and the roster is too large. It's too long and struggles to build or maintain an interest in the world that propels the action, even as there's a concerted effort by a few characters to find the light in the darkness that has defined the show for seven previous seasons. The season's midpoint reveal and key character death are shocking but ultimately add little dramatic weight to the program, even if the way the death was handled was apparently meant to energize the season's key theme of the clash between bloodlust and the dream of a better future. Though it ends rather well with the best of episode of the season to wrap it up, this is easily the most disappointing season so far. The show has a long track record of excellence that will hopefully be rekindled in season nine. The Walking Dead: The Complete Eighth Season's Blu-ray is a bit short on extras, but video and audio qualities are, as always, excellent. Recommended, and collectors should be aware that the season can be purchased in collectible SteelBook packaging, available exclusively at Target.