The Walking Dead: The Complete Tenth Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

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

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 27, 2021

It’s common practice – or at least it should be common practice -- this deep into a television show’s run to reference past season Blu-ray releases in order to facilitate anyone’s journey to “catch up” and explore the show’s world as it was and why it’s at the place depicted in the current season. There may be no other show on television for which that exercise may be more necessary. Why? The Walking Dead is almost entirely indistinguishable from season one to now in season ten. Characters who have lasted the duration include Carol, Daryl, and…that seems to be just about it if memory is serving. While the show, and even season ten, can be enjoyed in the moment, exploring the world and soaking in the ambience and action and horrors, it’s best enjoyed with a deeply rooted understanding of who has come from where and why they’re important to the show today. That said, even for series veterans it can be a little disorienting to dig through the character sprawl and sort out various allegiances, pasts, presents, connections, and so on and so forth, especially if viewers (like this reviewer) are on the one-per-year plan, watching the show with a sizeable gap in between seasons. But it’s going to be a fun ride when it’s finally all said and done (supposedly) after season eleven to marathon the series over a couple of months and see the progression, and the steady hold to essential themes and ideas, play out as one large, unified story, even as there’s been so much turnover through the years. Audiences who are not up on 'TWD' essential story developments should not read the rest of the show review; skip to video, audio, and supplements! So, without further ado, catch up by clicking on the links below:

• Season One
• Season Two
• Season Three
• Season Four
• Season Five
• Season Six
• Season Seven
• Season Eight
• Season Nine

Official synopsis: Winter has turned to spring, and the collected communities are grudgingly respecting the new borders imposed upon them by the ever-brutal Alpha. But our group of survivors is prepared for battle, having organized themselves into a militia-style fighting force, though they're keenly aware that the Whisperers -- and the horde of dead they mingle with -- pose a threat unlike any they've ever faced. Paranoia, propaganda, secret agendas, infighting -- all of these will test the group, individually and collectively, with the survival of civilization in a world filled with the walking dead hanging in the balance.

Season ten is the first full season without series stalwart and lead character Rick Grimes heading the cast and propelling the action forward. At this stage of the game, it would be like late seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation without Captain Picard. One near analogy that exists might be Breaking Bad without Walter White, which was the basis for that series' spin-off movie. Does a show need its lead? Most would argue yes, but The Walking Dead has never been afraid to kill off characters (though Rick's fate remains unsealed), rotate focal points, and push boundaries by pushing key characters aside and inserting new ones in their place. In a way, it feels freeing for others to take the lead, and it feels authentic to the world. If through ten seasons there had been precious few main cast casualties -- if most every fatality was a nameless proverbial "red shirt" -- it wouldn't feel right, it wouldn't seem real. The show's brazen willingness to ditch the rule book -- in this way and in others as well -- has always been its greatest strength, and that's true here. Season ten is not a lesser season for Rick's absence. In fact, it might be said to be one of the stronger of the past few years. In a way it's the ultimate Walking Dead thing to do and, considering the sort of evolutionary approach the show has taken and the evolving identity it's formed over the years, the show actually thrives in its large picture state in his absence.

Even in the vast roster turnover through the years, with new faces filling the screen and with the roster in a near state of constant flux, The Walking Dead cast still exudes a sense of family and togetherness which is obvious on the screen and in the stories (though certainly the show is not without internal conflict and strife…in many ways that is, and always has been, the propelling force behind it, with the zombies merely facilitating the human equation exploration). The series has evolved to where it’s not so much individual characters who matter most but rather how and why they impact the world around them individually at times and collectively at others. It could even be said that it’s the all-encompassing humanity, the collective identity rather than the individual identity, that is the main character. Credit some remarkable writing, in many ways, for achieving, managing, and expanding this concept and to keep the viewer engaged, the characters rooted in the world, and to watch them -- individually, yes, but collectively and more interestingly as the whole -- evolve with one another and adapt. There’s an unmistakable connection with the audience, too; the viewer feels like a part of the world, fully saturated in its ups and downs, successes and failures, hopes and fears. With Rick out of the picture, this is more vital than ever and Showrunner Angela Kang and the writing staff have absolutely hit that stride for this season.

Season ten more specifically has its own character losses and departures. Best to leave those out of the review for the sake of keeping things as spoiler free as possible, but the season is, in that regard, very much in-line with those which have come before it. The new characters are interesting and well defined, returning characters grow (and one fan favorite who has been absent for a while makes a return), the action is tight, world evolution makes sense, and the zombie gore and violence are as gruesome as ever. The show still feels fresh this far into its run, a remarkable achievement after ten most excellent-to-very good seasons. Bring on season eleven!

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

Lionsgate brings The Walking Dead's tenth season to Blu-ray across six discs with a steady and reliable 1080p transfer. There's a mild softness inherent to the source but even still this a very nice-looking image, one which is right in line with franchise history on Blu-ray. It holds steady to a very flattering filmic appearance and its natural detail level shines through with well-defined essentials, including faces and clothes but perhaps even more notably throughout the season environments – natural and manmade – and of course all of the zombie gore, some of which is practical, some of which is CGI, but it's so well done (and looks so good on Blu-ray) that it's hard to spot the "seams," so to speak. Colors are fine, too, a hair drab and flat and faded looking by design, leaving blacks a little thin and skin a little pale, but natural greens are adequately bold and blood sufficiently deep. There is very little in the way of source flaws or encode errors. This is a very nice, a very well-rounded Blu-ray presentation from Lionsgate.

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

The Walking Dead: The Complete Tenth Season bites onto Blu-ray with a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 lossless soundtrack. The presentation is well balanced. Whether inrense action or gentle ambience, it's well versed in audio delivery. Listeners will enjoy terrific rural atmosphere, including rustling leaves, chirping birds, buzzing insects, all of which are discretely and seamlessly positioned around the listening area for maximum environmental saturation. The track excels in action, too, whether gunfire, swooshing arrows, moaning zombies, screaming humans, and a few intense explosions, too. The track delivers at the low end when necessary. Bass is not timid. Listen at the 40:30 mark during episode one for a prime low end example and moments later when fire rages through the entire stage with thunderous supportive depth. Music is full and wide with prominent surround coverage at work. Dialogue is clear and center positioned for the duration.

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

The Walking Dead: The Complete Tenth Season contains a disappointingly scant supplemental collection: a trio of audio commentary tracks and a featurette. A digital copy code is included. DVDs are not. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

Disc One:

• Audio Commentary: For "Lines We Cross:" Showrunner/Exec Producer/Writer Angela Kang and Actress Melissa McBride.

Disc Two:

• Audio Commentaries: For "Squeeze:" David Leslie Johnson, Melissa McBride, and Norman Redus. For "Walk With Us: Special Effects Supervisor Aaron McLane and "Ezekiel" Khary Payton.

Disc Three:

• In Memoriam (1080p, 13:53): Reflecting on the characters who did not survive the season.

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

It should be long in the tooth, but it's not. It should be well decayed with its body count so high, but The Walking Dead remains fine entertainment, perhaps not so frightfully deep and and engaging as its early series best when fear of the known and the unknown drove the dystopian point home, but even in this highly evolved, yet essentially familiar, state, season ten hits on all cylinders. Lionsgate's Blu-ray is disappointingly scant on extras: a commentary trio and a featurette are all there is. But the video and audio presentations are typically TWD excellent. Highly recommended.