Past seasons of The Walking Dead have given devotees different reasons to dislike the show. It's mostly been a personal preference over a character's actions, the repercussions, or killing off fan-favorites prematurely. These points are easy to overlook as the show possesses redeemable qualities that outweigh the cons. However, the latest season might push fans over the edge with two striking developments.
The final season is by far the hardest for the show's survivors. They've gone through hardships before, lost many friends along the way, and struggled to get by. But what they're facing now seems unbeatable. Supplies are scarcer than ever, and the alliances forged comprise unlikely pairings, like Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan). Longtime fans know why this coupling is unusual, and in the current situation, a truce is reasonable. The issue is that Season 11 is teasing the latter forgiving the man who brutally beat her husband to death. You're surprised, right?
In case anyone glossed over it in the wake of Negan's turnaround, he was awful in his entrance. He took Abraham's life as compensation for Rick's transgressions. A justified act, unfortunate, but just. What proceeded, however, wasn't. He killed Glenn for a simple indiscretion, and he did it in one of the most savage ways imaginable. Then to top it off, Negan joked and mocked Glenn while still beating him to death with a bat.
The scene itself was very graphic and remains hard to watch, which is why we assume Maggie wants vengeance. She witnessed her husband's execution while sitting helplessly, and now, she has to face her son knowing that the murderer who bludgeoned his father is walking free. Those reasons should give the Widow plenty of motivation to kill Negan.
Maggie Giving Up On Revenge
Despite the obvious—and logical—The Walking Dead Season 11 is teasing these two getting over the past. Episode 7, for example, is titled "Broken Promises," which sounds like a reference to the pact Negan makes with Maggie. But, the explanation is a bit more complicated.
The promise referred to is the one of vengeance for Glenn. Maggie either made it to Hershel Jr. or herself following her husband's brutal execution. She has every right to give the former dictator an equally bloody end, and no one would blame her for fulfilling said promise. The group needs Negan's unusual set of skills in their current predicament, but they wouldn't exile Maggie for her exacting her revenge. She came very close in Episode 7 with a gun raised and everything, except she held back because of the group's need for Negan's unconventional skills. Of course, that begs to ask: how long can Maggie restrain herself? Or perhaps she has learned to forgive him, something audiences once thought unbelievable.
In any scenario where she puts her grievances behind them, it's a promise broken to Glenn and for Negan, no less. More importantly, though, fans who know the history of these characters will be appalled to see them breaking bread. They have to coexist in the current climate but slowly becoming friendlier and more comfortable is unacceptable. How could she ever forgive him? That's how audiences will see it, and they're right to have such a reaction.
When that storyline plays out to completion, fans might not stick around. Who knows if they'll continue to watch as the final season unfolds, but there's another reason why audiences may jump ship before the climactic end.
Daryl Dixon's Death
On top of Season 11 moving towards a world where Maggie and Negan are co-leading the group, they may lose a pivotal member in the coming weeks: Daryl. He's escaped death countless times, put himself in harm's way for others, and played nice with dangerous renegades for a chance to infiltrate them. Except, his latest dance with the devil might lead to his untimely downfall.
Daryl recently hooked back up with Leah, who is now a high-ranking member of the Reapers. He's come to know the group's hierarchy in great detail, headed up by Pope (Ritchie Coster), a man just as maniacal as Negan. Daryl witnessed firsthand how unforgiving Pope is, watching the man stomp one of his own henchmen into a burning pyre. The scene unfolded without Daryl getting involved, although the looks he exchanged with Pope say he'll meet a similar fate.
No one's been able to keep Daryl down yet, and getting bit or shot in action feels too anticlimactic for the protagonist. The show's producers won't let him go that way either because neither of those things has come close to happening. But, the notion of Pope forcing Daryl to his knees and then having him burnt to death sounds believable. We don't want to see him go, but a gory exit is the only way Daryl Dixon's story on TWD ends.
However, the next episodes play out, losing Daryl would not be the right way to go at this point in the series. The final season only has a handful of characters we care about still left in the game, and Daryl's one of them. Without him, there aren't a lot of reasons to keep watching. The ending might still be epic, with Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) returning to fight for the survivors, except without Daryl, we don't see the fans sticking around for the finale or the long-delayed Walking Dead movies.