Endings - TV Serials and The Walking Dead

The Never Ending Story...minus Falcor

I'm a big fan of endings. When I watch a movie or read a book I can forgive some boring parts if it all builds up into a dynamite climax. You'll see this in my own writing. So when I watch television, especially endless serialized stories like The Walking Dead, I get left feeling empty after every episode.

Sometimes the show is so good the lack of a big ending doesn't bother me. Game of Thrones is this way. Other times a show is very episodic, meaning each episode is mostly self contained. Star Trek is that way, it's a weekly adventure that begins and ends on screen each episode. I think that's probably my favorite way to consume story in video format. The 1 hour self contained episode.

So what does this have to do with The Walking Dead? Well, the current season started up last week and I watched the first episode. It was well done, but I can't help but feel bored and frustrated when the episode ends. I want to KNOW what's going on, I want to KNOW where Negan is. I need the whole story and I need it now.

It seems over the years I'm getting more and more into the story closure, and more and more frustrated by the constant teasing out of bits for so long that when the pay off comes I've almost lost the thread of the narrative.

So I'll skip this season of The Walking Dead and watch it later all at once. Binge watch it. Or maybe not. There are so many great books, episodic shows and movies out there to enjoy there's no need to slog through countless hours of TV to find a good ending.

And when the final season of Game of Thrones comes out you'll see me saying the complete opposite. Ha!