Is The Walking Dead Scary? The Verdict and the Whole Plot
Yes, 5 out of 10. It is steady zombie tension with a lot of gore, and a handful of episodes are far worse than the rest.
Ruling: Fine for strong stomachs in small doses. Eat before you press play.
The Walking Dead runs 11 seasons and 177 episodes, which is why you are reading the short version. A sheriff's deputy wakes up from a coma and finds the world has ended without him. The walkers turn out to be the easier problem, because the other survivors keep finding new ways to be worse.
The premise, briefly
A sheriff's deputy wakes from a coma to a world full of walkers, then spends eleven seasons trying to keep his family and a growing crowd of survivors alive, mostly from each other.
The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
The Commonwealth is saved when everyone lures the walker herd into the Estates and blows it up. Pamela is arrested, Rosita dies of her bite, and Ezekiel governs the Commonwealth a year later. Maggie cannot forgive Negan but tries to move on. Daryl and Michonne are each searching for Rick, who has been taken by a helicopter.
Season 7, episode 1: Negan beats Abraham to death while Rick's group watches. The survivors are stuck under Negan's rule afterward. It is a beating on screen, and you will know the victim before it starts.
Yes, a dog dies: walkers eat it at the beginning. Daryl's own dog is still around in season 11. A goat and a deer die too.
Now that you know where it goes, it is a long, bleak show where the living cause most of the trouble, and the Negan episode is the one to brace for.
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
Rick sleeps through the end of the world
Sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes is shot on duty, falls into a coma and wakes up in a world that ended without him. Shane leads a camp outside the city and, believing Rick dead, has started a relationship with Lori, so the reunion is awkward for everyone. Jim reveals he has been bitten, and the group panics. In season 2, Hershel Greene, a veterinarian, treats Carl at his farm after an accidental shooting, while the group searches for a missing girl named Sophia. The barn is full of walkers, and Glenn eventually shows it to everyone. Shane wants them to kill the walkers or leave the farm. Rick later confronts Shane for killing Otis, and Randall, a stranger from a large group of unruly men, causes more arguments. A walker herd finally forces everyone off the farm.
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A prison and the neighbor with the aquarium
After a winter on the road, the group is hardened and united under Rick. They claim a prison, where the convicts' leader Tomas proves hard to deal with. Andrea and Michonne are captured by Merle and taken to Woodbury, a town run by the Governor. Walkers are gathered to be unleashed on the prison, and Merle and the Governor torture Glenn and Maggie. Woodbury's army attacks the prison, then runs after Rick ambushes it. Season 4 starts with Woodbury's survivors living at the prison. Then an illness spreads, the group has to kill the infected as they reanimate, and Hershel stays behind to tend them. The Governor captures Michonne and Hershel and challenges Rick to abandon the prison. The prison falls apart, Rick and Carl flee, and Tyreese saves Judith. Rick, Carl and Michonne meet the Claimers, who threaten Michonne and Carl and are slaughtered by Rick and Daryl. Everyone follows signs toward Terminus.
Terminus has a sign and an appetite
Gareth and the other Terminus survivors plan to eat Rick's captured friends. Rick's group rescues Father Gabriel Stokes from a pack of walkers, and he shelters them in his church, where he admits he barricaded himself inside while his congregation was consumed. Beth wakes in Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, which is protected by police officers led by Dawn Lerner. Aaron describes Alexandria, a safe community behind walls, and invites them to audition. Deanna Monroe interviews them after they turn over their weapons, though Rick, Daryl and Carol stash some away. Tensions build until Deanna prepares a meeting about exiling Rick. In season 6, Rick and Morgan find a herd of thousands stuck in a quarry. The Wolves invade Alexandria and slaughter people in the streets, the wall is breached and walkers get in. Jesus takes Rick to Hilltop to trade, and Rick campaigns for a pre-emptive attack on the Saviors. In the finale Carol is shot twice and Morgan kills the shooter.
Negan arrives and Abraham pays for it
Season 6 ends with Negan killing an unseen member of Rick's group with a barbed-wire bat, and season 7, episode 1 shows who it was. This is the scene people dread most. Negan beats Abraham to death while Rick's group watches. It is a beating on screen, and knowing the victim is Abraham takes the guessing out of it. After that the survivors live under Negan's rule. Carol and Morgan reach the Kingdom, run by Ezekiel, a former zookeeper, and like Hilltop it produces for the Saviors. Daryl is locked in a cell at the Sanctuary and tortured. The Kingdom pays weekly tribute, and in the season 7 finale Negan arrives at Alexandria with Sasha in a coffin. In season 8, Rick, Maggie and Ezekiel rally their communities against Negan. The Saviors kill Ezekiel's group except Ezekiel and Jerry, and Eugene affirms his loyalty to Negan. The war ends when Rick's group follows false plans into a trap, and the Saviors' weapons backfire because Eugene sabotaged their ammunition. Rick spares Negan, which angers Maggie.
A very long finale
A year and a half later, the communities are busy rebuilding after Negan's defeat. Rick, critically wounded, tries to draw a herd away on horseback, and in the same episode Maggie goes to execute Negan. Michonne's group captures Lydia, a young Whisperer. The leaders sign a charter at the Kingdom's trade fair and promise to stand together against the Whisperers, but the Kingdom falls and the survivors move to Hilltop. In season 10, Hilltop burns to the ground. Carol frees Negan from his cell if he kills Alpha, and he does. Daryl and Carol part ways, Carol goes back to Alexandria with Dog, and tries to banish Negan to a cabin, though he returns to Alexandria. Eugene, Princess, Yumiko and Ezekiel are locked in separate boxcars by masked soldiers. In season 11, Maggie leads a scavenging trip to Meridian, the Reapers hunt her group, and Eugene's friend Stephanie disappears at the Commonwealth. Pamela orders Eugene arrested for the murder of Sebastian, and the Coalition returns by train to overthrow her.
The ending, explained
In the series finale, season 11 episode 24, Jules is devoured escaping the horde and Luke dies of a bite. Rosita, Gabriel and Eugene rescue Coco, but Rosita is bitten on the shoulder. Michonne has left to look for Rick. Mercer is freed and leads the Coalition against Pamela, whose men turn on her after Daryl's speech. Mercer arrests Pamela, who tries to let a zombified Lance eat her, but Maggie puts Lance down because prison is the worse fate. The united group draws the herd into the Estates and blows it up. Rosita dies peacefully. Negan apologizes to Maggie, who cannot forgive him yet but resolves to work on getting over it. A year later Ezekiel governs the Commonwealth and the communities stay united. Daryl sets out to find Rick, and Michonne keeps looking too. On Bloodsworth Island, Rick writes a message for Michonne and is found by a helicopter and forced to surrender.
The post-credits ruling
Only in some episodes. A few have a scene after the credits, but the important parts usually show up at the start of the next episode.
Questions people ask at 1am
The whole plot of The Walking Dead is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
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