It's 2016; television is getting smarter and so is its audience, so this kind of lazy writing just doesn't cut it anymore.
So when the new season kicked in, people tuned in for the payoff and then tuned back out when Glenn, one of the best characters and the only Asian-American character on the show, got killed off.
After that The Walking Dead just kept giving us reasons to give up on it.
Negan is completely over the top and his entire power structure makes zero sense - least of all the fact that his weapon of choice is a BASEBALL BAT. Harley Quinn could do more damage than this guy. Seriously.
Carol's entire character has changed for no apparent reason except to take her out of the game. Daryl became the Walking Dead's equivalent of Game of Thrones' Reek. Rick completely unravelled. And my god do not get me started on Ezekiel, the self-professed king with a fake accent, who dresses like Baz Luhrman's Mercutio and has a pet tiger he can somehow manage to keep fed during a zombie apocalypse.
It's been utterly ridiculous. But the mid-season finale gave us all what we've been waiting for. Hope.
A scene from the mid-season finale from the television series, The Walking Dead. Photo / AMC
I won't say it was a well-written episode, because suddenly everyone just miraculously snapped out of everything and decided to fight, though why they can do this now when they haven't been able to before remains unclear.
But nevertheless, the gang is all back together (sans Carol, for the time being) and ready to fight Negan. And even though that scene where they all greeted each other again was stupidly sappy, it finally felt like the show we invested in back in the beginning.
A scene from the mid-season finale from the television series, The Walking Dead. Photo / AMC
No one ever tuned into The Walking Dead just to watch everyone play house in Alexandria and we certainly didn't sign up to watch our heroes bend the knee to a less awesome Harley Quinn.
