If You Think That ‘Acolyte’ Cliffhanger Was Bad, This One Was Worse

Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for “The Acolyte.”

The big picture

• the acolyte
  The last episode ending on a cliffhanger is not as disappointing as a season finale cliffhanger, because the viewer only has to wait a week.
• The walking Dead
  The Season 6 finale sparked a backlash on social media due to its unsatisfying cliffhanger ending.
• the acolyte
  's cliffhanger serves to build suspense before an epic battle, in contrast to the frustrating lack of revelation in
  The walking Dead
  .

The last scene of episode 4 of the acolyte, “Day,” is among the series' best so far, with the Sith Lord revealing himself to the Jedi. And then, just as the battle begins… the episode ends. Many fans on the internet were disappointed by this sudden cliffhanger, especially for having to wait a whole week to see the fight. But there was once an even worse cliffhanger, one that does the acolyteIt looks like a binge watch by comparison. In April 2016, season 6 of The walking Dead came to an end, finally introducing the series' biggest villain, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). He makes one hell of an entrance and kills one of the main characters, but as he does, the episode ends without revealing who he killed. now this it was a bad cliffhanger.

What happens in the finale of season 6 of 'The Walking Dead'?

When season 6 of The walking Dead began, the AMC series was at a pivotal point. Between the prison arc and arriving in the Alexandria safe zone, Rick Grimes' (Andrew Lincoln) had to face many challenges, much more so than in the original Robert Kirkman comics, for example. Expectations were high for the introduction of the Hilltop community and the Saviors, two key groups that make up one of the best arcs in comics. However, instead of going straight into this plot and fleshing it out properly, Season 6 tried to stretch the story around some bad decisionslike Glenn's (Steven Yeun) faked death in episode 3, only for him to return four episodes later after much fanfare.

So when it came time for the finale, episode 16, “Last Day on Earth,” fans couldn't wait. The second half of the season completely changed the pace of things, with the proper introduction of the Hilltop and lost advantages over the introduction of the Saviors. When Dwight (Austin Amelio) was introduced before burning his face everyone understood what was about to happen: Negan was finally coming. The Alexandria group began to have skirmishes with the Saviors more often, and eventually when Maggie (Lauren Cohan) endures pregnancy contractions, all roads leading to the Hilltop are closed by the Saviors, coaxing the Alexandria group into the woods where Negan's fateful introduction occurs.

In this final scene, Negan demonstrates his terrifying power of attachment. He lines up all the Alexandrians on their knees, introduces his barbed wire bat, Lucille, and explains how things will go between the Saviors and Alexandria. Taunts Rick, threatens Carl (Chandler Riggs) and Maggie, and says that half of everything Alexandria gets now belongs to him, and to make sure Rick and his group don't forget, Negan will kill one of them; their gleeful enjoyment underlines the danger of the group. He plays a game of “eeny, meeny, miny, moe,” and when he gets to “it,” the perspective shifts to the point of view of the Alexandrian victim. The person is beaten to death, blood pours into the camera, Negan praises this person for “taking it on like a champ” and, before we can find out who is being killed, the episode ends. 203 days passed until the identity of the fallen Alexandrian was known.

The reaction to 'The Walking Dead's Cliffhanger' made it even worse

Before “Last Day on Earth” aired, there was a lot of publicity surrounding it. Season 6 had more downs than ups, though the promise of Negan's arrival alone was enough to keep everyone tuning in weekly to watch the series. The cast themselves were teasing how bloody and gruesome it would be. Andrew Lincoln said he felt “sick to his stomach” just reading the script and that, the day before filming, he woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep. Lauren Cohan also joined in, saying “it was the hardest day on set” she's ever had. It was impossible not to get on the hype train, and every day there was something new leading up to the introduction of Negan.

When the episode ended without showing the audience who died, fans were enraged. It seemed to me The walking Dead he was aware of all his problems, but instead of addressing and solving them, they made up the season two cliffhangers to try and keep the audience hooked — The fake death of Glenn and Negan killing one of the Alexandrians. After an entire season of needlessly drawn-out plots, killing off secondary characters for shock value, and many twists and turns around what was really going on with the Saviors closing in on Alexandria, we wouldn't even know who it was that Negan killed ? It didn't seem fair to the audience.

It was such a scenario, that showrunner Scott M. Gimple had to publicly ask fans to “give them the benefit of the doubt”, and Robert Kirkman himself sent a letter to fans stating that he thought the episode and what happened was really “funny”. The promise of a reward in the season 7 premiere didn't do much to keep spirits up either. When the time finally came to find out who had killed Negan, expectations were mostly deflated. In the wake of the Season 6 finale, social media was abuzz right after the episode ended on that note. If the team behind it had any expectation that fans would engage in theorizing and debating who died, the reception was truly catastrophic, with around 70% of interactions being negative.

'The Acolyte' thrives on weekly storytelling

The walking DeadThe season 6 finale was one of the biggest events on social media for all the wrong reasons. This is nothing the acolyte can't handle as he's been no stranger to the weekly discourse of bad faith and continues to surprise and expand the Star Wars story. There are obvious similarities between these two cliffhangers. They both cut the episode just when tensions are at their highestbut they can hardly be put in the same basket as disappointing – The walking Dead Season 6 stands alone in this category.

For the acolyte, it's not the end of the season, for example. A week of waiting is peanuts for those of us who have had to wait months, even years between seasons. The battle between the Sith Lord and the Jedi on Khofar is about to begin, and while the series may pose a danger to Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) dies because of his “I'll tell you everything” line to Osha (Amandla Stenberg), no one has died yet. Before that, there is a whole fight and even everyone can get out alive. Also, the way the episode ends, right with the introduction of the Sith Lord, it acts more like a split between the two halves of the seasonwith a new phase clearly beginning now that the main antagonist has been revealed.

The fallout surrounding “Day” has focused primarily on the identity of the Sith Lord. There's no way to know exactly what happened in that battle simply because it hasn't happened yet, which it is the opposite of what happened to The walking Dead End of season 6. Then, obviously, someone died. The series went so far as to tell the audience and then withhold information about who was the one who died. It's not quite the same.

New episodes of the acolyte airs weekly on Disney+ and The walking Dead is available to stream on Netflix in the United States

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