The Walking Dead recently aired “Diverged,” the penultimate episode of season 10. At the lowest point of their relationship, Daryl (Norman Reedus) attempt to fix his motorbike, and Carol (Melissa McBride) tries to make a pot of soup. In terms of action, it’s pretty much as dull as it sounds — and that’s reflected in the reviews. “Diverged” now holds the crown as the lowest-rated episode in the show’s history. Yikes!
“Diverged” is one of several bonus episodes of The Walking Dead filmed during the pandemic with strict coronavirus restrictions in place, so I don’t think I can hate on it all too much. For all its drawbacks — and there are many — it still did a decent job at exploring the mental state of both Carol and Daryl after their argument in “Find Me.” Unfortunately, we had to sit through an hour of them performing very boring tasks.
First off, let’s look at how we’re measuring this unfortunate accolade. At the time of writing, “Diverged” holds a measly 4.3/10 user rating on IMDb, the lowest of any episode in the show’s history. Not a single episode of the season 10 extension has earned a rating of over 8/10, with the highest being “One More,” at 7.7. Similarly, over on Rotten Tomatoes, “Diverged” is sitting ugly at 33%.
Critics and fans alike think the latest Walking Dead episode was “empty”
So what are reviewers saying? Over on IMDb, one reviewer commented on the seemingly pointless plot, saying, “45 minutes of Carol making soup and Daryl fixing a motorcycle, what’s going on?” Another praised the actors for good performances, but criticizing the story. “The hell was that? No offense to the actors they all did a fantastic job. The plot really felt empty. I’m worried about the final season.”
As a whole, critics were unimpressed. “As Walking Dead episodes go, ‘Diverged’ is kind of boring, and that highlights a problem with these season 10 bonus episodes,” wrote Sarah Moran of Screen Rant. In his review for Entertainment Weekly, Nick Romano wrote, “It just seems inconsequential… except for fueling this dream for Carol’s Food Network debut.”
However, it wasn’t all bad. For instance, Aaron Neuwirth at We are Entertainment praised the writers for being bold: “Is this one of the stronger episodes of this bonus set? I’d place it somewhere in the middle. But the distinct tone was welcome.”
The season 10 extension ends this Sunday with “Here’s Negan,” which will dive into Negan’s backstory. Have they saved the best until last? Find out on Sunday when The Walking Dead continues on AMC.
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