Last Day on Earth

Did You Know?

• Director Greg Nicotero confirmed that two versions of Negan's introduction were filmed: one for broadcast with toned-down language and another for the Blu-ray release with swearing matching his speech from the comics.
• This episode is the third in the sixth season to air in an expanded 90-minute time slot.
• Including live +3 ratings, the episode was watched by 18.42 million Americans.

Plot

Maggie’s pregnancy pain sends Rick and the group scrambling to get her to the Hilltop Colony in their RV for medical help. But every road they try is blocked by more and more Saviors under Simon, each time with scarier new tricks. Meanwhile, Morgan finds Carol with a stomach wound and tends to it. While he steps outside to silence a walker, Carol takes off, and Morgan chases her on horseback.

Roman, a Savior Carol had attacked earlier, gets to her first, shooting her in the right arm and leg and vowing she’ll suffer like his friends. Morgan arrives just in time to save her, breaking his no-kill rule by killing Roman, and then meets two armored men on horseback—one is the barn survivor Morgan once saved from Rick. The strangers offer help, and Morgan accepts to get Carol treated. After dark, with time running out, Eugene volunteers to drive the empty RV alone as bait to draw the Saviors away, while the rest carry Maggie through the woods on foot.

But they stumble right into a huge group of Saviors led by Simon, who were waiting for them. The Saviors have already beaten and captured Eugene, along with Glenn, Michonne, Rosita, and a badly wounded but still alive Daryl, plus the RV. The whole group is disarmed and forced to their knees.

Reception

Critics were divided on "Last Day on Earth," the season six finale of The Walking Dead. While Jeffrey Dean Morgan's portrayal of Negan earned widespread praise, the episode drew heavy criticism for its sluggish pacing and controversial cliffhanger ending. On Rotten Tomatoes, the episode scored 44% with an average rating of 6.55 out of 10 across 32 reviews. The site's consensus described Morgan's "deliciously evil turn" as a highlight, but called the episode "meandering" and its cliffhanger "manipulative," ultimately deeming it a disappointing season finale.

IGN's Matt Fowler rated it 7.3 out of 10, noting that despite Morgan's terrific performance, the episode dragged on too long and failed to deliver a satisfying conclusion, instead resorting to another fake-out cliffhanger—a technique he felt the show was overusing. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a C, the lowest grade the site had ever given the series, faulting its awkward, drawn-out writing and forced story arcs that could not sustain suspense as the plot lumbered toward an inevitable, fixed ending.

Emily VanDerWerff of Vox called it the worst episode of the show to date, criticizing the extra-long runtime for spending its first hour on the equivalent of a GPS insisting on a closed road, and its final half-hour for squandering spooky moments with an overlong monologue and a completely botched cliffhanger, though she did praise Negan's introduction. In the key 18-49 demographic, the episode earned a 6.9 rating and drew 14.19 million total viewers.

This marked a notable increase from the previous episode, "East," which had a 5.9 rating and 12.38 million viewers, but fell short of the season five finale, "Conquer," which had an 8.2 rating and 15.8 million viewers. Including live+3 ratings, total viewership reached 18.42 million.