How Walking Dead's Final Arc Honored An Early Season 1 Message
2023/05/28

The final season of tied up many plot threads that originated during the series' beginnings, including one early message that was honored through the introduction of the Commonwealth. season 10 debuted the Commonwealth, a massive community from Robert Kirkman's graphic novel series, though the survivors didn't integrate into the community until season 11. Despite many feeling as though the Commonwealth story was rushed, key plot points from the beginning of were finally concluded.

introduced audiences to an array of unique characters, meant to represent ordinary people in the world before outbreak, who discover who they are once society collapses. One of the longest-running commentaries in was the exploration of what the survivors did before the While some revealed details of their past lives, such as Glenn's history as a pizza delivery guy, others kept their cards very close to their chests, and it was still unclear what Daryl did before. This idea was brought to the forefront in final season via the Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth Arc Brings The Walking Dead Full Circle

When it was introduced towards the end of season 10, the Commonwealth based its society around what its citizens did before the apocalypse, believing that this informed their role within the community. Ezekiel's history as a zookeeper landed him a job in animal control, was made a journalist again, and Yumiko resumed her life as a lawyer. This amount of emphasis had never been put on the survivors' pasts previously, as they didn't care as much about former careers when building their original society in season 1.

It was a shock to both the survivors and the audience when the Commonwealth began assigning roles within the community. The fact that the Commonwealth put so much effort into assigning people roles based on their pre-outbreak lives meant that one of earliest plot points could be addressed and satisfyingly concluded. While this helped bring the overall story of full circle, it also carried a deeper meaning for the survivors joining .

Why TWD's Message About Pre-Outbreak Lives Is So Meaningful

protagonists never really cared about what they did during their past lives, simply valuing what they could bring to the table in the present day. When pre-outbreak lives did come into focus, such as during the introduction of the prison in season 3, which saw the survivors judge the prisoners based on the fact that they were convicts when the world fell, catastrophe struck with the losses of T-Dog and Lori. Even Rick Grimes shed his Sheriff's Deputy gear soon after arriving at the Atlanta Camp.

This made season 11's storyline all the more poignant, as the protagonists fought against the Commonwealth's focus on people's pre-outbreak lives. This proved they still believed that peoples' past lives didn't matter, and the basis of a new society shouldn't be built on that alone. This worked in as Deanna assigned people to roles she thought they'd be fit for, not solely based on their pre-outbreak experiences. The Commonwealth storyline in final season rammed home the idea that past jobs didn't matter after society fell.

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