The Walking Dead: All But One of the Show’s 10 Worst Episodes Are From Seasons 7 and 8

User ratings recorded on IMDb reveal all but one of the ten worst episodes of The Walking Dead, as determined by fans, belong to Season 7 and Season 8 of the zombie drama. On Rotten Tomatoes, where Season 8 is the lowest-rated season with a 64% percent approval from critics, fan votes have also deemed year eight the worst overall season: it has just a 48% from audience-submitted scores, making “All Out War” the agreed upon low point of The Walking Dead.

Season 6 finale “Last Day on Earth,” the entrance episode for primary Seasons 7 and 8 villain Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), is the only episode in the top ten lowest-rated episodes not to belong to Season 7 or Season 8: the season closer is rated a 6.5 out of 10 on IMDb with 26,162 votes counted, giving it the fifth-lowest score of the 139 episodes of Walking Dead episodes aired through the Season 10 midseason finale, “The World Before.”

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Season 8 was the fifth and final season steered by then-showrunner Scott Gimple, who was replaced in that position by current showrunner Angela Kang when he was elevated to TWD chief content officer. Seasons 9 and 10 have since tied as the highest-rated seasons of The Walking Dead on Rotten Tomatoes with matching scores of 91% approval from critics.

The ten lowest-rated episodes of the entire series so far, as voted by fans, follow:

10. “Go Getters” (Season 7, Episode 5)

“Go Getters” is ranked as the tenth-worst episode with a 6.8 rating from 8,698 votes cast. While a sick and pregnant Maggie (Lauren Cohan) recovered at Hilltop following the executions of Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) at the end of Negan’s barbwire-wrapped baseball bat Lucille, Carl (Chandler Riggs) and Enid (Katelyn Nacon) journeyed to the farming colony hand-in-hand by roller-skate.

9. “How It’s Gotta Be” (Season 8, Episode 8)

“How It’s Gotta Be,” Season 8’s midseason finale, is rated 6.7 with 8,169 votes cast. The penultimate episode for Carl Grimes, who stepped up to fend off a fiery attack on Alexandria from the Saviors in the absence of father Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), the episode ended with a weakened Carl making a horrific revelation to parents Rick and Michonne (Danai Gurira): an incurable walker bite on his midsection.

8. “Some Guy” (Season 8, Episode 4)

“Some Guy” is rated 6.7 with 7,465 votes cast. This episode centered on Kingdom leader King Ezekiel (Khary Payton), the sole survivor of the Saviors’ attack with a .50 cal weapon that slaughtered almost all of the Kingdom’s fighters. After Ezekiel was rescued from Savior Gunther (Whitmer Thomas) by the last-minute arrival of axe-wielding adviser Jerry (Cooper Andrews) and Carol (Melissa McBride), Ezekiel was forced to watch helplessly as pet tiger Shiva met her brave end when fending off a small pack of walkers.

7. “The Damned” (Season 8, Episode 2)

“The Damned” is rated 6.6 with 8,200 votes cast. Following Alexandria, Hilltop and Kingdom’s united attack on the Sanctuary, Morgan (Lennie James), Jesus (Tom Payne), Tara (Alanna Masterson) and others infiltrated a Savior satellite outpost while Rick and Daryl (Norman Reedus) sought the high-powered weapon in the Saviors’ possession. This mission brought Rick face-to-face with former ally-turned-Savior Morales (Juan Pareja), not seen since the first season, who held Rick at gunpoint in a cliffhanger ending.

6. “The Other Side” (Season 7, Episode 14)

“The Other Side” is rated 6.6 with 6,971 votes cast. Rosita (Christian Serratos) and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green), looking to avenge the murdered Abraham, plotted to infiltrate the Sanctuary with plans to kill Negan while Savior number-two Simon (Steven Ogg) and other thugs kidnapped Dr. Carson (R. Keith Harris) from Hilltop. The episode ended with Sasha breaking away from Rosita and breaking into the Sanctuary alone.

5. “Last Day on Earth” (Season 6, Episode 16)

“Last Day on Earth” is rated 6.5 with 26,162 votes cast. The Saviors, utilizing roadblocks, constantly impeded Rick, Carl, Abraham, Sasha, Aaron (Ross Marquand) and Eugene (Josh McDermitt) in their attempt to transport a pregnant and ill Maggie to Hilltop for care. When the group was captured by the Saviors and presented to Negan for the first time, Negan eeny, meeny, miny, moe’d a lineup of potential victims that included a captured Michonne, Glenn, Rosita and Daryl.

“Last Day on Earth” famously ended with a cliffhanger, switching to the unidentified victim’s point-of-view as they were selected by Negan to be bludgeoned to death by baseball bat. This victim would be revealed as Abraham months later in the Season 7 premiere, “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be,” which has a 9.1 rating with 34,713 votes cast, making it the 15th highest-rated episode of the show.

4. “Time for After” (Season 8, Episode 7)

“Time for After” is rated 6.4 with 5,968 votes cast. There a captured and half-naked Rick, at the time a prisoner of Scavenger leader Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh), was forced to engage a spike-helmeted walker in gladiatorial combat while Eugene, conscripted as a member of the Saviors, was left to brainstorm a solution as the Sanctuary came under siege from a horde of walkers.

3. “Monsters” (Season 8, Episode 3)

“Monsters” is rated 6.3 with 7,537 votes. Resolving the cliffhanger from “The Damned,” Morales was nonchalantly killed with a bolt fired by Daryl while Morgan and Jesus escorted more than two dozen captured Saviors — including a mouthy Jared (Joshua Mikel) — to Hilltop, a journey that boiled over into a physical fight between Jesus and an unhinged Morgan.

2. “The King, the Widow and Rick” (Season 8, Episode 6)

“The King, the Widow and Rick” is rated 6.1 with 6,273 votes cast. After catching up with lone survivor Siddiq (Avi Nash), Carl helped Siddiq put down walkers as a way of honoring Siddiq’s mother, who believed the merciful act freed their souls. It was during this process that a scuffle with a handful of walkers led to Carl receiving the bite that would doom him, resulting in his eventual death in episode 809, “Honor.”

1. “Swear” (Season 7, Episode 6)

“Swear” is rated 5.6 with 11,428 votes cast, making it the lowest-ever rated episode of The Walking Dead and the only episode not to be rated above a 6.0.

This bottle episode focused on Tara and Heath (Corey Hawkins) at the end of a two-week supply run, a trip that ended with Tara discovering the all-female community of Oceanside after an attack by walkers left her separated from a now-missing Heath.