The Walking Dead Season 4 Finale: 6 Definitive Things That We Learned

6. Flashbacks Build A Better Narrative

Throughout the course of the shows run, we've had our fair share of flashbacks. Most of the time they've only been used as a prologue sequences while opening up an episode prior the theme introduction. The finale of season four was different as it had a number of flashbacks throughout the entire episode that connected both the past and the present in a unique way by showing the evolution of Rick from the beginning of the season to its end. Flashbacks have to be used correctly on television shows, as it's important to have them represent meaning and purpose. It's great to see where our characters were prior to the current events they find themselves in but if there's no direction in giving the audience a flashback, it can easily be construed that it's only a waste of time. It's safe to say that Rick was due for some serious screen time during the finale as he had only occupied two solid episodes after the show returned from its mid-season finale. The second half did a tremendous job building up the rest of the ensemble but Rick was noticeably missed for a better part of the last couple of episodes. By using the flashbacks to build that stronger narrative, the show runners were able to use a Rick of the past to remind the audience where we've come from while showing us where we're going.