*spoilers ahead if you haven't seen season six, episode eight (the mid-season finale)*

REVIEW: What an anti-climax.

Season six is one of the best so far in The Walking Dead's run, and the way Heads Up finished last week Start to Finish was poised to be one of the great episodes.

The setup was all there.

Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Michonne (Danai Gurira), Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and the rest of the survivors in Alexandria had to face a flood of walkers after a building collapsed and breached the walls.

Carol (Melissa McBride) and Morgan (Lennie James) were set to clash over their duelling philosophies in regards to their enemies, namely the Alpha Wolf (Benedict Samuel) whom Morgan held kept in a cell.

Glenn (Steven Yeun) was revealed to be alive and he and Enid (Katelyn Nacon) were returning to Alexandria, only to be stopped by the hundreds of walkers in their way.

Not to mention Daryl (Norman Reedus), Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) were all driving back to town.

This could have been great; instead it was one of the great let-downs.

The walkers should have eaten a few major characters to spice up the series, but instead were left to Deanna (Tovah Feldshuh) and a bunch of nameless survivors.

Deanna then managed to survive almost the entire episode, and found the energy to deliver several whimpering monologues.

Start to Finish suffered as a result.

The screen time devoted to Deanna's farewell speeches should have been used on the Carol-Morgan duel.

Two fan favourites with opposing ideologies set face-to-face over a captive prisoner: it should have been great. Hell it could have formed the basis of a whole episode, and that would have been better than what we got.

Instead it felt rushed and underplayed.

Comic book fans have eagerly anticipated Carl (Chandler Riggs) and Ron's (Austin Abrams) confrontation.

Ron's intentions to shoot Carl were shown clearly at the end of last week's episode, and their fight this week saw Carl unexpectedly prevail.

All of the foreshadowing was for nothing as Ron was easily overpowered and disarmed, and if that was to be the end result, why bother?

The post-credits scene somewhat saved the episode, as the first mention of big bad Negan was dropped.

It makes the three-month break until The Walking Dead's return unbearable, but it could be the start of something better than we expected.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

The Walking Dead airs on FX (Channel 119).