Seasons 1-5: a great post apocalyptic story with a group being challenged by the undead and despicable humans. It has some flaws such as a few pacing issues and can be somewhat repetitive but overall a fantastic story. Seasons 6-8: a steady and unfortunate decline in quality with a few highs but due to piss poor pacing, bad writing and awful creative decisions have put down the franchise to a halt. Seasons 9-11. A large quality resurgence that introduces mostly intimidating and interesting villains, cleans up and reorganizes the large cast by trimming the fat of the last seasons and making the weaker cast members stronger.