AMC's The Walking Dead, based on the comic series of the same name by Robert Kirkman, follows a group of survivors, led by Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), as they try to survive in a world where zombies, whom they call "walkers," have taken over.

Season six of The Walking Dead has a lot packed into the season. Last season the survivors made it to the town of Alexandria, which seemed like the ideal place at first with its walled in community; however, they quickly discovered that the townspeople were not equipped to handle the apocalypse as they had not had to deal with walkers.

This season the town faces multiple threats as Rick tries to lead everyone to safety.

The first half of the season focuses on the threats of a group of scavengers known as the Wolves, who attack the town. Soon things go from bad to worse as the wall starts to break down and walkers enter the community.

In the second half, they meet another community at Hilltop, but the survivors and the Alexandrites face an even bigger threat than previously when they are introduced to Hilltop's adversaries, the Saviors. They think they have things taken care of until they meet their feared leader, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), who will deal a devastating blow to the group.

The first half of the season the writers decided to shake things up by scripting it non-linearly. While episodes that often focus on certain characters only is not something new to the series, the way the season is split is twisted nicely. It takes a good chunk of episodes to see how events line up with each other. They also employed the use of black and white for the first time (not counting AMC airing colored episodes in black and white) to help get the job done. It all brought a unique feel to the series this season.

Throughout the first half, the action never really stopped, because so many things were happening simultaneously, however, the second half was just as thrilling with the threat of the Saviors, which eventually leads to the big bad that comic book fans had been waiting for, Negan.

As always, the special effects in the series were phenomenal. Greg Nicotero and his team are always finding new ways to make the walkers different and more disgusting, and this season is no different.

Of course, as much as the series is about the walkers, it's even more about the living, focusing on the characters and how often humanity can be more dangerous than the undead.

There was great character development this season in all the characters, though probably the greatest changes came from Rick, Morgan (Lenny James), and Carol (Melissa McBride).

The ensemble cast is huge as always, and and while many characters from season five return, there are many new ones introduced. The standouts of the new characters include Merrit Wever as Denise, Thomas Payne as Jesus, and of course Jeffrey Dean Morgan as villain Negan, who is both charming and scary as hell. Other new additions of note include Corey Hawkins as Heath, Austin Amelio as Dwight, Xander Berkeley as Gregory, and Alicia Witt as Paula.

The original cast members as always were exceptional of course as well. I especially enjoyed McBride and James, and liked getting to see more of his backstory this season. Another of my favorites was Josh McDermitt, as Eugene, who is hilarious.

All in all, I really loved season six, and can't wait for season seven in October. The series keeps getting better each season.

Special Features:

This Blu-ray set is packed with features. If you are a fan of the series, it's worth it for the special features alone; some may say even for the full Negan scene alone. There is a good variety. I do, however, have a negative comment on one thing. This time the sixteen "Inside" featurettes are missing and were included on the DVD only, which makes no sense. I realized they are, however, actually available in the digital HD version. These clips are of the cast and crew discussing the storylines, characters, and such, as opposed to production aspects, as they do in the "making of" clips, listed below. There are also a few other bonuses available in the digital copy only.

Episode 616: Last Day on Earth - The Extended Version [1:05:40] - This episode includes an alternate ending with Negan. Basically, it's the scene as it should have been scripted from the comic, with all of Negan's colorful language. Normally cussing is not something that necessarily changes a scene, but here it really adds to his character, as it is a big part of him in the comics, and the scene felt more powerful. Don't expect, however, to get any insight on who his victim is.

Audio Commentaries:

   * First time Again [1:04:40] - Writer/Executive Producer Scott M. Gimple,
      Executive Producer/Special Effects Make-Up Artist/Director Greg Nicotero, and
      actor Norman Reedus (Daryl)

   * Here's Not Here [1:04:40] - Writer/Executive Producer Scott M. Gimple,
      Co-Executive Producer Denise Huth, and actor Lennie James (Morgan)

   * Start to Finish [44:44] - Director Michael E. Satrazemis and actor Danai
      Gurira (Michonne)

   * No Way Out [42:56] - Executive Producer Scott M. Gimple, Executive
      Producer/Special Effects Make-Up Artist/Director Greg Nicotero, and actors
      Michael Cudlitz (Abraham), Lennie James (Morgan), and Josh McDermitt (Eugene)

   * Not Tomorrow Yet [42:59] - Co-Executive Producer Denise Huth and actors
      Alanna Masterson (Tara) and Steven Yeun (Glenn)

   * The Same Boat [42:53] - Writer Angela Kang and actors Lauren Cohan (Maggie)
      and Melissa McBride (Carol)

   * Last Day on Earth [1:04:31] - Writer/Executive Producer Scott M. Gimple,
      Executive Producer/Special Effects Make-Up Artist/Director Greg Nicotero, and
      actor Michael Cudlitz (Abraham)

Featurettes:

The Making of The Walking Dead - There is one featurette for every episode, sixteen in total. Oddly there is no "play all." These are of the cast and crew discussiong how certain scenes were made and focuses mostly on the production and give great insight into the creative process. Most of the scenes discussed are scenes that are either high action or high special effects. These are always some of my favorite features, as I love getting to see how it all works. I've highlighted the scenes below.

   * The Making of Episode 601: First Time Again [4:33] - Creating the quarry
      and digital effects

   * The Making of Episode 602: JSS [3:26] - Wolves attacking Alexandria; fight
      sequences; working with Jennifer Lynch; Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge)'s fight
      sequence

   * The Making of Episode 603: Thank You [3:58] - Michonne, Heath, and other
      Alexandrites' stunts and fight sequences

   * The Making of Episode 604: Here's Not Here [359] - Eastman (John Carroll
      Lynch) and Morgan fight sequences

   * The Making of Episode 605: Now [3:34] - Creating the sewer; sewer walkers

   * The Making of Episode 606: Always Accountable [3:56] - Abraham going for the
      RPG; car chase; motorcycle stunt

   * The Making of Episode 607: Heads Up [3:00] - Walkers at the Alexandria wall;
      Spencer (Austin Nichols)'s stunt; Tara's stunt

   * The Making of Episode 608: Start to Finish [3:57] - Fall of the Alexandria wall;
      working with director Michael Satrazemis; walker guts and meat ponchos

   * The Making of Episode 609: No Way Out [3:27] - Alexandria stunts, fight
      sequences, and special effects, including the lake fire

   * The Making of Episode 610: The Next World [2:35] - Stunt of Jesus getting
      thrown off the truck

   * The Making of Episode 611: Knots Untie [4:49] - Creating the Hilltop set,
      including building the mansion; fight sequences

   * The Making of Episode 612: Not Tomorrow Yet [3:34] - Looking for a head that
      looks like Gregory; Walker effects; Savior outpost location and fight sequences
      and working with weapons

   * The Making of Episode 613: The Same Boat [2:57] - Working with Alicia Witt;
      stunts and various fight sequences

   * The Making of Episode 614: Twice as Far [2:23] - Railroad tracks with Denise's
      fight sequence with a walker and death sequence; working with Wever

   * The Making of Episode 615: East [2:43] - Carol fight sequence

   * The Making of Episode 616: Last Day on Earth [2:12] - Walker/RV stunt/fight
       sequence; working with weapons

In Memoriam [10:04] - The cast and crew talk about some of the deaths of the season and filming those scenes. Characters that are highlighted are Deanna (Tovah Feldshuh), Jessie, Sam (Major Dodson), Ron (Austin Abrams), and Denise. Nicotero also talks a bit about some of the special effects.

601: Out of the Quarry [7:46] - The cast and crew discuss filming the quarry scenes in the first episode of the season, including how the nonlinear format allowed them to show things differently. They also talk about the location and special effects.

Guts & Glory: The Death of Nicholas [5:03] - Steven Yeun and Michael Traynor (Nicholas) as well as some of the crew talk about the characters' relationship and Nicholas's demise. Nicotero discusses how they created the scene with Nicholas being torn apart. On a side note, it was interesting to see them show the death from different angles where you could see that it was Nicholas and not Glenn being killed.

Strength in Bonds [11:07] - The cast and crew talk about the different relationships on the series. Highlighted are Rick and Morgan, Morgan and Carol, Rick and Michonne, Abraham and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green), Abraham and Rosita (Christian Serratos), and Abraham and Eugene.

Negan: Someone to Fear [5:18] - The cast and crew talk about Negan and how comic book fans have been looking forward to seeing him, as well as how scary he is, etc. Unfortunately, there aren't any interviews with Morgan himself.

The Face of Death: Iconic Walkers of the Season [3:39] - Nicotero talks about designing and creating a few of the standout walkers of the season, including Tight Squeeze Walker, Wrightson Walker, and the Sewer Walkers. A couple members of the cast also weigh in.

Deleted Scenes: I always enjoy extra scenes, and these were decent, but they really didn't add anything new.

   * 601: First Time Again
      Scene 38: Nicholas talks to Glenn [0:57]

   * 603: Thank You
      Scene 15: Glenn starts preparing Nicholas [0:55]

   * 605: Now
      Scene 8: Morgan thanks Deanna [1:42]
      Scene 30: Jessie Digs a Hole [0:50]

   * 607: Heads Up
      Scene 24: Deanna has breakfast with Spencer [1:40]
      Scene 56: Deanna meets with Maggie while on watch [1:53]

Packaging:

The Blu-ray set comes in the normal blue clamshell case with a cardboard slip cover. Inside there is an insert with Digital HD code as well as a booklet of "Dead Stuff," which includes some ads for merchandise, other AMC series, and the Universal Studios Hollywood The Walking Dead Attraction.

The set contains five discs. I must comment on the extremely annoying fact that once again there is no listing whatsoever of what episodes are on each disc. You can't tell what episodes even have commentaries until you select them. I've broken it down to make it easier:

Disc One is front-loaded with two promos for various AMC series and contains the first four episodes, including the audio commentaries for "First Time Again" and "Here's Not Here."

Disc Two contains episodes 5-8 and the audio commentary for "Start to Finish."

Disc Three contains episodes 9-12, including the audio commentaries for "No Way Out" and "Not Tomorrow Yet."

Disc Four contains the last four episodes and the audio commentary for "The Same Boat" and "Last Day on Earth."

Disc Five contains all the special features minus the commentaries, plus the extended version of "Last Day on Earth."

Final Thoughts:

The Walking Dead is a fantastic show, and season six does not disappoint. Every season the show gets bigger and better. You can watch the season without seeing the previous ones, but I recommend watching the first five as well. I definitely recommend buying this set; if you are a fan, it's worth it for the special features alone.