The Walking Dead is definitely a show that has seen its ups and downs. More often than not, the series manages to deliver these incredible 45-minute episodes of human drama, emotional distress and, of course, suspenseful zombie gore. But every now and then there’s that one episode that’s just full of convenient plot devices, sluggish pacing and underwhelming cliffhangers.

Essentially, each season faces this issue of incoherence, as a chunk of the episodes will either be fast and exciting or slow and dreary. In regards to its latest season, the popular apocalyptic series mires in the exact same problem for the sixth time in a row.

The season gets off to a good start with “First Time Again,” which introduces new characters that would be joining the survivors of the previous season. This terrifically sets up what is to come in the following episode “JSS” which is, arguably, one of the best episodes the show has seen. It is bloody, scary, fast-paced and manages to create a horrific atmosphere in which the peaceful civilians of Alexandria must fight the vicious marauders known as The Wolves.

Then comes “Thank You,” which is by far the most controversial episode of this mid-season in which a major character seems to reach their demise. It’s not even a spoiler at this point because it was trending all over the Internet the night the episode aired. It was Glenn. Audiences were left in a state of utter shock when they saw what appeared to be their beloved Asian-nerd-turned-tough-guy get his guts torn out by Walkers and were dying (no pun intended) to figure out what truly happened in that scene. So what did the series do? It gave us “Here’s Not Here,” an episode that has absolutely nothing to do with the main conflict and is solely about Morgan and how he becomes a master of wielding a stick.

It is understood that the show is just trying to keep the audience on the edge for as long as they can until they can clearly realize what happened to Glenn, which is fine. However, backtracking the story was a bad move, for it completely halted the momentum that the series had finally built up. There was absolutely no reason to squeeze in one of their infamously useless “filler” episodes that progress the story in no way.

What follows is another dull episode with “Now,” which does return to the main storyline of the season, but only vaguely. Again, they want to tease the audience, that’s completely understandable. After all, this is supposed to be thrilling adventure of survival and human strength. But the show seems to think that answering questions with even more questions is an effective tactic that instills tension among their fans, and it doesn’t. It only leads to frustration for the fans and to uninteresting episodes for the show.

After this we have “Always Accountable,” which diverges from the plot, again, and presents a whole slew of ambiguous ideas. Only this time, the ambiguity works somewhat better, for they tease a villain who’s renowned from the comics who’ll debut in the next half of the season. But then comes what fans were craving for: their answers.

In “Heads Up,” it is confirmed that Glenn survives the hoard of Walkers that had surrounded him. This episode manages to blend the positive things the show is known for as well as the negative things the show is known for. Though it finally closes any loose ends, it does so in a relatively slow fashion, resulting in an uneven method of storytelling. Having a slow episode isn’t necessarily bad, in fact, some of the best episodes of this show have been quite sluggish. But this kind of pace only works for single-character-based episodes, such as those with the Governor in season four. When an episode is about the group as a whole, the slow pace only drags things out rather than emphasize their dramatic relevance or suspense.

The mid-season ends with “Start to Finish,” in which the Walkers break into Alexandria and the citizens must figure out a way to escape their impending doom. Of course, this finale would feature a cliffhanger of sorts, as it is familiar territory for The Walking Dead. But as mentioned before, the show rarely leaves the audience hanging at a point of major significance. All that’s left to wonder is whether or not the citizens escape the Walkers. Well, if the season is going to continue, then it’s safe to assume that they do. Just a guess.

This isn’t a bad show by any means, it’s just that there are so many instances of poor writing that could so easily be improved. Nevertheless, the performances are amazing, the action is top-notch and the overall sense of dread is almost always prominent. But there are some factors that cannot be avoided and must be acknowledged for their mediocrity.

Season six of AMC’s The Walking Dead will return on Feb. 14 of next year, finally revealing the infamous villain of Negan, who will be played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, perhaps the A-list star to appear on the show. Hopefully, his presence will resurrect the incredible momentum that began this season but was lost as time went on.