I was never a big fan of Carl anyways, so when they killed him off, I was OK, however, it seemed Gimple took the bullet for that decision, which led to his "promotion" and a new head writer to step up. This is great because I think Gimple was a train wreck and nearly ruined the show. The writing was BAD, extremely bad, laughable at how predictable and lame it was.
Finale was OK, I think Rick should have killed Negan, the whole Carl's vision/light was weak, but Maggie/Jesus/Daryl conspiring to take him out is OK. Negan/Jeffrey Dean Morgan was actually a really entertaining character, he actually grows on your after the first time you meet him when you hate the guy.
I think the show is carrying on too much dead weight at this point in the cast, but I need more TV content so I would like to see this new writer really turn the show around. I really hope they let the show die around 10-12 seasons.