Earlier this year, The Walking Dead fans were left on the edge of their seats with a cliff-hanger ending that alluded to the demise of a main character. The seventh season of the hit AMC show aired on 23rd October 2016, with the continuation of the episode that concluded the sixth season in April. To say fans were eagerly awaiting the show’s return would be a massive understatement, with a total of 20.8 million views altogether, The Walking Dead deserves the title of the most anticipated show of 2016.
Some viewers have criticised the show-writers’ decision to make us wait half a year to find out which character’s fate suffered at the hands of Negan and Lucille but I’d argue that whilst this was an understandably frustrating wait, it was a clever move in terms of building up suspense for the premiere. The premiere has also received some negative feedback from fans, especially at the level of violence displayed in The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be. The episode kicked off with not one cruel murder, but two. And as if that wasn’t enough, we’re forced to watch Rick (Andrew Lincoln) being emotionally tortured by Negan (Jeffrey Morgan); who gives him the ultimatum of cutting of his own son’s arm or watching the rest of his group die in front of him. To some extent, I can understand the upset that people felt after watching the death of Abraham Ford (Michael Cudlitz) fan-favourite Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun). But this is a show about an apocalypse after all, so this level of gore shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Maybe the close-up of the bloody pulp Negan had created wasn’t necessary, but the brutality is an undeniably vital part of his character. This super villain is supposed to make our blood boil – he makes Rick, the leader of the group, look vulnerable. We all know The Walking Dead writers have a habit of tugging on our heartstrings so we shouldn’t expect anything less than absolute senseless violence from such a psychologically (and physically) abusive character.
As if losing two brilliant characters wasn’t heart-breaking enough, we’re then forced to watch Negan test Rick’s loyalty to him as he traps Rick on top of a zombie-ridden RV and made to fetch an axe like a dog. To add to the heart-break of watching such a strong character be reduced to Negan’s “pet”, if you’ve watched the show from the beginning you may remember the Season 1 finale that has a parallel to this scene. Rick was trapped in the tank at the start of the walker outbreak and Glenn was the person who came to his rescue…now we know he will never be around to ever save Rick like that again.
So many people have already deemed this upcoming season a write-off but I think we should wait for future episodes to see how the recent deaths effect the group and how Negan’s tyranny over the group unravels. I’m hoping Negan’s promising villainous portrayal will continue on through this season.
Adina Rees
Image: unrealitytv.co.uk