The premiere of season 7 of The Walking Dead was a phenomenal piece of television – brutal, visceral, difficult to watch, stomach-churning and sentimentally highly-strung.
However, despite the shock of not one but TWO central character deaths, the episode lacked the emotional weight that it could have had at the END of a season rather than kicking off a brand new one.
Sure, it’s totally understandable why a show of this calibre would end a series on such a tense cliffhanger and the ultimate reveal of who met their grisly end at the hands (or bat) of antagonist Negan (played with a cocky and sinister turn by Jeffry Dean Morgan) was a satisfying pay-off after such a drawn out wait after season 6 ended almost over 6 months ago.
However, it was that gap that nullified what could have potentially been a much more impactful conclusion. All of the work that season 6 did to make us feel the pressure when Negan lined everybody up on their knees in front of him was ultimately undone. Glenn’s ‘death’ and return, Maggie’s pregnancy, Sasha and Abraham’s relationship – all were built steadily enough to make the realisation that somebody was to have their skull caved in hit hard (forgive the turn of phrase). Much of this had been either forgotten or reduced to such a distant memory that it could have been almost anybody dying and the effect would have been the same (well, save for perhaps Rick, Carl or fan favourite Daryl).
That’s not to say that the season 7 opener wasn’t a torrid emotional experience. To lose a character like Glenn, who had been through so much since his first appearance in season 1, and in such a surprising way too (the initial death of Abraham alleviated the strain somewhat and a second death didn’t seem like it was on the cards), was hard to swallow.
Even Abraham, who despite being predicted by many fans of the show as the ‘most likely to’ receive the blunt end of the violent Negan’s baseball bat ‘Lucille’ (yes, the bat has a name), will be greatly missed and the looks exchanged by his former lover Rosita and new partner Sasha were enough to tug on the heartstrings, even if the former military sergeant did take his beating with noticeable resilience (which was a real testament to how well his character has been written).
If these deaths happened during a finale and the aftermath was saved for the premiere, that would have delivered an intense season closer wrought with disbelief but would have perhaps not made the series 7 opener so anticipated.
Did you see The Walking Dead season 7 premiere?
Were you satisfied with the conclusion to the cliffhanger?
What do you think this now means for Rick and his companions?
Ben Errington
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