Major Spoilers Are In The The Walking Dead – The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be Review
I just can’t believe the first episode of season 7 of The Walking Dead has already gone to air. It feels like the wait has been so long since I watched a new episode and while I only started watching this series earlier this year, I was completely addicted to it for a month or so and spent all my weekends watching episode after episode until I was done with season 6. The Walking Dead fans will know that season 6 ended with one of the most talked about cliffhangers in television history, or one of the most common ones (who’s going to die in the next episode?).
This episode of The Walking Dead is I think the most brutal and the most punishing one of the whole series, not only for the characters involved, but as a viewer watching Negan commit such brutality on screen, it was very stressful.
First off, I’d really like to talk about Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s performance as Negan. We got to see a bit of him at the end of season 6, but there’s a lot to see in this first episode. in fact, I think he has the most lines in the episode. I think as the show’s new villain, Jeffrey Dean Morgan has really has solidified himself as a force in the show. Not even when I was watching The Governor (David Morrissey) did I feel a sense of anxiety when watching anyone in the show, but with Negan, he’s very intimidating and scary. I’m not sure what will happen with him next, but I do hope Rick and his buddies get him for what he did.
The big part of this first episode was finding out who was killed by Negan, While I thought going in that it would probably be done as soon as the episode started, then we’d watch the opening credits and go from there, it didn’t happen that way. Things were drawn out just a little bit longer than I thought they would, with Negan toying with Rick quite a bit and the audience too. Then we see it, Abraham is killed brutally with the bat, Daryl gets up and punches Negan, he gets a bit mad and lets him go, then out of nowhere, Glenn gets a bat to the head as well.
The killing of these two characters was done in a very brutal and very sadistic way and as someone watching the show, I didn’t really want to see them get repeatedly bashed in the head. I mean I know it’s part of the show and I probably wouldn’t care if they did it to a walker, but to two of the main cast members, it wasn’t nice to watch. I think it may have been a bit too much really. I do hope that going in this type of brutal direction, is not the future of the show or at least isn’t something that becomes common.
Andrew Lincoln who plays Rick, had probably the second biggest role in the episode. While Jeffrey Dean Morgan had a lot to prove as the new villain, Andrew Lincoln’s role was still very demanding and his character was pushed to the very limit in this episode. I’m not sure if his character was 100% broken, but if not, he’s very close. I mean being asked to cut off a son’s hand? It’s a bit far really and I’m glad the show didn’t go there, I felt almost it would have been way too much if it did.
But that’s sort of why this episode was good, as a viewer it’s almost like we were all part of Negan’s game and if he got you anxious during the episode and you’re coming back for more next week, then probably you’re hooked for the whole season and Negan got you, just like he did with the rest of the characters. I certainly will be watching next week. But I can see many people possibly feeling like turning away from the show due to how brutal it was, not myself, but I can see it. I guess we’ll see how this season goes, but for a season premiere, it’s definitely a memorable one and as something that caused me to almost have an anxiety attack watching it, I think establishing Negan as a villain was well done (just don’t kill any of my favourites again please). Rest in peace Glenn and Abraham.
