The Walking Dead: Season 7

WARNING: SPOILERS AHOY.

I have been a huge Walking Dead Fan since the end of season 2 aired. Prior to that I was convinced that I would hate it, seeing as I had no liking for any kind of horror genre. However my dad insisted that I would like it if I just gave it a chance, so, much to my chagrin, I sat down and watched an episode. One week later I had caught up to the season 2 finale which had just aired the past Sunday. Feeling myself in a bit of an amazon-like show hole, I went to the library to hunt down the comics that had inspired the show. I had caught up with the comics by the time the show aired the third season, and had also started a fan twitter account by the name of The Walking Addicts which now has just about 27,000 followers.

It would be an understatement to say that I was excited for Season 7 to air earlier this month. After that cliffhanger we were left with at the end of the 6th Season I was ready to find out who was going to get the metaphorical axe. Having read the comics I knew that Negan's entrance would be nothing short of spectacular, an incident which would forever change the lives of our characters. And boy did he not disappoint. Abraham was who I was expecting all along. Since Denise had gotten the arrow Abraham took in the comics I figured he wouldn't be long for this world. So when Negan took the first swing I was ready. I was not ready for Glenn however. A bold move on the part of the creative team left many fans reeling as not one, but two of our beloved team prison were taken from us in the most brutal way possible. And then Daryl was taken captive by Negan, setting up what I was sure would be the most spectacular season yet. However ratings have been dropping quickly since that initial episode. It seems that they may have spread their cast of characters too thin, leaving each episode to focus on only one set of characters at a time.

I believe that given the situation and the progression of the stories, the writers are doing right by the characters. Each character is so complex by this point that it would seem unfair and rushed if they were not given a full episode. The alternative would be to have each character have a small amount of screen time for each episode, which in my opinion would stagnate the show even further. Seeing each character develop would be much harder with this model than it currently is. What people fail to see is that The Walking Dead is no longer just about zombies, now more than ever the threat from other groups of humans is the main concern. Yes we still get the epic zombie kill scenes and the thrill of escaping the occasional horde. But the true horror comes from what each group is willing to do to the others in the efforts to survive. Even Rick's crew was willing to slaughter dozens of people they didn't know in the effort to secure their own safety.

I won't be giving up on the Walking Dead any time soon and you shouldn't either. The threat of the apocalypse is still there, it is just hidden behind a leather jacket and a wicked smile. I'm sure this season is bound to take some wild turns, we just have to be willing to give it a chance.