{"id":697,"date":"2016-10-24T11:17:19","date_gmt":"2016-10-24T16:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/?p=697"},"modified":"2017-05-04T09:38:31","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T14:38:31","slug":"the-walking-dead-season-7-episode-1-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/?p=697","title":{"rendered":"The Walking Dead – Season 7, Episode 1 Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

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With the way season six ended, <\/span>The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i> had a lot to lose going into season seven\u2019s premiere. Fans have had all summer to contemplate every possible scenario for who wasn\u2019t going to walk out of episode one, so the element of surprise was going to be difficult for the writers to utilize. That\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing though, since removing shock value could leave much more room for solid storytelling that doesn\u2019t rely on gimmicks. But did <\/span>The Walking Dead <\/span><\/i>succeed in creating real drama with the season seven premiere titled \u201cThe Day Will Come When You Won\u2019t Be\u201d? I think overall, yes, it was a good start to the season with some truly heartbreaking moments and believable tension between the survivors and Negan, but there were still elements which felt like they were trying to drag out the reveal of the death simply to mess with viewers.
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** Warning: Major spoilers below! **<\/p>\n

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Like many fans of the show, the season six finale left me a little aggravated. I thought the episode was good overall, but the ending felt manipulative. Pretty much everyone knew that Negan was going to do something very bad to someone, so having the writers find excuses to line up nearly every single major character in front of Negan like a buffet felt extremely fake. It stretched believability and felt like it was mainly done so that viewers would have a large list of characters to worry about. It was another example of the show feeling like it was trying to outsmart the viewers at the expense of the characters and the story (like Glenn\u2019s trip under a dumpster earlier in the season). And then, to not reveal who got to meet Lucille\u2026 well, I thought that was a mistake. After watching the season seven premiere, I still think it was a mistake.<\/span><\/p>\n

The big reveal doesn\u2019t happen until the third segment of the show. In a flashback from Rick\u2019s point of view, we finally see that Abraham is the one who we heard getting beaten to death in the previous episode. As far as main characters to eliminate, Abraham feels like a safe choice. He is a likable character and an extremely fun part of the show, but ever since Eugene revealed that he was lying about needing to get to Washington D.C., Abraham has kind of been floating around without much to do. Abraham\u2019s main storyline has been about finding a purpose in life and getting closer to Sasha, which is great, but he seemed to have finally found some measure of peace last season. That\u2019s never a good sign in <\/span>The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i>, especially when a character\u2019s story arc seems to have come to a conclusion. <\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think that waiting all summer to reveal that it was Abraham was a smart decision because I don\u2019t think that it packs the punch that some other characters might have had in that moment. I think showing Abraham being killed at the end of season six would have had a bigger impact on viewers because they wouldn\u2019t have had time to prepare for the absolute worst only to be given something that was pretty bad. It also would have had a bigger impact in the season six finale given the main focus of the season seven premiere.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Negan once again went through the entire process of making a decision.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While fans were focused on who was going to die, the season seven opener instead focused on the relationship between Rick and Negan. The episode starts where last season ended. Negan has killed someone, but we don\u2019t know who it is. Rick is understandably upset and informs Negan that he will kill him one of these days. Negan finds that amusing, and he spends the rest of the episode breaking down Rick\u2019s will and defiance. The breaking down of Rick\u2019s resolve is really what this entire episode is about, and I feel that it was very well done. <\/span><\/p>\n

They went a lot further to make it believable that Rick would allow himself to be humbled by Negan than they did in the comics. And really, they needed to. Rick was crazy confident in his abilities to murder anything that stood in his way, so Negan had to do a lot. Abraham\u2019s death was only the first part. Negan also asserted his dominance by taking Rick\u2019s weapon, his hatchet, and symbolically using it to demonstrate that Rick is powerless and will willingly give Negan anything Negan wants. Negan tosses the hatchet into a group of walkers and forces Rick to go fetch it for him.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s during Rick\u2019s hunt for his own hatchet among a swarm of walkers when he thinks about what he has to lose if he goes against Negan and his army. He sees all of his extended family taking Lucille to the skull in thoughts of what is possible, and that\u2019s when Abraham\u2019s death is revealed. Rick also remembers something else, and this is where the episode finally goes for the huge emotional impact that everyone was waiting for (and dreading).<\/span><\/p>\n

After Abraham is finished, Negan notices that Rosita is particularly upset. He repeatedly tells her to look at Abraham\u2019s remains which prompts Daryl to defend her by punching Negan. Negan explains that he will not tolerate actions against him like that, but he chooses not to take it out on Daryl. At least not yet. He sees something in Daryl that he wants to use for himself. Instead, Negan makes another example of a survivor. This time it\u2019s Glenn.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Glenn’s death was a surprise, though not entirely.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Glenn was always one of the main picks for death in this episode mostly due to the fact that Glenn is the one that dies by Negan\u2019s bat in issue 100 of the comics. I thought he was a likely candidate because he\u2019s one of the most likable characters, he\u2019s one of the few remaining from the original group, and he has strong ties to many characters so his death will cause many huge ripples in character development. The main reason I didn\u2019t think he would be killed is because of last season\u2019s story where everyone thought he was dead. I never thought he was dead last season, but the fact that they teased it that makes his actual death this soon afterward feel a little less impactful than it might have been otherwise. As I write that though, it feels like I\u2019m nitpicking. I am.<\/span><\/p>\n

Glenn\u2019s death in this episode was tragic. Absolutely. It brought back memories of issue 100 of the comic, down to a near exact recreation of the image of the front of Glenn’s skull caved in and his left eye bulging out of his face. I didn\u2019t really want to relive those memories. I actually stopped reading the comic for a few months after that issue came out. I was that upset. I don\u2019t think Glenn\u2019s death in the show will have the same impact on me that the comic version did, mostly because I\u2019ve already been through that so I was kind of prepared this time, but that doesn\u2019t mean this episode didn\u2019t hit me hard. Glenn has grown and changed a lot over the years. For much of his time on the show he has been the heart and conscience that keeps the group grounded (though he has drifted from that role at times). Glenn was also the person that brought Rick to the original group of survivors in the first place. His death hurts. Glenn telling Maggie that he\u2019ll find her right before Negan finishes him off is a moment that will stick with me for a long time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Glenn\u2019s death happens about halfway through the episode, and honestly, I was kind of numb after that. Negan continued to break Rick down by nearly forcing him to chop off Carl\u2019s hand (which I\u2019m glad they didn\u2019t go through with), but I didn\u2019t feel as much in that moment as I did during Glenn\u2019s execution. I think that might have been a bit of a problem, because it meant that the focus of the episode had shifted from Rick and Negan to Glenn. And rightfully so. Glenn\u2019s death deserved full attention and emotional weight. It\u2019s a delicate balancing act though, and I think overall the episode was good, if somewhat uneven.<\/span><\/p>\n

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This episode will probably leave you emotionally exhausted, just like Rick.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The parts I really like about the episode are the little things that open up new storylines for the season. Maggie wants blood for blood, but Rick seems like he\u2019s finally starting to understand that forging straight ahead into danger isn\u2019t always the best option. Sasha and Rosita have a moment of understanding as they both carry away Abraham\u2019s body, which could lead to some interesting developments there, especially given that Sasha was on the verge of giving up before Abraham started pursuing her. Daryl has been taken by Negan, and Dwight very much wants to kill Daryl, so there will be plenty of good conflict there. Also, it was the punch that Daryl delivered to Negan that caused him to kill Glenn, so I think there will probably be a lot of guilt for him. And Carl seems to be one of the few who is still defiant towards Negan.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, I liked all of the character moments, but the things I didn\u2019t care for were mostly down to plotting and pacing. If Abraham had been killed in the season six finale, then the focus on Rick and Negan in this episode wouldn\u2019t have taken away from his death as much. At the end of this show, Abraham felt like the third most important thing. Also, putting Glenn\u2019s death in the middle of the episode, while surprising, seemed to take away some of the impact of the moment between Rick and Carl. I also didn\u2019t care for the first two segments of the show where they continued to drag out the reveal of Negan\u2019s actions. It was probably supposed to build tension, but I\u2019ve spent all summer losing the tension I had built up. I really just wanted to get moving with the story.<\/span><\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/span><\/h3>\n

This was a good episode, but\u00a0it could have been handled differently. Even so, this is probably the most emotional I’ve been during an episode since season three’s “Killer Within.” That’s high praise in my opinion, and I think this episode will rank among the better ones in the series. As we move on into season seven, I am hopeful. It\u2019s always interesting to see what they do after a huge episode like this. I think the next few episodes will be pretty quiet as everyone recovers, but I know big things are in the future, including Ezekiel and his tiger. All in all, I think it\u2019s a good start to the season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Details<\/span><\/h3>\n

Series:\u00a0The Walking Dead<\/em>
\nSeason: 7
\nEpisode: 1
\nTitle: \u201cThe Day Will Come When You Won\u2019t Be\u201d
\nOriginal Air Date: October 23, 2016<\/p>\n

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Season Seven started with one of the most emotional episodes in a long time. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a good start to the next chapter in the series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,444],"tags":[336,335,228,309,333],"class_list":["post-697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","category-tv-review","tag-amc","tag-review","tag-television","tag-the-walking-dead","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=697"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":712,"href":"http:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions\/712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lasttheater.cnjradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}