Tuesday, October 25, 2016

The Walking Dead Season 7 Premiere Reaction

So, the night finally arrived. The Walking Dead season 7 premiere has aired and if you haven't watched it yet, stop reading. No, seriously, if you haven't watched yet, STOP. This post will contain spoilers. All of the anxiety has built up to this moment.

I had my theory: Abraham would be the one to get the bat. It was time to find out how accurate that theory was.

Just like the way the finale ended, the beginning of the premiere only brought about more anxiety. "Who got the bat? Tell us already!" Lots of people in my dorm house got together to watch the episode together, and those were our words during the first commercial break.

But before we would find out who was killed, Rick would go on a little journey with Negan in the RV. The suspense only built as you got an insight look into Rick's thoughts, seeings members of his group as Negan stood in front of them before a brief flashback of events that have occurred throughout their journey.

The most emotional moment we've ever seen Rick have is in this very scene, as well. Actually, probably the entire episode is by far the most emotional we've ever seen Rick. As each character flashes onto the screen one-by-one, you see it take a toll on him a little bit more, until he ultimately breaks down on the roof of the RV after amusing Negan and escaping a group of walkers.

And then we finally get the scene. And if you thought it was brutal the first time watching it, it's even worse the second time around. It is indeed Abraham who gets the bat... at least at first. The scene itself was brutal and graphic as everyone looked on to see one of their own completely beaten to bits. Take a deep breath, that's the only death we had to worry about, right? If only. What was more surprising was what happened next.

Daryl's reaction to Abraham's death was to get up and punch Negan and that wasn't to be dealt with by him. As punishment for it, another person gets the bat, and this time, it is the one character everyone hoped it would never be: Glenn. In an incredibly quick manner, the show took everyone from a sigh of relief to instant horror. Not to mention, yet again, how brutal the scene was graphically. They didn't hold back one bit with showing the terror Lucille does. This one even more so than when Abraham was hit as Glenn's face is shown bloody, his eye bulging out. Maggie's reaction and Glenn's ability to somehow say a few final words to her, "Maggie, I'll find you," only upped the emotional level.

What'll be interesting to see is how Daryl is impacted by the guilt of Glenn dying as a result of him stepping out of line. Is it going to eat away at him or is he going to channel it into his revenge? Or, maybe it'll be a little bit of both. I'm looking forward to seeing how his character develops as a result of this very moment.

And then there was the whole subject of Rick's hand. After the first clip as released prior to the premiere, everyone was pretty convinced he would be losing his hand like in the comics. Suspense was a prominent theme of the episode. Everyone was waiting for the moment when Negan would cut Rick's hand off, but when Negan called Carl out to the center of the circle and drew a line on his arm before telling Rick to chop his own son's arm off, the entire game changed. Luckily, Rick doesn't actually have to do it because it was a test to show Rick who he answers to and who he provides for, but the scene was insane. Hell, the entire episode was insane. And Andrew Lincoln is absolutely incredible. We've never seen Rick in this sort of state: pure terror, completely destroyed, and absolutely no idea what to do. Andrew Lincoln aces every emotion and so does the rest of the cast.

If everything wasn't bad enough already, they had to show a scene of what it would be like if everyone lived happily ever after, which was the life Rick began to picture for his group before Negan entered the picture. As soon as I saw Glenn with the baby, the emotions hit harder. We'll never be seeing that family exist and that fact is heartbreaking.

While we see Maggie's reaction to Glenn being killed as it is occurring, her emotions are shown the most at the end of the episode when she insists on being left alone to go to the Hilltop and take Glenn's body with her as she's in an incredibly weak state. The entire group sticks by her and no matter how many times she tells them to leave her, they stick by her side. The brutality of the events leaves everyone leaning on each other.

When the cast said the episode was probably the most emotional episode they've ever shot, they weren't wrong. The episode was draining, yet still fantastic to watch. I couldn't help but admire how it was filmed and the sequence of scenes we were given. The writing was outstanding, as was the acting. It deserves to be an award-winning episode. It was the lowest we've ever seen some characters, like Rick and Maggie, but it's going to be even better once we see them rise again, assuming they do, eventually. (Which, I'm sure they will.)

Negan is not messing around and he's made quite the first impression of himself. The brutality of his actions and his nature is horrifying, yet so intriguing and with him as the villain, it's going to be one helluva season.

And with that, Abraham and Glenn join those we've lost and those the group continues to fight for in memory. I can't wait to see what this season brings beyond this point, but let's just hope that we won't be losing any other major characters...

Who am I kidding? This is The Walking Dead we're talking about.

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