Okay, those of you who are *still* traumatized by the absolutely gruesome season seven premiere of “The Walking Dead” from this past October- the dust has settled and this season is finally over. You can uncover your eyes now and we can talk about our feelings (and you all know I have a lot of them.)
It’s funny how the season six, first-person, “did Negan just kill the cameraman?” cliffhanger finale enraged myself and so many other people for various and all pretty good reasons- but had I known what that cliffhanger was leading up to- I probably wouldn’t have complained that much. I knew things were going to be bad when the show returned, but I didn’t really comprehend HOW bad.
The 7th season of the show faced a lot of criticism these past few months. Some thought it had traded in good storytelling and character development for overly barbaric and perhaps unnecessary violence. Others thought there was too much storytelling and character development and not enough violence- and still others thought there weren’t enough zombies (although this is a common complaint season after season despite the fact that hordes of walkers are still an ongoing thing every few episodes so I don’t typically pay attention to reviews that gripe about that too much.)
And to those criticisms I will say something I never thought I would utter as someone who admittedly tends to be a bit harsh when reviewing this show as a whole- season 7 was pretty perfect, save for a couple of setbacks- which I’ll happily discuss.
Of course, I know that not everyone has caught up just yet- so I’ll be placing my review under the cut/”Keep Reading” button.
Please bear in mind before continuing with my review- I am going to spoil things- a LOT of things- and this is your final warning of the aforementioned spoilers before you press on and keep reading.
And, if you’d like to read my thoughts on the past seasons- I’ve linked them here (just in case!)
And without further delay, let Negan’s cocky, psychopathic and fine self guide you into my review:
It seems fitting that I should be putting this post up today, considering I’m currently sitting in my hotel room in surprisingly peaceful Alexandria (Yes- THE Alexandria!) to attend a wedding for a friend-of-a-friend later on this afternoon.
Past reviews and reflections of previous seasons of “The Walking Dead” have always been fairly easy to write- in my own experience- because the story arcs have been relatively similar throughout the years. The surviving group takes up residence somewhere they believe to be safe. It turns out not to be safe at all. They encounter the designated “bad guy” of the season- be it living or undead- they prevail, although they typically lose one or two members of the group along the way- and the audience is left with a cliffhanger ending to keep us coming back the following season for more. It’s a simple formula, but it works- and it’s entertaining.
Sunday night marked the final episode of the fourth season of AMC’s “The Walking Dead.” Not since the season two finale have I been so psyched and eager for the show to return as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, I, and every other fan of the gory drama- have to wait until October for the season five premiere.
Legally Redhead 