The main reason season 7A of The Walking Dead was fantastic
By Adam Carlson
Season 7A of The Walking Dead was polarizing for fans, with some loving it while others hated it. Here is the reason it was great for the AMC show.
The Walking Dead, on its surface, is a program about a group of people banding together to survive the zombie apocalypse. However, it is more about overcoming adversity and pushing the characters to their breaking points.
Before season 7, there weren’t that many moments that kept Rick and the group in dire circumstances for very long. The most notable was toward the middle of season 5 when the group was traveling toward Washington D.C. and were fighting hunger, thirst, and exhaustion. Even then, there was hope of finding food, water or civilization, making the situation less powerful than it should have been.
There entire scope of the program changed when Negan was introduced in the season 6 finale. Rick Grimes went from a fearless and confident leader to a shattered mess of a man. The group cowered after the deaths of Abraham and Glenn, shifting the balance of power in the show faster and more definitively than ever before.
Watching our favorite survivors being used and manipulated by Negan and The Saviors was very difficult. Fans kept waiting for the group to rebound or get out of the situation quickly, like what happened at Terminus or Grady Memorial Hospital, but that didn’t happen.
More from Undead Walking
- Walking Dead alum Jayson Warner Smith promotes new film, Chipper, watch it now
- Walking Dead actor Chandler Riggs filming new movie in Tampa Bay
- Why is there no season 12 of The Walking Dead?
- Will Morgan Jones find Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live spinoff?
- Watch Tales of TWD actress Jillian Bell in Prime Video’s Candy Cane Lane
Throughout the 8 episodes in the first half of season 7, Negan had his way with Rick and the people of Alexandria, The Hilltop, and The Kingdom. Horror stories about the group from the women and children of the Oceanside community just confirmed how dangerous The Saviors can be.
However, it was the final moments of the episode that gave fans of The Walking Dead hope for the future of their favorite characters. All the buildup has led to a situation where the communities will need to come together to figure out a way to defeat this powerful group of individuals who have milked them dry of weapons and supplies.
The fact that the popular zombie survival drama could achieve that storyline in 8 episodes while having some focus on individual characters and developing side plots to keep things interesting is a true testament to the power of these characters, the fantastic source material, and the excellent group of writers at AMC.
Next: Each community's contribution to the war against Negan
The Walking Dead will return for the second half of season 7 on February 12, 2017. With the group desperate to get their freedom from Negan and The Saviors, the payoff for watching our heroes struggle through the first half of season 7 should be very rewarding for viewers of the hit AMC program.