The Walking Dead season 7 finale sums up the heart of the show

Katelyn Nacon as Enid, Tom Payne as Paul 'Jesus' Rovia, Lennie James as Morgan Jones, Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon - The Walking Dead _ Season 7, Episode 16 - Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
Katelyn Nacon as Enid, Tom Payne as Paul 'Jesus' Rovia, Lennie James as Morgan Jones, Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon - The Walking Dead _ Season 7, Episode 16 - Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC /
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Maggie’s monologue at the end of The Walking Dead season finale was a beautiful tribute to Glenn but it also summed up the enduring themes of the show: family, love and loyalty.

Season 7 of The Walking Dead has been rough. There was a lot of loss and a lot of uncertainly as fans adjusted to the changes in the show. This is probably the most divisive season the show has had so far. Fans either loved it or hated it.

The show is changing and evolving and fans have had to make a lot of adjustments. Maggie’s monologue reminded the fans that the enduring themes of the show haven’t changed. And they won’t change. In many ways this season has been the one that most parallels real life. Life is constantly changing. People come and go. Leadership changes, and so do the conditions of the world. But love, loyalty and devotion to family don’t change.

As the show evolves there’s bound to be some complaining from people who won’t like the new direction that the show is going in. The battle for day to day survival isn’t really the focus of the show anymore. The survivors have found some stability at Alexandria. They’ve been there the longest of any of the places that they have found. Now they are fighting for the future instead of just fighting for survival.

Taking Negan Down

And the future right now looks bleak. Negan and The Saviors are not going down without a fight. They’ve been in control of the other communities for a long time and it’s made it possible for them to live pretty well. But Negan has never faced a well organized and cooperative insurrection before.

Now that both The Hilltop and The Kingdom have joined Alexandria Negan has a full on revolt on his hands. That’s going to impact the day to day life at The Sanctuary and may even lead to division within The Saviors. Dwight has already secretly flipped on Negan and is actively helping the survivors. It’s possible other Saviors will join him.

The workers in The Sanctuary who don’t like living under Negan’s rules also could possibly take advantage of the insurrection to either flee Sanctuary or try to fight Negan from within. Negan’s position is extremely precarious right now.

The survivors know that in order to secure any kind of future for themselves and their children they’re going to need to taking Negan down for good.

More Threats On The Horizon

Even if they manage to take out Negan and The Saviors there will be other threats to face in the future. In The Walking Dead world there is no such thing as security. But as Maggie alluded to in her monologue they have faced big threats before and have overcome them. Not without loss, but they have always managed to stay together and to survive together.

The journey to Alexandria has been a long one. It was a great tribute to those lost along the way to remember that path from Atlanta to Hershel’s Farm and the prison. But now it’s time to move forward and face the challenge of building a sustainable future.

More from Undead Walking

Season 8 of The Walking Dead will kick off with the show’s 100th episode. The story of surviving in a world that crashed and burned is over. But the story of rebuilding civilization and some kind of sustainable life is just starting. No matter what challenges the survivors face as they try to build a new world as long as they have each other and family, love and loyalty they will succeed.