So I guess the big question is, did the season 7 finale deliver? Did it give us enough to want to tune in again in 7 months? Watching this season I can honestly say I have never felt so much frustration with a show, trying to justify the time spent watching it, and wondering if I'm going to continue going further. The season started strong... very strong with an almost panel for panel recreation of events from the comic book. It was brutally violent as hell and probably more than most viewers were expecting. This, in my opinion, should have been how season 6 ended! By making the audience wait 7 months to see what happened in a pivotal scene from the comics, the show gave us time to loose interest. It was a huge mistake by the showrunners. Most tuned in just to see the outcome, but as numbers dictated, viewers dropped steadily in the following episodes of season 7. Did they learn from their misteps, yes and no. Season 7 started out with a bang but fizzled out and dragged its heals for about 12 episodes, offering up a sacrificial lamb every now and then to try and spark some kind of heartbeat in its audience. Basically the whole of season 7 was spent showing us that Negan is a badass not to be trifled with. Episode after episode of Negan or his men beating down on the surviving clans. If that wasn't bad enough, they introduced a new group I call the garbage pail kids who Rick is all too quick to trust. This new group have devolved way too much to have any place in this new world. I could understand if we're talking an entire generation of time passing seeing something like this, but no, I couldn't buy into their actions or extremely stupid and annoying form of communication. I understand that they are probably building this group up to be the Whisperers IMHO, but c'mon, everytime they were on screen, I wanted to change the channel. So yeah season 7 as a whole was a fail to me, but lets get to the finale.... and spoilers ahead!
What felt like a large chunk of the episode, was spent on flashbacks between Sasha and Abraham, basically solidifying that they were in a relationship closer than what we were shown. Each time they focused on Sasha, I found myself loosing patience and looking at the clock. There was a purpose, and the buildup was necessary I guess to give depth to her sacrifice, but after a boring as fuck season, I didn't need to have my hand held. I knew where it was going and just wanted to get there. So this all gets us down to the last 20 minutes or so of the extended episode. The Garbage Pail Kids are on the walls and everybody is poised for the oncoming battle. Twenty minutes left... we can get a good bit of ground here right. Nope, what we ALL knew was coming was the Garbage Pail Kids backstabbing Rick, making a deal with Negan... the man who supposedly doesn't make deals... the man who with his past history and ego wouldn't have allowed another group to be armed to the teeth somewhere between the two warring factions... but I guess the show runners thought we'd let this slide. The minute the Garbage Pail Kids turned team, I almost turned the channel... I hate the characters that much, and really, to see Rick taken by a group of village idiots with guns, it's just bad television... and it was projected from the first episode we met them. Anyways, enter Sasha who surprises Negan with her sudden transformation to a walker, distracting the Saviors. Without hesitation, Carl KICKS SO MUCH ASS taking the lead turning on the GPK. He actually takes out a few gunmen standing beside him before Rick even knows whats going on. This triggers the first part of the battle which ends fairly quickly with Negan and his men once again in command. Rick just couldn't keep up with Carl. So just as Negan is about to feed Lucile Carl's skull, in comes the Hilltop and the Kingdom (not sure how they got in, or more conveniently at the same time)... led by Shiva taking out a man standing right behind Negan. I have to admit I did get chills watching the ensuing battle even though it played out incredibly safe with neither side loosing any key players, but King Ezekiel's rousing little speech was well received. I'll tell you this, it was a bad day to be standing behind Negan. Not once, but twice, Shiva takes down the man directly behind Negan... c'mon! A lot of people are killed, but Negan and his key henchman all escape unharmed, as does the GBK leader and a lot of her people. I mean really, do we need the Garbage Pail Kids revisited? Are they really that desperate to hold onto passing antagonists to drag the story backwards later on. Move on for Christ sake! The only real loss this episode was Sasha... but honestly she was lost episodes ago, her character much like Andrea's, being wasted into nothing. That, and she's moving on to the new Star Trek show. The episode ends with Negan overlooking his army announcing that "We're going to war!" while Daryl finds a lead army man left by, probably Dwight with a message painted on it "Didn't know", referring to Sasha... at least that's what I think, then Jesus and Maggie putting Sasha down in the woods. So I'm somewhat OK with the season ending (a much better feeling than last season), I'm still not satisfied that we didn't get to see at least one of the henchmen get what was coming. Nobody that dies in this episode really mattered, save Sasha, so a lot of it felt kinda empty and we're heading on that rinse repeat cycle. The only thing really established is a clear line in the sand.
So the showrunners and Kirkman really believe The Walking Dead can go another 10 seasons.... Sloppy writing and bad story telling are a true forecast to a show coming to its end. The Walking Dead was once a GREAT show topping many top 10 lists. It was in my top 3 for the first 4 seasons.... now its not even amongst my top 10. The show is loosing viewers every season. They really have to re-evaluate where the they are going with the show and put just a little more love into it to restore it to its former greatness. At this rate, I'm not even sure I'm gonna watch season 8 live.....
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