Written by: Kevin Berge
Are you ready to see who dies? You were a half-a-year ago? Nah, you're hardly ready now. (Image Courtesy of: comingsoon.net)
Quick Take: The Walking Dead Season 7 added the biggest threat to the group yet with Negan's introduction, but much of the emotional fallout was too front loaded, leading to a boring season of stalling and building. Even with strong performances, too many episodes left little impact.
***The following is a review of the recently ended seventh season of The Walking Dead with spoilers included for even the finale. Readers are expected to have watched the whole season; otherwise, they will be spoiled on events over the course of this season.***
For months, fans were left waiting on the ultimate cliffhanger, a promise that a major cast member would die, and The Walking Dead delivered. In fact, they killed two: Abraham and Glenn. "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be" was a brutal, harrowing showcase of Neegan's intensity and power.
Watching Rick Grimes cry over the truth of his own arrogance, accepting his true loss of power as Neegan threatens Carl, was one of the series' most memorable moments and well worth the time spent waiting for it. Unfortunately, that was about all we got that was memorable and affecting in this season.
Season 7 followed the Grimes-led crew as they faced a new reality under the rule of Neegan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Along the way, they found their strength once more and attempted to unite forces against The Saviors including The Kingdom led by King Ezekiel (Khary Payton) and his pet tiger Shiva.
While The Walking Dead has always been about moving from safe zone to safe zone, the series is driven by character interaction, and this season rarely felt like it was moving forward with its characters. Lacking for driving action scenes and memorable character moments, there was little to get excited about.
Perhaps the high to start the season was too much. Watching Morgan and Carol sit around trying to live peacefully in the Kingdom and Rick sneak around with Michonne building up a store of guns and find an army just lacks highs and lows. What happened to all the Walkers?
Much of this season too often feels like world-building which is odd so far into a series. With three unique settings, the episodes shift back and forth between too many characters to ever feel like much is getting done. In particular, episodes on the Savior's compound alone feel too lacking in relatable characters with only Daryl and Eugene featured mainly in those episodes.
For months, fans were left waiting on the ultimate cliffhanger, a promise that a major cast member would die, and The Walking Dead delivered. In fact, they killed two: Abraham and Glenn. "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be" was a brutal, harrowing showcase of Neegan's intensity and power.
Watching Rick Grimes cry over the truth of his own arrogance, accepting his true loss of power as Neegan threatens Carl, was one of the series' most memorable moments and well worth the time spent waiting for it. Unfortunately, that was about all we got that was memorable and affecting in this season.
Season 7 followed the Grimes-led crew as they faced a new reality under the rule of Neegan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Along the way, they found their strength once more and attempted to unite forces against The Saviors including The Kingdom led by King Ezekiel (Khary Payton) and his pet tiger Shiva.
While The Walking Dead has always been about moving from safe zone to safe zone, the series is driven by character interaction, and this season rarely felt like it was moving forward with its characters. Lacking for driving action scenes and memorable character moments, there was little to get excited about.
Perhaps the high to start the season was too much. Watching Morgan and Carol sit around trying to live peacefully in the Kingdom and Rick sneak around with Michonne building up a store of guns and find an army just lacks highs and lows. What happened to all the Walkers?
Much of this season too often feels like world-building which is odd so far into a series. With three unique settings, the episodes shift back and forth between too many characters to ever feel like much is getting done. In particular, episodes on the Savior's compound alone feel too lacking in relatable characters with only Daryl and Eugene featured mainly in those episodes.
And suddenly all I can think about is a Walker Tiger, and it's awesome. (Image Courtesy of: thewalkingdead.com)
Even with lackluster characters, the acting has not faltered. Some of the best acting of this series are included in this season. Andrew Lincoln has never been better than certain moments in this season particularly the premiere. Norman Reedus certainly pulls out his best yet as Daryl is tortured and humiliated without losing his will to fight.
When Neegan is directly interacting with members of the main group, it is the best part of the season thanks to an overwhelmingly charismatic performance from Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Lennie James gets several episodes where he is the one major star and is fantastic throughout.
Executive producer and director Greg Nicotero was often the savior of this season with all the best episodes of the season under his direction including the premiere, finale, and "The Well". Some of the shots he concocts to build suspense and develop the threat and wonder around certain characters were fantastic.
The writing is less fantastic with too much time spent on dialogue saying the same thing over and over. It's all about coming together and fighting. Every episode finds a new way for the characters to push toward the elusive goal with the obstacles feeling haphazard at best.
I would like to talk more about what happened in this season, but too little actually happened to discuss. The story was fairly simple. Rick lost his confidence only to build back up to the point he then felt the need to build up an army. The culmination was the first true battle with the Saviors only to reveal the enemy is far larger than Rick's group can face even with their initial surprise victory.
This season truly feels like filler to get from the opening two episodes to the finale. Perhaps the problem is that The Walking Dead has run dry on ideas, but The Saviors should have been so much more enticing than they have become. Moreover, there should still be room for growth in the central characters beyond their reactions to death.
When Neegan is directly interacting with members of the main group, it is the best part of the season thanks to an overwhelmingly charismatic performance from Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Lennie James gets several episodes where he is the one major star and is fantastic throughout.
Executive producer and director Greg Nicotero was often the savior of this season with all the best episodes of the season under his direction including the premiere, finale, and "The Well". Some of the shots he concocts to build suspense and develop the threat and wonder around certain characters were fantastic.
The writing is less fantastic with too much time spent on dialogue saying the same thing over and over. It's all about coming together and fighting. Every episode finds a new way for the characters to push toward the elusive goal with the obstacles feeling haphazard at best.
I would like to talk more about what happened in this season, but too little actually happened to discuss. The story was fairly simple. Rick lost his confidence only to build back up to the point he then felt the need to build up an army. The culmination was the first true battle with the Saviors only to reveal the enemy is far larger than Rick's group can face even with their initial surprise victory.
This season truly feels like filler to get from the opening two episodes to the finale. Perhaps the problem is that The Walking Dead has run dry on ideas, but The Saviors should have been so much more enticing than they have become. Moreover, there should still be room for growth in the central characters beyond their reactions to death.