Fight the Dead, Fear the Living

“Eenie meanie miney mo...” What once was innocent, is now a haunting phrase that will forever be etched into our mangled hearts. Unable to forget the sinister smile of the antagonist, Neegan, towering over our favorite characters. Swinging his notorious bat wrapped in barbed wire,“Lucille”, he was ready to strike, to demonstrate his power. With his taunting voice in their ears, and his next victim chosen, the Season Six finale of The Walking Dead abruptly ended. Six painstaking months later, fans finally discover who has been killed. Even when expecting death, nothing could ever have prepared them for what was in store.

Expecting Season Seven to begin with a corpse and a gasp, the audience felt cheated when a body was not initially shown. Instead, Neegan was teasingly introduced, swinging his now bloody bat. The suspense grew larger as questions were slowly answered with short flashbacks throughout the episode, pieced together in the end.

After months of over analyzing clues and posting theories all over social media, fans finally discover that Abraham was killed, one of the newer and admittedly insignificant members to Rick's group. No heartbreak, no tears, instead relief flooded through everyone's mind. Yet, some knew that it was too good to be true. After a false sense of safety and acceptance, the audience is reminded of reality. Daryl, one of the most loved characters in the show, lashed out and tried to attack Neegan after witnessing his friend’s death. However, the heroic act did more harm than good. To prove himself, Neegan suddenly swings his dreadful weapon towards Glenn’s head.

Fans have grown alongside Glenn since Season One, where he was introduced as an innocent pizza delivery boy, but the post apocalyptic world has shaped him into a man with strength and honor. Nobody could bear to watch the gruesome and bloody scene unfold. As he died in front of his pregnant wife’s eyes, he managed to utter his final words creating a beautiful yet tragic ending, “Maggie I will find you.”

Not only did this scene cause turmoil with viewers but it broke Rick as well. As a natural leader, he initially was unable to accept the fact that he is not in control anymore. Neegan took notice, forcing him to almost cut off his own son’s arm until Rick was left begging on his hands and knees for mercy. This finally transformed his wildness to desperation and insanity.

No longer focusing on the walkers, this episode shifts the threat from the dead to the living. It differentiates between the strong and the powerless, identifying the feeling of being unable to defend one’s own dignity, while forced to kneel down in front of your superiors, or to watch your family be killed without being able to stop it. It takes an emotional and devastating toll on the character’s well being that won’t soon be forgotten, forever shaping the upcoming seasons. With so much horror compacted into the premiere, fans believe that this is only the beginning.