The Walking Dead’s Brutal New Season

Too Successful For It’s Own Good?

The Walking Dead first premiered on Halloween of 2010 on AMC. The modest first season was only 6 episodes long but managed to average over 5 million viewers on Sunday nights. Fast forward some 83 episodes, 7 seasons, and 6 years and The Walking Dead has reached unprecedented heights. Season 7 premiered to 17.03 million viewers who tuned in last Sunday night. The Nielsen ratings for the show is unseen before in the history of cable television. The show currently attracts the most viewers age 18-49 in the United States out of any cable TV show during this decade.

The show has often tapped into the human psychic during a crisis and shows what humanity is capable of when the world comes to an end. They often explore uncharted territories in a television series, which is why it has such a loyal cult following. However, Season 7 might of pushed the envelope a bit too much as many fans vented out on social media. Everyone expected a death to occur, however the brutality of the first episode outraged casual fans, and even made loyal fans consider quitting the show altogether.

Negan & Lucile Too Violent For Television (spoilers)

Season 7 has experienced a drop of 3 million viewers from the first episode titled “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be” to the second episode titled “The Well”. Although a bit disappointing, many were surprised more viewers didn’t disappear. The premier was not for the faint of heart. As season 6 came to a close, everyone expected for Negan to bash someone’s brains in with his bat. During it’s offseason hiatus, social media memes kept busy with people predicting who it might be. To everyone’s surprise, it ended up being Abraham to meet the brutality of Lucile, a barb wired wooden bat. Then what happened further shocked audiences. As Negan taunted everyone and tried to force Rosita to view the bat up close with Abraham’s blood on it, Darryl punched Negan in a fit of rage. A bad move indeed, as Negan decided to spare Darryl, and kill off one of the show’s favorite character’s since season 1. Glenn’s skull gets popped by Lucile right in front of his pregnant wife. His final words to Maggie being “I’ll find you” as Negan commences to bash his brains in. A lot of critics have claimed this was a gimmick, and classified as unnecessary torture porn. Andrew Lincoln, who plays Rick Grimes, confessed that the show aimed to anger it’s fan base and produce deep feelings of hatred towards Negan. Consider it job well done.

What Is In Store For Fans This Season

It’s hard to imagine the group getting out of this current dilemma due to the sheer numbers advantage that Negan’s men have. Although Rick has become much darker since season 1, it does seem as if Negan has completely broken Rick’s will and resolve. Darryl has been taken hostage and is under the threat of being chopped into pieces if Rick’s group does not comply. Carl nearly had his arm chopped off. Maggie may possibly lose the baby. Events look extremely dire thus far in the season with only Morgan and Carol enjoying a little bit of safety from the Kingdom. The majority of fans are hyped to see if the Kingdom ends up helping Hilltop with Rick and King Ezekiel forming an alliance to defeat Negan. This may not be the outcome, but fans will tune in every Sunday in hopes of seeing Rick or maybe even Maggie putting an end to Negan’s mayhem.