Review & Discussion: The Walking Dead Season 7 Premiere 

season 7 premiere is going to attract a lot of attention for finally revealing who it was giving audiences a first person perspective of being beaten to death by Negan and his beloved bat Lucille. The season 6 finale wasn’t without its controversy or detractors, as the cliffhanger ending felt in many ways like another unnecessary decision by the show’s writers to toy with their audience in much the same way as when Glenn went dumpster diving and appeared to meet an early end that was distinctly different from what series creator Robert Kirkman gave him in the comics. Instead of simply generating curiosity and excitement for the reveal a few months down the line, the show wound up earning some ire.

Unpopular and unnecessarily gimmicky storytelling choices aside, you have to hand it to the cast and crew of

, the news that Abraham and Glenn would be the ones to meet their end remained a secret until the premiere aired – on the East Coast, anyway. It was certainly a horrific sequence of events for Rick and his fellow survivors (and the audience) as it took nearly 20 minutes of recollections before the death was finally revealed. As it turns out Abraham went first before Negan turned his attention to Rosita, prompting Daryl to step up and punch the bat-wielding maniac. This spurred the villain to then attack Glenn, as a means of retaliating against Daryl’s disobedience.

The scene was a close to a reproduction of the comics as anything this show has offered, turning the bait and switch of Abraham’s death into a brutal two for one. But Negan didn’t stop there. After taking Rick on a jaunt in the Grimes Family RV, Negan threatened to kill the rest of Rick’s group if he didn’t cut off his own son’s arm. It was another test of Rick’s obedience and how much misery the audience was willing to put up with, as Rick nearly went through with severing his child’s arm before Negan stepped in, satisfied that he had his adversary completely under his control.

After such a harrowing first episode, the question now is: what does this mean for the series? The producers and writers frequently discuss the ways in which each major character death changes the show in fundamental ways, but for a series that offers character death as its major selling point (or the only selling point), there’s bound to be a question or two about where the show goes from here. In essence,

has achieved a major goal: it has killed off two major characters at once and did so in spectacular fashion (i.e., ensured AMC got the most bang for its advertising buck), but what’s on the other side? As with most achievements in life (or on post-apocalyptic television shows) the question of what’s next in the face of diminishing returns is a perpetual storm cloud hovering on the horizon. And now that Negan has proven his Big Bad bona fides and dropped two major characters, 

might actually face a greater obstacle than it has in its entire six-season run. How do you keep the excitement alive in a show that is only truly exciting when teasing certain death?

season 7 premiere in the comments. We will have a full review soon.

continues next Sunday with ‘The Well’ @9pm on AMC.

10 Iconic Movie Roles That Were Originally Played By Other Actors

Famous Movie Couples Who Hated Working Together

15 Most Iconic Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes, Ranked Worst To Best