(**SPOILERS**) The show started ruining things with the whole Glenn/Dumpster thing. This is when they started relying on cheap tricks/ camera angles/ lying to the audience to manufacture drama and suspense instead of relying on, up til that point, solid story-telling. I was willing to give them a pass and then the whole season 6 finale fiasco happened. What should have been an meaningful introduction to a huge character ended in a cliff hanger. Instead of people wondering how evil this guy is, what the group is going to do now, and will so-and-so's death spark X? All anyone wondered was who the hell was it? It wasn't fair to the Negan character, it wasn't fair to the character he killed, and it certainly was not fair to the audience. The shows fan base and ratings were too strong for gimmicks like this. Most people, myself included had correctly assumed the identity of his victim (it really did make the most sense to be abe). But we couldn't move on to the bigger impact of Negan w/o getting confirmation first. When we finally get confirmation, we didn't really care. Oh, yup, I was right. Moving on. Then, they dragged it out for another 20 mins before the big reveal. The breaking down of Rick was great. I loved that part. And even killing Glenn next was sort of unexpected ( although anyone could tell as soon as Daryl attacked Negan, Glenn was dead, so it wasn't a huge shocker the moment it happened.) The sad part is, it didn't need to be this way. Picture this: Season 6 ended with the Death of Abe. OMG, Negan killed abe! What are they gonna do? How is the group gonna react? Rick is gonna do something right? What happens if Eugene snaps now that his bromance is dead and he bites off Negan's face? So many more questions and conversations could have gone on inbetween seasons. Seriously, I have a group of friends that talk walking dead all the time and we had exactly one conversation during the whole interlude. Who'd he kill? Gotta be abe right? Yeah, probably. That was it. Season 7 starts. Abes dead, we get to see how they react. Negan breaks down rick. Holy shit this guy is badass. BLAM! Glenns dead ! WTF! Would have been so much better IMO to reveal Abe's death in 6.
Couldn't agree more. That would have been more impact than the cheap gimmick way they handled it. For some reason, even though Glenn has been one of my favourite characters from the start, I was more sad about Abraham's death that I was his. I feel like that character still had a lot of development to go through and potential for relationships/story arcs/badass one-liners etc. That's probably what added so much emotion to his demise for me though. One thing I am interested to see after the whole Daryl's guilt for Glenn's death and then being taken into the savior's ranks thing is the dark path that they're gonna take Daryl down, he might even become somewhat of a bad guy in this season since that's the way he operates - blocking things out by behaving erratically.
For two reasons: 1) the dumpster debacle - You went through all of the natural reactions you should have about Glenn dying when this happened. The moment he fell down. Then they cheapened it with gimmicky camera angles that left you feeling like maybe he wasn't dead. (He should have been dead, there was no way to get out of that situation w/o it being gimmicky.) Then they gave you a whole episode of "Hey here's what Morgan's been up to." The biggest question up until Glenn fell was where's Morgan. With Glenn's possible death, no one cared about Morgan anymore. It ruined what was an otherwise good episode because people only wanted to know about Glenn at that point. Point is you already resolved his death, even though at this point he was just (pun intended) a walking dead. 2) Abe's death. You know what's awesome? Ice cream. You know what's not awesome? Someone shoving 15 gallons of ice cream down your gullet. Not only is too much of a good thing bad but along the way it loses impact. That first spoonful of ice cream is the best, the 100th... now you're just going through the motions. Just another reason for the two characters deaths to be separated by seasons.
**Comic Spoilers** * I was hoping Rick's hand would come off in this episode. It was supposed be chopped off by the time he ran into the governor in the earlier editions of the comics, but it never occurred. The thing that angered me the most about the episode was the fact that they were practically teasing us and heavily gave us all the reasons to believe it was coming off, but they never went through with it. * I hope Daryl takes Holly's place as the walker that Rick's group eventually finds at the mid-season finale like what happened in the comics. It would be a cruel reminder of Negan's and the Saviors brutality. Speaking of which what happened to Holly in the show? I think the last time we see her is when they're constructing more of the wall for Alexandria. She's never seen or even mentioned beyond that point.
@Miller0700 I've only read the comics up to the point that the group reach the prison. (I know) but I love that idea of them finding Daryl as a walker! That would be so impact and a good shake up that the series needs in addition to Negan.
