The Walking Dead season seven premiere entitled, ‘The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be.’ aired with millions of rabid Walking Dead fans tuning in to see which beloved character(s) from Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) group of zombie apocalypse survivors met their demise at the hands of the show’s newest bad guy, Negan as played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
WARNING THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD!!! STOP READING IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN THE PREMIERE EPISODE!
Interestingly it seemed that the show’s producers on the one hand stayed true to Robert Kirkman’s original comic series published by Image Comics, while also taking creative license and changing what occurred on the actual show as they have been known to do. In essence fans of Kirkman’s zombie opus were forced to view the death of no less than two fan favorites of the long running AMC hit show.
While the episode did not begin immediately where it left off on the season six cliff hanger and finale, it starts a very short time after Negan murders two long time characters whose loss will be felt for some time to come and indeed change the fabric of the show to an unknown degree.
In a very short time however, we do indeed see flashbacks of the tragic events through Rick’s eyes, the drama and suspense of which are masterfully delivered to the audience in nothing less than a pulse pounding and nail biting crescendo of visuals.
Greg Nicotero’s beautifully directs the episode which forces the viewer to relive the final moments before Negan chooses his first victim who is Abraham as played by Michael Cudlitz. It is hard to imagine how anyone watching the season seven premiere could have looked away as Abraham is brutally murdered by Negan’s barbed wire wrapped baseball bat named ‘Lucielle’.
The episode then proceeds to show Negan attempting to force Rick to come to his senses and accept Negan’s new world order by forcing him to fight a small zombie horde as Rick once again continues to relive the events surrounding Abraham’s brutal murder. Rick likewise recalls Daryl as played by Norman Reedis attacking Negan just after Abraham’s death in a fit of rage.
Negan’s response to Daryl’s blow however forces Negan to once again punish the group as he must seemingly keep his word from the season six season finale, reminding Rick’s group, “The first offense is free. But I will shut that shit down, no exceptions.”
And with that, Negan then dispatches Glenn as played by Steven Yhen in a very surprising and extremely shocking swing of Lucille, to everyone’s shock and tear jerking horror. Interestingly we see Nictero stick to a very close visual of Glenn’s death as was seen in the comic series, with some touching last words from Glenn to his clearly horrified wife Maggie as played by Lauren Cohan, “Maggie . . . I . . . will find . . . you.” Before Negan continues to yet again brutally beat Glenn to a bloody pulp.
Negan points out to Rick, “Bet you thought you were all gonna grow old together, sittin’ around the table at Sunday dinner and the happily ever after. No. Doesn’t work like that, Rick. Not any more.” As he forces him to do his bidding and follow his orders unflinchingly, lest others from his group die.
Rick will also experiences flashbacks in which he is seated at an outside dinner table with his zombie apocalypse family in Alexandria, along with Glenn and Abraham sitting at the head of the table. Sadly, we see Glenn holding a baby, which is presumably his and Maggie’s unborn child.
Negan finally tries to get Rick to cut off Carl’s (Chandler Riggs) hand as he forces Rick to choose between Carl’s hand or the rest of the group’s lives with Michonne as played by Danai Gurira pleading with Negan saying, “You don’t need to do this, we understand.” to which Negan seems to say, “Oh, yes, I know YOU understand. But I am not sure Rick here understands.”
Luckily for not just Carl and Rick, but also for the viewers, Negan believes that the now clearly distraught Rick will in fact follow his orders and takes the Axe from Rick’s hands, telling the group that he will see them next week for ‘half of their shit’, before also taking Daryl as insurance for the group’s loyalty and leaving the group in the morning sunrise, along with the bloody remains of their beloved comrades Glenn and Abraham.
The Walking Dead season seven premiere is in fact VERY dark, disturbingly brutal and unlike any other episode delivered by Robert Kirkman and the show’s producers to date. The rest of the season clearly seems to be worth watching as it seems as thought we will in fact be meeting other groups as Rick and his people become servants of Negan.
