The Walking Dead Season 7

Another season of the Walking Dead! I consider it the best out of recent years, but it does still have some fundamental problems. It seems like they learned from their cliffhanger mistakes which is a step in the right direction.

The Good

* Negan

Negan is the most interesting part of the show. He goes from casually affable to in your face homicidal on a dime. One scene in particular is chilling when Negan comes over to Rick's, plays with Judith, and contemplates slaughtering them out loud without upsetting her. Intelligent and aware, he knows how to manipulate people with the right facade. Rick and company try multiple times to undermine or overthrow him, but he always seems two steps ahead, aware of their thoughts and motivations. Negan shows his power often, but also adheres to his own rules, keeping his underlings in line and not expectin them to do what he won't. On the other hand, punishment is swift and unforgiving of mistakes. He is the source of almost all the tension and fear on the show, especially when he visits Alexandria.

* The Saviors and Sanctuary

The Saviors are one of the most frustrating parts of the show in a good way. They are awful, taking more than they need from Alexandria and treating everyone like garbage under Negan's orders. They are very clear antagonists, but things are different in Sanctuary. Daryl and Eugene get very different treatment when they arrive. Daryl is locked in a cell and given dog food until he submits to work for them. Eugene is welcomed with open arms, given gifts, and treated pretty well. He turns out to work for the Saviors for comfort while Daryl eventually escapes. Getting a look at the inner workings of Sanctuary was illuminating. Everyone has to work to earn goods and they need to follow the rules. It's not as brutal as one would think as long as everyone works together.

* Rick and Creepy Carl

Rick is in shock for the first half of the season, trying as hard as he can to appease Negan and survive. He has a complete turnaround by the end and seems like a man possessed with nothing else to lose. Carl, on the other hand, seems to not fear Negan at all. He's seen so much as a child that growing up in this era has produced a new generation of people who consider it fairly normal. He genuinely scares Negan because of his lack of fear.

* Midseason Finale

I was so impressed with the midseason finale: unexpected deaths, Rosita making a huge mistake and other people paying the price, reuniting the core group except for Carol, and a strangely uplifting ending. It's a huge turning point for Rick's group that decides to redirect their energy into banding with other groups essentially enslaved by Negan and overthrowing him.

* Hilltop and The Kingdom

The Hilltop scenes feature Maggie and Sasha putting that mayor in his place when he tries to be a misogynistic ass which I love. The Kingdom is a such a bizarre place that is inspired by medieval or Dungeons and Dragons style. The King rules with his trusty tiger and puts on this odd accent to inspire his people. Although he's a self admitted fraud to Rick's people, he has the gravitas and dignity needed by such a leader and he turned out to be one of my favorite new characters.

* Father Gabriel

Father Gabriel is FINALLY an interesting character. He discovered the error of his ways, found a sense of humor, and got pretty sassy. More of this please!

The Meh

* The trash heap people and the settlement of only women

These people living in a trash heap could have been an interesting addition to the show, but they just came off as bizarre. What's with the way they talked? I get having different social interactions, but language couldn't have eroded that much. The settlement of women had all their men killed by Negan and successfully escaped the Saviors. However, they refuse to kill them once and for all and don't want to allow people to leave their location. I didn't care enough about their drama and grew annoyed with them.

The Bad

* Two deaths right at the beginning

Everyone has known because of the comic that Glenn is going to die, so the writers threw Abraham in as a twist to keep viewers interested. Glenn's death is tragic and incredibly sad. Abraham's death is barely a blip on anyone except Rosita. Putting a major and fairly minor character death together doesn't have the same impact. Plus we waited months to see who died and it wasn't surprising in the least.

* The pace

I'm not sure what it is with the writers, but everything moves so very slowly. I literally can't watch episodes week to week. I have to bingewatch them in bundles of at least 3 to get through the series. Please take some notes from the We're Alive podcast and speed the pace up just a little bit. It doesn't seem as long as other shows because so many episodes are just wasted. One problem is that one character or set of characters is usually the focus of each episode instead of bouncing around within episodes. It's supposed to create tension and keep you watching, but it's pushed too much and becomes annoying.

* Morgan

Morgan is annoying with his whole pacifist stance and forcing that on other people with pious, arrogant flair. Last season, he wasn't afraid to call out Rick, but he both takes his agenda too far and completely goes against his own philosophy.  He keeps information from Carol to stop her from returning to being violent when her people truly needed her help. Totally manipulative and uncalled for. Then, he turns around and kills an ally in front of everyone, completely destroying everything he built for himself. He's insufferable and a huge turnaround from what I thought of him last year. At least the trauma of losing his son came up, but that's the only interesting thing that happened with him.

This season was more than decent and I'm eager to see how this whole Negan situation will pan out.