Tonight starts a pivotal Season 7 in the story of the Walking Dead. Where do the survivors go from here, who does tonight/this season. Also AMC has already announced season 8 has been ordered.
This thread is not guaranteed to be spoiler-free. If you are not caught up on the latest episode(s) please leave this thread unread.
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Thanks for starting a new thread! I will be watching live tonight and hopefully watch the last 30 minutes or so of the last episode being replayed.
My original choice for who gets offed was Carl. But after paying more attention, it may be someone on Rick's right. Not sure now.
It's gonna be Glenn and one other.
I like this. Aligns with the story but continues to have twists for the show.
the show tends to stray from the comics though
Not in the last season and a half.
Some days I think I have an idea who dies then other days I'm not sure.
Replay of last episode is on. Glenn is at the far right. Thinking it will be someone closer to Rick, perhaps one of the females?
HERE WE GO!! Remember no spoilers for a few days.
Negan batting 1.000 right now. Wow.
Well damn that was graphic as hell.
Wow. Could barely watch that....
This is brutal.
Trying a little too hard for shock value in my opinion. Kinda disappointed with the start of the season. Not very believable so far.
Why not? It's almost straight out of the comics.
I didn't read the comics. Nor do I care to. I'm just watching the show.
Wait... What?
Exactly what about it isn't believable in a show based a zombie apocalypse? I thought they did a great job of showing how a soul can be ripped out.
haha yeah I agree, don't think historical accuracy is what they are going for here.
And to add to the brutality, did anyone see the guy taking a picture with a camera?
Wait what? I missed that.
Edit: just rewatched, yea they take pictures to show future enclaves they take over.
Your tag line is eerily appropriate for this episode.
I've always wonder what his tag line means
They definitely made a point for the audience to see that in the background. I have a feeling that photo will make an appearance later in the season
Remember last season when they assault Negans people, and they see pictures on the wall of previous Negan victims.
I think the guy taking the picture was simply a callback rather than something that will come up later as a plot point
I think it might come up. Remember the moment that Glenn had when they were doing their ninja kills. He had never killed a person before, but he looks up and sees the "trophy" pictures, which emphasizes the brutality of these people. He knows, in that moment, that everything is different. His higher ideals and morals are no longer relevant in that world. And with that realization, he plunges his knife into the guy's head.
The guy taking a polaroid of Glenn's dead body is a point of continuity. The Saviors are still going to do what they're going to do, irrespective of what has happened to them. I suspect that picture will be seen again, in a pivotal moment, aka when Rick bit Joe's jugular when Carl was being attacked; something that really pisses off a main character to the point that they will do something brutal to avenge or protect their own.
Good call. I actually thought about this right after I posted. It could serve as an impetus for somebody to go off. Would be very interesting if it was Maggie
Maggie was my first thought, too. Her character arc this season will be interesting to follow.
I see it being more of Daryl due to the fact that he probably feels his actions caused Glenn's Death. I could definitely see Daryl going ape shit all over the place
I have a feeling that Polaroid will be this season's red backpack. Everyone will talk about when it will pop back up, and in the end it was just put in as a continuity point.
I think the show did this to themselves with the grenade in season 1. Now fans look for random stuff to pop back up at pivotal moments in the plot.
I didn't recall as I am a more casual viewer. Thanks (and a leg) for pointing it out.
OT threads about current TV shows have never been spoiler-free. Asking people to wait a few days stifles discussion. I updated the post.
My job already makes my chest tight. Didn't need that feeling to start 10 hours before it needed to. BTW where the hell is Carol.
RIP Abraham you were Dolphin Smooth
Mother dick
Damn. I woke up and watched this shit before work.
That was freaking awesome, he is a villain we needed the last 6 seasons. Pretty stoked to see where we go from here.
Somehow I think Nick Saban reminds me of Negan.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan was such a good choice. The bullshit cliffhanger aside, every scene with Negan has been outstanding.
Agreed, he does a fantastic job of playing someone who is charismatic and likeable, but also a total monster.
I like how they are making Negan absolutely despicable. His demise will much more fun to watch.
I liked the storyline of this episode, but I thought the Glenn scene especially was a little too much. It made me a little queasy and that type of stuff usually doesn't bother me.
it was perfectly in line with what happened in the comics, I thought it was well done.
I didn't hate this episode but the pacing felt way to damn slow. For me, some of the Rick scenes started feeling more like filler rather than conveying his emotions. It could also be that the suspense of who died didn't mean as much to me as that was the one spoiler I sort of knew from the comics. I'm hoping this season can really get me back into the show. I haven't liked it as much after the first couple if seasons, and kinda feel like I'm being dragged along just to find out what happens at this point.
The comics feel the same way, only worse, IMO. The story doesn't seem to be moving toward any sort of resolution. I get the artistic merit of an open-ended story, but those inevitably lose steam and peter out eventually. Any open-ended alt-reality series eventually just becomes a soap opera in another dimension.
Yeah maybe it's the lack of resolution. I get stuck with a feeling the show can only really end one of two ways, either everyone dies, or the zombie problem gets solved. Personally the second one doesn't seem to fit the show so it just feels like the creator of the story is too afraid to let his characters go even though they've accomplished their purpose. Maybe he just has some torture fetish that makes him want to enter an eternal cycle of breaking his characters, piecing it all together only to break his characters again. A reasonable analogy for life, but I feel like I've already been through the cycle and I'm just left with a stale story.
I hope the good guys win and the zombie problem eradicated OR they finally take control and can live peacefully.
What's funny to think about is if this story is told from other people's perspective Rick and the gang are a group of murderous home wreckers whose luck as finally run out.
Everyone likes to think that they are the "good guy".
Also, it seems like the whole trip to DC was to show that there was no chance of to cure the zombie disease and they've said that everyone is infected effectively getting rid of the notion of ever getting rid of zombies while having humans survive. It also seems to very much be a "bigger fish" universe. Both the prison and Alexandria are best case scenarios for being able to establish a sustainable community in their apocalypse, yet both the prison and Alexandria have or are seemly about to fail (don't for sure know anything beyond the current episode from the comics) due to a "bigger fish" that at a minimum have the ability to destroy everything they've work for so far, and have shown consistently that they will do anything in their power to make other tribes/communities weaker. This kind of brings things back to my point that the story has backed itself into a corner. It feels like everything is on life support, and for whatever reason they have made the decision to make everyone suffer instead of just pulling the plug.
Best ending I can think of at this point is having an enemy that finally takes out Rick and the gang who will continue to show a will to survive, but now have an inability to do so, and then showing something to suggest that an even bigger, stronger, more "evil" group is going to take out the group that took out Ricks group in the near future to show the futility of such a scenario or to show the circle of life in a very non-Disney way depending on how you look at it.
Dunno why you got the downvote, but I gotchu fam.
I'm hearing that Negan is more so the good guy and Rick and his crew are the bad guys. Negan killed two as payback for Rick killings 50 or so of Negans people?
Rick's kill count was definitely higher. But Negan isn't interested in revenge. He's built an empire by conquering would-be aggressors. How many of those guys standing around in the background were at one point following another leader that Negan brained?
Negan isn't about protecting what's his, he's about making you give him what's yours, in perpetuity. Rick was killing Negan's men to liberate the Hilltop, so they could be bartering partners. Negan just said fuck bartering and made the entire population of Alexandria his slaves.
Rick is ruthless. Negan is evil.
Part of the point of the Walking Dead is that there are no more "good guys". Any character that has a good guy persona either dies or has to do something bad to survive. It's simply a story of survival.
I'll bite.
Soooo....how about that mid-season break show?!?
I'll be honest, the first half of this season was pretty weak. I think I am just getting fatigued from bad stuff happening to these guys over and over and over. And having the gang split up all over the place just wasn't working for me, as a number of these characters just aren't strong enough to carry some of these arcs on their own.
With that said, the closing half hour or so of the mid-season finale may have suckered me back in.
I thought Michonne's speech to Rick was great. Loved them coming back together at Hilltop and the bro hug between Daryl and Rick. If they can pick up the momentum and have the groups (Alexandria, Kingdom, Hilltop...and maybe even Oceanside) come together to clash with The Saviors and actually show a few things going right for these guys, the next half could be fun.
I pretty much agree with all this. I think the slow pace of this half was necessary to show the power and reach of the saviors, but it wasn't great tv. The war that's coming could get interesting though. I also don't buy that a single man in this world could be as powerful as neegan. There would have been a mutiny at some point. With that said, I love his character, in a hate sort of way.
The first episode back was a huge one obviously with Neagan killing off a few key characters. I agree that it was a bit too much of bad things happening to them that got me fatigued a bit too, but I think it was neccessary to truly build a hatred towards the saviors. I didn't really like Michonne's speech that much to be honest, but that bro-hug between Daryl and Rick really got me choked up!
My money is they'll get Alexandria, Kingdom, Hilltop, and Oceanside (eventually) to destroy The Saviors. I'm confident on Oceanside being a part of it since they're now a part of the story line, but realistically they're the only people with guns!
I thought of Oceanside being a part specifically cause of that shed full of high grade firearms. Other than Rick getting his gun back, they have nothing else.
...and the fact they spent an entire episode on them.
I agree with most points here. Definitely a "story/character building" first 1/2 of the season. I think it compares very closely to what the show has done in the past though - ie when the group was somewhat split up on their way to Terminus.
Just like that example, I expect the latter 1/2 to be explosive. Pun intended!
And which of the comic book characters do you think is the person shown in "the boots" at the end?
I just figured somebody from Oceanside was snooping around to see if they were trustworthy.
Anybody else have a hard time with the distance between camps? The setting doesn't feel much like NOVA.
You must have never truly enjoyed the sandy white beaches and great wilderness of the Potomac. /s
Yeah I'm not that far from Alexandria. I have no idea where they have forests like this. Maybe closer to Springfield.
Too much of the landscape reminds me of Georgia and the Carolinas. the sandy soil mixed with pine tree timber and swampy landscapes. I will be honest though, I havent spent enough time on the Virginia side of the Chesapeake to be able to say what the landscape down there looks like. I think my biggest issue with this setting being Alexandria is the lack of highways and urban development/suburbia. Too much open terrain. Also if you were really in Alexandria, I would think the most ideal place to hole up would be the Airport.
I liken the Hilltop to an attempt at somewhere like Shirley Plantation near Richmond
Oceanside is like Chesapeake Bay Camp Resort
Still having trouble placing Negan's Industrial complex. Seems old so I am quasi picturing something around the cigarette plants in Richmond from back in the day.
Reality is that all of these locations play better into a Georgia landscape so I am not sure why they ever let the story spin this far north. They were centered around Atlanta and probably should have stayed. Alexandria could have become Savannah, Oceanside would be St Simons Island, GA or one similar and Hilltop could have been any number of plantation homes still found in the South. It would explain the long open roads and little to no suburbia. It would also explain The Kingdom being in Atlanta where its possible feral hogs would have taken to roaming the streets of the city. I dont exactly see hogs as the issue for wildstock in DC. It would be Deer.
The other piece to consider is that television, even at its best, rarely considers actual distances. Just watch NCIS where they are purportedly working from the Navy Yard, yet they regularly respond to murders or cases down in Norfolk in what seems to be a snap of the fingers.
Sorry to do a tl;dr here, but I read that previous seasons were filmed in Georgia. Maybe that's where they are
All of their filming is in Georgia
The comic had the group move up to Alexandria. However the TV series is still filmed all in Georgia. So we just have to suspend disbelief.
Suspend disbelief I don't know if I can do that during a zombie show.
A leg for the laugh!
As others already mentioned, the comics took the story to Alexandria. Also, the first season of the Telltale videogame series went from Atlanta to Savannah, which was similarly overrun by the dead. Not that this means there couldn't have been places that barricaded themselves enough to survive as well as Alexandria, I suppose.
I understand as I have read quite a few of the graphic comics but the creators of this show have had creative license on so many other parts of the story line that changing Alexandria to something else shouldnt have been a big deal.
I guess my issue is that if you are going to make it Alexandria than at least make some parts look like DC or the waterfront that is a large part of the real Alexandria. Shoot some scenes showing them in the city, even if its prop set and green screen to show monuments, etc.
The name of the neighborhood/development they are in is Alexandria. They show signs that they walk by advertising 'Alexandria. You're Almost Home! Homes starting at $800k!" typical of any new build/development
I get your point, but they kinda dodged that issue by never specifying that they were going to a location in Alexandria proper
I might be mistaken but didn't they show a glimpse of the skyline of D.C. when they arrived? Does anybody know if the city specifically is part of the story in the comics? If not, since they were filming in Georgia, it might have made more sense for them to stop somewhere closer to Georgia once the jig was up on the whole cure in D.C. thing.
My biggest issue with this half season so far is how long it took them to build any sort of background or substance to Negan beyond Lucille and blunt violence. It wasnt until the last couple of episodes that you began to see some dimension to his character with how he treated Carl and also how he reacted in this last episode. This part seemed critical earlier on but failed to come. That said, I dont fault Jeffrey Dean Morgan, as the actor has done amazing work in my opinion playing the character. Negan to me this season was equivalent to the Wolves from last season and how undefined they were.
I guess my example to contrast what I am discussing, in one episode they were able to show King Ezekiel as both this revered benevolent leader, a leader that understands sacrifice shouldnt be seen by all in how they dealt with the Saviors and as a man in how he dealt with Carol.
Sad to say that at this point I am more into Fear the Walking Dead as a storyline than I am the original. That storyline just seems way more realistic of an end of days concept than Walking has become.
Good point on King Ezekiel.
In one scene they made what could have been such a ridiculous character, seem like a very real and very relatable person thrust into a position of leading other people in an insane situation.
It was nice to see Rick snapping out of it and stop being a pussy. Hopefully the rest of the season is the "heros" kicking ass and taking names again. And hopefully it is not like the first half of this season were the first and last two episodes were good and the rest of the season was meh
This is The Walking Dead. They will kick ass, and many will die for it.
For those keeping score, of the original group, we have only the following left:
Rick
Daryl
Cawrl (not a typo)
Carol
Though not part of the original "group", Morgan has also been around since the beginning. And some might argue that Judith existed as part of the "group" also.
You sure it is not Coral?
So how's everyone feeling so far?
Was mad pissed off that Morgan killed what's-his-name (kenneth?) this last episode. But maybe Morgan's doing the plan of lulling The Saviors to sleep as the other dude implied. They're gearing up for war but it's going at a snails pace. Too much filler stuff, but then again I am impatient.
If they're going to continue the snail's pace, can we get an episode with Negan's backstory already?
Wish I had more legs to give you on this one. Negan has been around almost two seasons now and we know squat about him. The King we got a full dose the first time he appeared. Just doesnt make sense.
I have decided I am going to watch the season premiere and season finale from now on because every other episode has sucked the last few seasons
Whatever will you do without knowing the full story of Morgan's moral journey? /s
As soon as Morgan killed Richard and then repeated his exact words to the Saviors, I figured that his plan is to gain their trust back and then attack them.
I was surprised to see him do it, but I almost wonder if the guy talked to him in his room and wanted Morgan to do exactly what he did ultimately.
I have enjoyed it so far. The problem is that they have nearly caught up to the comics so I feel like they are stalling. The upcoming war will probably last the first half of next season.
This season is freaking painful. I want them all to die and to just end it already.
If they all just died, then they would just reanimate and continue to shamble around aimlessly.
And it would still be better than what we're watching now.
Damn he's right
Apparently the viewing audience agrees - ratings are hovering at 2012 levels.
And no introduction of the all-ladies coastal town either (wow i'm really bad with names at the moment). They have ALL THE GUNS so to speak, so only once they are contacted will things really start heating up. Then again once they're contacted it'll be 4-5 more episodes of trying to convince them too....
If there's one thing for certain, there's always more guns.
Just not enough to fight The Saviors just yet.
But even in that one episode about that group of females, you still have more of a back story of how they came to be there and isolated the way they are than any background on Neegan.
Neegan doesn't have a background in the comics, he just exists, and is badass. You have hints of his background, but that's it.
Gimme a backstory because...
I guess I would prefer a backstory of Neegan over about 70% of the other episodes that are mainly just filler and fluff over the last two seasons. Dont even need it all at once. Tidbits here or there would be ok, or roll it into how the Saviors came to be. Just would like more substance than most of the recent episodes have given us.
Agreed.
This is how I think it went down. Negan was working the Dip and Dots booth at his local MLB minor league affiliate when the zombie outbreak began. In haste and confusion, Negan found himself locked safely in the equipment cage in the teams club house. He was surrounded by the outreaching arms of flesh starving walkers, and living off only peanuts and cracker jacks for five grueling days.
Finally, Negan snapped and knew he would rather fight his way out than starve to death listening and watching the walkers continually reaching for him. This is were he found Lucille, a brand new Louisville slugger and a small spool of barb wire left behind from the maintenance crew. He wrapped the bat tightly with the wire and covered himself with as much equipment as he could to get through the initial push of the walkers. .
Negan went to the back of the cage and climbed to the top, just out of reach of walkers. Timing his jump with the walkers increasing push against each other in the hopes to reach Negan, he threw himself landing just behind the last row of walkers. As he landed be started swinging, hearing sound of cracking bone and freedom fueled a part of his soul he had never felt before. Running off adrenaline and the rush of power, Negan cleared the room of 15 walkers. Standing finally free, covered in God Knows what he stripped free of the baseball equipment and grabbed a leather jacket out of the locker of his favorite player which was now laying on the floor with the rest of Negan's victory trophies.
Negan walked out one fierce swing at a time until he surfaced the outside world, no longer a dip and dot salesman but a creature that starved for blood and the feeling of ultimate power.
via GIPHY
I want a whole season written by BAG.
Negan has a mini-story background in the comics. Think they were in the back of some of the recent issues IIRC.
At this rate they'll have all the pieces in place in time for the finale, in which they will plan and mobilize the assault on the Saviors. Leaving the actual assault for October.
Who do you think betrayed Rick??
EDIT: My money's on the teenage girl. Carl's girlfriend. Enid?
I think it's the junkyard people. When Rick was on the mountain of garbage, in the background it looked like there was a factory or something, so I think they're close to where Negan's compound is.
Someone from hilltop
I think it's Gregory, the wiener dog "leading" hilltop.
The writing is on the wall for him that people are starting to trust and believe in Maggie, and he received the instructions from GTA V Trevor on how to reach him at the Saviors compound.
But Enid is an interesting possibility. Did we ever get a definitive answer on what she was up to when she was sneaking out of Alexandria?
True could be him. If the implication is that at the end of the episode he head out to tell his pimp that.
I thought the backstory on Enid leaving the compound was that she was looking for her family. That was why she was launching balloons as well as they had made that a sign between them.
I dont think its Gregory because Neegan has been looking for Maggie since she was left without a husband. If Neegan knew she was at the Hilltop he would have turned the place upside down already.
I for one am waiting for it to be Jesus. Stirs up all the potential stronger players from each of the different communities so that Neegan can rid himself of the bigger threats.
The other person I could see it being as part of the get in the good graces of the Saviors is Morgan, using Rick essentially as a stalking horse.
I didn't necessarily mean that he was going to turn Maggie in so to speak. Gregory is a wuss, but he doesn't seem to be a "bad" guy persay. I don't know if I see him turning in a pregnant woman to save his own skin, especially since he has had multiple opportunities to do it already.
He more so seems to want to be left alone, and that's where I could see him snitching on Rick to get Negan to leave them alone a bit.
The logical choice would seem to be Jadis and the junkyard people. It seems very unlikely that the Saviors would be unaware of a group so large (and have guns) that is relatively close to all of these groups. But frankly that would be a very boring storytelling choice simply because we know little to nothing about them
Dwight. He is ultimately against Negan but can't be blind sided either because he cares for most of the Saviors. He will be a double agent until he finds the right time to pick the right side.
Are you suggesting Rosita told Dwight, and then Dwight told Negan and then left?
The timing doesn't really seem to suggest any way that Dwight would know Rick's plans ahead of time and still give him time to meet up and go with Rosita, as its pretty clear now that was the shadowy figure that she saw at the end of the previous episode.
He sneaks around a lot on his own. Without spoiling anything for those that haven't read the comics, I could see them using Dwight in a way that was left out of the story with the governor and then wrapping back into Dwight's character from the comics. It would be on par with some of the other things the show has done in relation to the comics. But, ultimately the show has done a good job of staying true to the comics while still throwing curve balls.
it's the fucking tiger. you can't tame a tiger.
It's Judith. She's pissed about Carl killing mom and she's up to something stinky. It's more than just her diaper.
How I imagine you said that.
So that wasn't nearly as gnarly of a finale as I expected it to be. Good, but I expected more carnage
Yeah. It was good to finally get some action during this half season, but the show has done better gun fights.
The whole thing felt oddly paced or something, I can't quite put my finger on why it felt "off", but I still enjoyed it.
I will say I thought Zombie Sasha was a good move/scare and the tiger jumping in from offscreen might be my favorite moment of the season.
I agree, it seemed like an old country western. Everyone was randomly shooting.
Agree with the sentiment above. It was better than most of the crap this season thus far, but something about it seemed off. The junkyard people turning was a good twist but the last min rushing in from the hilltop and kingdom was way too obvious. It was almost like they wanted to copy Battle of the Bastards.
Sasha's death also just felt weird, rushed, and way too obvious. As soon as they opened the episode with her having flashbacks, I said "oh sasha is dead."
Hopefully when they come back its just all out war with no more of the filler from the past weeks.
was sasha being dead meant to be a surprise reveal though? I don't think so. i think it was meant to be one of those things u know is going to happen and as its happening u just can't believe it or look away. like a slow train about to plow through the car that won't start stuck on the tracks and everyone's like, "well that trains gonna hit it.... here it comes.... almost there.... (BOOM) ... wow, can't believe that"
and while i agree with the last minute rescue by hilltop and the kingdom, i didn't mind it. u knew it was coming. they showed the kingdom moving out guns blazing, picking up morgan on the way. and then hilltop. So it was more i knew it was coming and while a tad cheesy, i'll forvive it because its a comic book and they have a phucking tiger! (nothing like the masterpiece of the battle of the bastards, imo)
my gripe is more about how pointless the trash people are to the plotline. they had the entirety of Alexandria at gun point and were the only reason rick and crew decided they had the numbers to even fight negan in the first place. but when it comes down to it, all of them, including the majority who couldn't even see it happen nor even knew who she was, are so shocked that sasha is a zombie that the smaller Alexandria group somehow gets the drop on them and fights back against them AND the Saviors long enough for help to arrive.
It seemed to me that Rick should have had a more significant edge planned.
While it makes sense to fight, and to pull together as many people and guns as you can get, it also makes sense to have some surprises in store for Negan other than one exploding truck and brute force from inside Alexandria.
As far as using the garbage people, that also makes some sense, but for obvious reasons it would have made sense to leverage them differently, particularly given the obvious trust issues. Maybe have them fight OUTSIDE the gate.
The only person with a decent strategy was Sasha. I can believe her move as a reasonable diversion, a possible way to get Negan, and a way for Sasha to avoid being used as a pawn against Alexandria.
This ending worked well for setting up another season, but was a bit lacking in terms of believable strategy on Rick's part.