Did The Walking Dead Take It Too Far?

By Tamiera Vandegrift on October 26, 2016

The season seven premiere of AMC’s hit series, The Walking Dead, was not an easy watch by any means. The season preceding it left off with a killer cliffhanger: the introduction of the infamous Negan, a dastardly villain taken straight out of the comic book series. Negan had ambushed Rick’s group and used a chilling game of “eeny, meeny, miny, moe” to choose an unlucky survivor to face Lucille, a bat wrapped in barbed wire. The opening of the season premiere aired this past Sunday and revealed the identity of Negan’s unfortunate victim.

Without giving away too much, the outcome does not stray too far from the events of the comic. It seemed to be the result that a lot of Walking Dead fans were expecting, and perhaps wanting. However, the results are being met with controversy and seems to have cost the show a good portion of its viewers who have taken to social media to complain that gore from the season premiere was entirely too graphic and disturbing for television.

Image via: www.forbes.com

The Walking Dead itself is an incredibly disturbing concept. A former sheriff’s deputy wakes up from a coma to find that the world has been overrun by man-eating corpses, formally known as “walkers”. These walkers roam the streets, eating anything with a pulse. Aside from the walkers, the survivors have to fear the darkest aspects of human nature after the whole world has gone to ruin. The show is incredibly gruesome to begin with. Over the past six seasons, we’ve seen decapitations, stabbings, characters being eaten alive, and lest we forget the rotting, walking corpses that are literally dripping with blood and entrails on screen.

So what was it about the season seven premiere that pushed people over the edge?

It’s certainly the lowest point that we’ve ever seen the group encounter. Negan subjects them all to an incredibly disturbing series of mind games to the point that their spirits are broken. In a way, Negan and his group of Saviors are quite possibly the worst enemy that the group has faced so far. He coerces Rick to bow down to his will by putting his son into peril in a very twisted manner. Andrew Lincoln’s performance during this scene is probably the best acting that he’s displayed on the show since its beginning. We feel every ounce of his despair and helplessness. Every breath that he takes on screen is legitimate and when he cries out, so do we.

Image via: www.amc.com

Considering violence, the controversial “Lucille” scene is actually not as bad as the other gore we’ve witnessed on the show. We’ve seen characters get their intestines ripped straight from their stomachs, we’ve seen a character have his face graphically torn apart by walkers, and we’ve even seen a character get his eye ripped out straight from its socket by a walker’s teeth. The worst thing we get from the season seven opening is a few shots of gore, but essentially, most of the carnage is off screen.

What pushed people over the edge was the utter inhumanity of it all. Over the course of six seasons, we’ve put ourselves into these characters shoes. We’ve grown with them and fallen in love with them. Without a doubt, what made the season premiere so incredibly disturbing wasn’t the blood and guts. It was the reminder of how cruel and dark human nature can be and how truly helpless that one can be to such a force. We watched two of the most beloved characters of the show face horrific and undeserved fates, with their family of survivors helplessly watching. The only silver lining is the fact that when we see the group rise up again, and we all know they will, it will be more rewarding than it ever has been in the past.

If you haven’t seen the season seven premiere of The Walking Dead, prepare yourself. It is likely going to be an episode that you’ll only be able to watch once.

If you have seen the premiere, I’ll leave you with this.

Image via: Spongebob Squarepants

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