The Walking Dead S7E01: The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be
How do you put words to what happened last night? I’m sure most of us were mentally prepared to lose a beloved character, but I’m not sure we were prepared for that. I have mentioned before that season six remained very true to the comics in most respects, but what Negan did on the show takes it a step further in adding its own twist. And I think it was for the better. Spoilers ahead.
In typical Walking Dead fashion we were made to wait a little while before the big reveal. Little did we know when they released the second trailer for season seven, focusing in on Rick and Negan, we were actually witnessing the first few minutes of the episode. Whatever happened before that, Rick was still defiant and expressing his desire to kill Negan. Negan responds by taking Rick on a short road trip in an attempt to bring him into submission. This is probably the only portion of the episode that might draw some legitimate complaints. It does feel like something of a bid for more time. However, with Greg Nicotero directing the episode we should be paying attention to visual clues for what the characters are experiencing mentally. This happens during this portion of the show in the form of Rick recalling each of his friends in his mind. Very quick black-and-white shots of each character set against Negan’s bat being pointed at them offer a good visualization of the panic and helplessness that Rick was feeling. Remember, every aspect of this episode is meant to bring Rick into submission and have him buy into what Negan wants him to do. The RV trip with the “fetch my ax” bit was just an attempt to do that. I could spend 1,000 words breaking down that scene alone, but we have an entire episode to get to.
Finally, spliced into Rick’s memory of what happened, we get the full death scene. As the days drew near to the season seven premiere, Abraham was becoming a more popular guess. And those guesses were correct. In hindsight it was perhaps the most obvious. Everyone in the group was on their knees and sitting or hunched over in complete submission, but only Abraham was up at attention. Almost challenging Negan to choose him. From Negan’s perspective, not knowing the group particularly well, Abraham presented the biggest physical threat and looked like the most impressive kill. Seeing the rest of the group watch, particularly Sasha and Rosita, while Negan pounded a way for what felt like a dozen swings, was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever watched on the show. You couldn’t just see them wanting to scream out and intervene, you could feel it. Afterward as Negan paces across the group, taunting them with the bloody bat, and specifically getting in Rosita’s face with it, I think I felt a small bit of the anger that Daryl must have felt right as he decided to jump up and punch Negan. That was a mistake.
At the risk of belittling Abraham’s death, I will say that his was not the most traumatic death on an already gut-wrenching episode. Negan calls off Dwight and allows Daryl to live, but Daryl’s outburst must be punished. Negan gets “back to it” and brings the bat to Glenn. Two quick shots to the head and we have Glenn’s iconic image from the comics of his eyeball popping out, complete with his attempt to call out for Maggie. I imagine people will be speculating for weeks on what was meant by his line, “I will find you”. Certainly this could be a reference to some afterlife presence, watching over her like a guardian angel of sorts. It could just be a nod to how often this couple has been separated and searching for each other. Maybe it’s the cynic side of me but I feel like he was trying to say “I love you” but the severe trauma to his head kept him from forming the correct words. Either way, this is an incredible loss for the group and especially traumatizing for Maggie. Think for a moment about all the people close to her that she has lost. A lot is made about all the loss that Rick or Michonne have experienced, but I think Maggie’s losses far outweighs anyone else. And in the most traumatic ways. Her mother and brother were torn to shreds as a herd of walkers descended upon their family farm in season two. She had to witness the Governor chop off her father’s head in season four. The hopes of reuniting with her sister were ripped out from under her when Beth died in season five. And now her husband and father of her unborn child has his brains beaten in only a few feet away from her as she sits there helplessly.
Amazingly, it was after both Abraham and Glenn were killed when Rick makes his threat to kill Negan one day. Negan drags him to the RV and they go on their trip we watch at the beginning of the episode. When they make it back it is daylight and Negan is still not happy with what he’s seeing from Rick. He wants complete submission but he still sees a spark of rebellion in Rick’s eyes. Negan proceeds to draw a line across Carl’s arm and force Rick to use his own hatchet to chop his son’s arm off or else everyone in his group gets shot. This too might have felt like an inclusion for extra time but I thought it made perfect sense and was completely consistent with Rick’s character until now. Rick is a man who is defiant and wants things his way. When people around him have been killed in the past it usually drives him to action either in retaliation or prevention for the future. Rick has said on numerous occasions that his primary concern is to protect his family. By doing that he is able to protect his community. So it makes sense that it takes the potential deadly harm threatened upon his son, by his own hand no less, to really break him. Rick submits, and the saviors leave our group alone in the woods with one truck, two dead loved ones, and a well of broken spirits. Except for Maggie.
No one was moving. No one was saying a word. Not even Rick. Maggie, while still in some sort of labor pain, stands up and insists on taking Glenn to Hilltop on her own. In the comics Maggie punches Rick in this moment out of anger for him not doing anything to stop Glenn’s death. I half expected that to happen at this point in the show when Rick insisted that they go with her to Hilltop. That doesn’t happen, but it’s hard not to see how it was Maggie, not Rick, that galvanized this group once again to work together rather than sulking and pity for an extended period. Her leadership in this moment is no doubt meant to foreshadow her role in the future.
My Rating: A
Abraham represented the boldness and bravado of the show, and Glenn represented the hopefulness and optimism of the show. Both of their losses will send tidal waves through the episodes and seasons to come. In the end we still have a light of hope present, if only a glimmer. Maggie’s desire to kill Negan is a sign they still have some teeth. Their comradery, even between Rosita and Sasha, in carrying their dead back with them was a very satisfactory conclusion. Even the darkest of episodes have a spark of hope.
