The Walking Dead Season 6 Refresher

Faithful viewers of The Walking Dead were treated to a series recap on AMC last night as they took us through some highs and lows with the show in its six season run thus far. We got a reminder of some of the more tragic deaths in the series, as well as an announcement that season 8 has already been green-lit. So there’s that. In working up to the season 7 premiere, the big question on everyone’s mind is who Negan will kill. On Friday I’ll be revisiting my original theory based on sneak peak’s we’ve seen and other summer revelations, but for now I’d like to take another look at what Rick and Co. to that point.

Expanding the World

The vast majority of decisions that led our group to their knees in front of Negan occurred in the second half of season six. In the return from the break, episode 9 introduced us to the first small group of saviors we’ve seen. After an attempt to take the truck and belongings of Abraham, Sasha and Daryl, they are blown away by a rocket-propelled grenade courtesy of Daryl. In the following two episodes we’re introduced to Jesus, the Hilltop community, and Gregory. Their world got big, real quick. Suddenly “in-home” problems among the Alexandrians took a back seat to figuring out how to move forward in a world with many small communities around them. In my summary of episode 11, I said it was about extending trust and offering freedom. As far as the Alexandrians know, they’re in a position of strength and influence. Rick’s confidence is at an all-time high and the group believes they can handle anything. They certainly try.

Going on the Offensive

Once the group hears about this Negan character and his strong-arming tactics, they offer to kill him in exchange for half of Hilltop’s food. Actually, it’s Daryl that claims they can do it. Perhaps an important detail to remember. Anyway, the attack goes down in episode 12 at a compound in which they believe Negan and the saviors make camp. In my episode 12 review I point out that this is the first time in the history of the show that our group goes on the offensive. In all other conflicts with people they were either in a defensive position, or retaliating to something brought upon them. This was their first unprovoked attack, and I spend some time in that review looking at the Christian view of that in light of our command to “be at peace with all men” in Romans 12. From this point forward the argument could be made that they placed themselves on the wrong side of a conflict. Or at the very least handled it poorly. Either way, their action in killing a large number of the saviors set the stage for their inevitable encounter with Negan.

False Security

A few weeks, maybe even a month or two pass episodes 12 to 14. New relationships are blooming and the exchange with Hilltop seems to be going well as we see shelves in Alexandria stocked full. Things seem to be going well. It is in these couple episodes where the show builds emotional attachments to characters that will soon experience major trauma. I pointed out in my episode 14 review that I didn’t care much at all for Denise and Eugene, but the time spent with them helped give some weight to their characters. For Denise, it made her abrupt death at the hands of Dwight a bit heavier. For Eugene, he begins to come out of his shell of fear and assert himself as a capable survivor. Much to Abraham’s chagrin. The pride of the group in thinking they can handle anything thrown at them is beginning to come back to bite them.

Splintered

The stage is set in episodes 14 and 15 for the impending finale. Daryl can’t handle letting Denise’s killer lose and he goes after her. Michonne, Glenn, and Rosita follow him. Carol can’t handle killing people anymore and she leaves, thinking if she isn’t around anyone she cares about she won’t have to kill for them. Morgan and Rick go after her, and Morgan continues looking for her while Rick heads back. Maggie experiences pain related to her pregnancy, and because the only remaining doctor is at Hilltop she heads there with Abraham, Rick, Carl, Sasha, Eugene and Aaron. Major members of the group have been separated, and the strength they had in their numbers became an advantage they ignored as they split into different ventures.

Moving Forward

Season 7 will begin with one of the most talked about events from the comics, and lead into some of the bloodiest battles yet to come. The talk of the summer has been all about who Negan killed, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if almost half of the characters we see kneeling before him are gone by April, 2017. Season 7 trailers have revealed that we’ll be introduced to another community, called The Kingdom, and led by Ezekiel. We’ll get a first-hand look at where the saviors call home, the sanctuary. And if the pacing of the show relative to the comics thus far has been any indication, we should see at least two major skirmishes between communities in season 7.

I’ll be back later this week with some predictions on who Negan killed. Because you can never have too many.