It's been nearly 6 years since the cult comic book series The Walking Dead was adapted to our small screens, and what a journey it's been. Since it first aired back in 2010 our group of survivors led by ex-sheriff Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) have been through quite a lot, from the unstable Shane (Jon Bernthal) to The Governor (David Morrissey) to cannibals, and that's not even taking into account the hordes of surrounding zombies. Yes our protagonists have been through a lot since the dead began to walk, but as season five came to a close it looked as though things were finally looking up for them after taking up residence in the idyllic town of Alexandria. But all good things must come to an end as the gang were soon to learn in what was quite possibly one of the most exciting and action packed seasons of The Walking Dead in a long time. (Warning, the following post may contain spoilers).
Now I don't know about everyone else but for me, seasons 4 and 5 of The Walking Dead felt as though they were lacking something. They felt a bit uneven and at times quite boring, every week felt like a chore sitting down to watch the show, but thankfully that all changed this season. One of the main reasons for this, which may sound strange, was that this season felt a bit more humorous. Now of course, The Walking Dead is not at all supposed to be a comedy show, but the early seasons had a sense of humour every now and again to ease the tension. Glenn (Steven Yeun) was funny, Merle (Michael Rooker) was funny, but with Merle dead and Glenn losing that playful attitude from the early seasons the show was beginning to feel a little dry. This season however saw a change to that, mainly due to the characters of Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and Eugene (Josh McDermitt) and their onscreen chemistry. They had been with the show since season 4 but I felt this season really gave them the opportunity to show off their full potential, be it through Eugene's random moments of stupidity or Abraham's classic one liners ('why are dangleberries brown?' being my personal favourite) , the two brought some life into a show about the dead.
Another thing that made this season so enjoyable was that it gave more personality to its characters. In the previous two seasons it felt as though some of the characters who used to be so enjoyable to watch had become boring shells of their former selves, but this season changed all of that. Rick was a risk taking leader again, Daryl (Norman Reedus) was as bad ass as ever (the rocket launcher scene in particular) and Carol's (Melissa McBride) development was a pleasure to watch in the early episodes at least. Along with bringing back the shows sense of humour and making the characters more exciting again, season 6 also was heavy on the action. The previous two seasons were a lot more focused on character driven episodes as opposed to action packed ones, which is fair enough, characters needed to develop and such. However this season managed to find the balance between character development and hardcore zombie action so that each episode had that solid story while also keeping you on the edge of your seat. Episodes such as No Way Out and Not Tomorrow Yet were particularly nailbiting. Yes The Walking Dead was finally becoming one of the most exciting shows on television again.
Of course, the whole season had been ultimately building up to the shows newest big bad, Negan (Jefferey Dean Morgan). Already gaining quite the reputation for his role in the comics, Negan had been subtly teased throughout season 6 due to the introduction of his sadistic gang of crazies known as The Saviours, as the season progressed he was teased even more explicitly and then the finale came. There was so much hype built up around this finale, the promise of Negan making an appearance was enough to get us fans excited but the knowledge that he would be killing off one of the protagonists left us dying with anxiety in the weeks building up to it. Yesterday I finally got to watch the eagerly anticipated finale and as I expected, they were saving the big bad until the end which was cool in my book. Suspense slowly built throughout the episode as the saviours stalked our heroes while day slowly turned to night, there was even an appearance by Stephen Ogg aka Trevor Philips from GTA V which I felt was an excellent addition. Then the last scene came, Negan made his debut and Jefferey Dean Morgan gave it socks, it was quite possibly the most captivating performance I've ever seen on the show. The tension slowly built in the episodes final minutes leaving us hanging from the edges of our seats in fear of who would meet the end of Negan's baseball bat, Lucille. To put a long story short, we still don't know who did.
As Negan is about to make his swing it switches to the POV of his victim who then receives quite the beating and before we can tell who the victim was the episode ends. What a shame. The season had been so good up until that point and myself and many others felt disappointed and a little bit betrayed that we were left pondering the identity of Negan's first victim. You see, something about The Walking Dead that I have recently noticed is that it is a show that is very cautious about taking risks. Shows like Game of Thrones have led us to expect the worst case scenarios, but The Walking Dead seems to be playing it quite safe in comparison. Not only in the finale, but that whole Glenn storyline earlier in the season. We were led to believe that Glenn had been eaten by walkers after falling off of a bin into a crowd of them, it was an emotional moment and for a second it looked as though the writers were starting to take more risks this season. However a couple of episodes later we find that Glenn was okay as he crawled under the bin to safety, like what?
In the early seasons beloved major characters died without any elaborate getaways or cliffhangers in the way, the likes of Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn), Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and even Hershel (Scott Wilson) met their untimely demise which really allowed the show to maintain its edge. Now it seems to prefer killing off the minor characters instead, from Doctor Denise (Merritt Wever) to those annoying little brats in the mid-season opening, the characters being killed are not ones that we've been given enough time to grow to like. I don't mean to sound like some sort of sadist but more major characters need to die in order for the show to maintain that edge. More risks need to be taken by the writers in order to keep things exciting, we don't fear for the likes of Rick or Daryl anymore because we know that the writers wouldn't risk killing off such popular characters. This notion was almost challenged many times, Glenn almost died, Daryl almost died in the penultimate episode, but deep down we knew they couldn't die, we knew that the writers couldn't take that risk. When season 7 finally does come around and Negan's victim is finally revealed it should be a big character, someone we've grown close to and care for and not a secondary one who still needs time to grow and develop. That will keep things exciting in future episodes, that will pose the question of who really is safe.
As a whole I think season 6 of The Walking Dead was one of my favourites since the first. It had a captivating story that only at times felt uneven, the characters felt like themselves again and the whole experience was suspenseful and gripping. It was nice to see the likes of Rick and Daryl being complete bad asses again, it was equally enjoyable seeing female characters like Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) being just as strong as their male counterparts as well. Even the humour brought by characters like Abraham and Eugene felt refreshing. However, for season 7 to improve on this one the show needs to start taking more risks. The protagonists need more threat and less security so that we as an audience genuinely do fear for their lives, so that the line between who's safe and who isn't becomes more blurred. A big improvement on the previous two seasons but still flawed in some ways, season 6 of The Walking Dead has left us all in anticipation to say the least.
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