The Walking Dead season 7 returned with a big shock, but its storytelling throughout the season suffered. Yet, there’s still hope for the show when it returns!
The Walking Dead season 7 has arguably been one of the darkest yet, thanks to the introduction of the villain Negan. He’s unlike any other character fans have seen on their screens yet, and because of his introduction there’s been some big changes to the show. Some of these have caused a disturbance in how the shows its character arcs which ultimately has downgraded its storytelling.
One of the biggest issues with this season is that many of the characters fans are used to seeing together have been split up. This has lead to a few issues on the show. For one, because the characters are physically in different locations their storylines aren’t being told as well as they should be and are left feeling incomplete.
For example, Carol has taken refuge just outside of The Kindgom, which has left a big gaping hole in the series. There was a whole episode dedicated to how Carol and Morgan ended up there, but other than that we’ve only gotten glimpses of their time there. It feels like there’s probably more to the story that fans are missing out on, such as Carol’s growing friendship with Ezekiel and Morgan.
But we’re also missing out on how Carol would have reacted to the bigger issues going on with her real family and those she cares about most. Let’s be honest, Rick probably would have made up his mind about Negan much quicker if Carol was there to smack some sense into him. There’s the additional mind numbing problem that Carol has no idea what happen to Glenn, Abraham, and Daryl.
This extends to several other characters as well, Maggie and Sasha were both at Hilltop healing and trying to get through their grief together. Though it was lovely to see their bonding, they were also cut off from the rest of their family back at Alexandria. As much as they might like their new friends at Hilltop they don’t have the same bond with them as they do with Rick and the others.
Additionally, Tara was away as well (which had more to do with the actress being on maternity leave) and there was a whole episode dedicated to what happened while she was gone. While it was definitely interesting to see what happened to her it did take away what felt like important air time that could have been used better.
Negan’s introduction has slowly caused the storyline of a resistance to bubble below the surface. The impending war against Negan means that Rick and his family will have to prepare to go against someone with more power than they’ve ever dealt with before. This not only means they will need more resources to fight back, but they’ll need more helping hands. Rick simply doesn’t have enough will the skill to fight at Alexandria at the moment, especially with some of his better fighters having been quite recently killed.
This means that The Walking Dead had no choice to introduce other characters to the show, and yet they still suffered from it. With the discovery of Negan came the discovery of many other communities that had dealt with him long before Rick ever did. The more characters and communities there are, the less screen time there is for the other characters that fans are already invested in.
That’s not to say that it isn’t good to be introduced to new characters, it’s just that so much of The Walking Dead season 7 has already been dedicated to these introductions. Luckily, it appears as though fans only have one more community to be introduced to when the season returns. Hopefully, this will mean that a lot more time is spent focusing on Rick and his team as they rally up for the battle ahead. Since Rick is going to be heavily involved in recruiting help, it should bring more of our favorite characters together.
Since the communities will start to team up together, there will be a lot more mixing going on. Less separation should equal more screen time for everyone which is just what the show needs right now. Plus, it looks as though Maggie will be taking over Hilltop so it could become Alexandria’s greatest ally. Even if the Rick’s friends are split up in different locations, it will help to see them interacting more.
Probably one of the biggest things fans are looking forward to when the season returns, is whether or not Carol will re-join her family. Without a doubt it will be emotional to see what happens when she see’s Daryl again, as well as Rick. But will be remain an outside or will she agree to fight along side her family? This will definitely be a big deal as Carol has been an integral part of the series for some time now. It just doesn’t feel right when she’s away from the others.
With The Walking Dead heading into an all out war between the communities and Negan, the series will have to be careful with how it handles its violence. Since the premiere many critics of the show have said it has been putting too much effort into shock value instead of taking care of the storylines at hand.
Due to the nature of the show, there’s no way around the violence, but they should always be careful to make sure there’s a balance. One of the best things about the series is how emotionally invested fans have become in the characters, and their stories should not be left to suffer because the show put shock value above them.
The Walking Dead is still one of the best series on television right now, but in order to keep that title it needs to consider its decisions about storytelling carefully.
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