The Walking Dead season 7 premiere finally put fans out of their misery and revealed who Negan killed.
‘The Walking Dead’ season 7 premiere recap
The episode opens up after Negan has finished teaching Rick his lesson. Rick’s first reaction? Promising to kill Negan. It’s no surprise that Negan wants to make sure he finishes the job and works on Rick directly. So he takes Rick’s weapon, an axe, and drags him away into the RV.
The camera then ominously zooms out to the gore left behind from Negan’s kill.
Negan wants to take Rick away for a ride to show him just who is boss. He can hardly believe that Rick still threatened him after what just happened. “I want you to think about what happened. What could have happened and what could still happen,” Negan instructs Rick as they drive away. With Negan’s wit and charm, it’s hard not to like him just a little bit.
As Rick is having heartbreaking flashbacks of all of his friends, Negan throws Rick’s axe into a group of walkers and makes Rick go and get it. With all of the thoughts clouding his head, it’s hard to believe that Rick succeeds and manages to get to safety at the top of the RV. There he sees that they’re at the roadblock of trees and the fire attracted all of the walkers. It’s then that Rick breaks down and cries.
Flashbacks show that after Negan’s game of eenie, meenie, miney, moe he picked Abraham as his victim. Rosita and Sasha cry out before Negan even swings, and Abraham does indeed get back up after his first hit. After that Abraham stays down and is beaten until there’s nothing left of his head. Though in true Abraham fashion, he tells Negan to “Suck my nuts,” before dying.
Afterward, Negan wants to torture the group further and swings his bat around so that the blood hits Rick right in the face. Then he puts the bloody bat right in Rosita’s face, who can’t even look at Abraham’s lifeless body but Negan wants her to. Daryl can’t seem to take anymore of it and jumps up to attack Negan.
Since he’s here to teach them how this is going to work, and he wants to make a good impression, Negan decides to drive his lesson home even more. Since Daryl retaliated, they need to pay up for it. Instead of warning them what he’s going to do, Negan suddenly swings at Glenn, taking the group by surprise. He hits Glenn so hard that he’s immediately disfigured but manages to get out a final thought by saying, “Maggie, I’ll find you.” Cue heartbreak everywhere.
Out of respect for the dead, I won’t go into detail about the visuals of the kill. Those looking for blood and gore should certainly be satisfied though. The images of Glenn and Abraham’s bodies ruined by Negan’s attack will be burned in the minds of fans for quite some time.
Back in the present, Negan starts shooting through the top of the RV to get Rick moving. Running for his life again, Rick jumps off the RV and grabs onto the zombie hanging off the bridge, but the body starts to deteriorate and he slips down towards the hungry walkers. Negan shoots them down so that Rick can get away, grab the axe again, and get back to the RV.
There, Negan acts like he’s proud of Rick and laments that the situation must be hard for him. Of course, he’s not done messing with him yet. Once they get back, Negan cleans off the axe with rubbing alcohol, gives it to Rick, and tells him that he’s going to need it.
Everyone is still lined up when they get outside of the RV. Negan wants Rick to tell him what that trip was supposed to be about. He wants Rick to understand, but says that Rick still looks at him the same way he did before. So he gives Rick another test, he wants Rick to either cut off Carl’s arm or he kills everyone. Having already thought of what everyone’s deaths would look like, Rick goes to do it, only to be stopped by Negan.
Negan alarmingly goes from terrifying to down right chipper. He’s shouting in Rick’s face one moment and smiling the next. It’s no wonder that Rick is having a hard time getting a grip on the situation. To show just how in control he is, Negan claims ownership of Daryl and takes him with them.
Rick and the group are left a truck to get back home, and also to start packing up with things for Negan to take. They only have one week to figure out how they’re going to survive and provide for Negan. As the Saviors pack up and leave, Rick and the group remain motionless and try to absorb everything that’s happened to them.
Maggie is the first to get up and Rick tries to convince her to sit back down. She wants to go to Hilltop alone and tells Rick to go back home. They need to prepare to fight, she tells him. They were out there for her and she clearly blames herself for what happened. Maggie won’t agree to them all helping her, but agrees to allow Sasha to go with her.
First, Maggie wants to take care of Glenn’s body but can’t physically do it. She lets Rick and the others help after they say that he was part of their family too. Then we get another heart breaking image of what it would have been like if Glenn and Abraham survived. They would all eat together at a large table, with Glenn and Maggie’s son.
As Rick drives the RV away and looks in the rearview mirror he sees a walker going to feed on the gore left behind. While the whole group will forever be changed by this event, it seems like Rick might end up the most broken. He’s still visibly shaking, in contrast to Maggie who was ready to fight back right away.
It might have been easier on fans if they had experienced this in The Walking Dead season 6 finale. There would have been the whole summer for them to process these deaths and mourn the characters at their own pace. Instead, they will have to continue on with the storyline and go through the paces alongside the characters. In some aspect, this should allow fans to connect with the survivors even more. Whether or not fans will like this, remains to be seen.
Extras from ‘The Walking Dead’ season 7 premiere:
- Dwight wanted to kill Daryl with his own crossbow, again.
- Negan tells Rick he can still have a meaningful life providing for him, even though it means he’s not in charge anymore.
- Michonne tried to beg Negan to change his mind about Carl getting his arm cut.
- Rosita and Sasha have a touching moment together.
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