‘The Walking Dead’ Season 7 Premiere Leaves Fans Irate, Manipulated: Did It Go Too Far?

‘The Walking Dead’ season 7 premiere aired on Sunday, October 23 but was it everything fans expected? After episode 1 ‘The Day You Come When You Won’t Be’ aired fans took to social media to express their outrage.

Many were left feeling emotionally manipulated and questioning whether or not creator and executive producer Robert Kirkman went too far this time. Nick Statt of ‘The Verge’ believes TWD “pushed the limits of good taste and storytelling far beyond its capacity, all in the service of making it up to fans who felt betrayed by last season’s finale.”

Those are strong words, but they echo what many fans across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram were discussing as ‘The Walking Dead’ season 7 premiere unfolded. Nick Statt outright stated that episode 1 of ‘The Walking Dead’ season 7 “shows just how hollow the show has become.”

AMC airs a warning before each episode of ‘The Walking Dead,’ as well as throughout the program. Fans were warned repeatedly through spoilers and the cast panel at Comic Con 2016 that season 7 would be graphic and heartbreaking, especially the first episode.

Interview magazine spoke with Jeffrey Dean Morgan [Negan] about his feelings regarding the graphic nature of the first episode. From bashing in Abraham’s [Michael Cudlitz] and Glenn’s [Steven Yeun], to the pseudo flashbacks interspersed as Negan tortured Rick [Andrew Lincoln] after pulling him away from the group, it was almost too much for Morgan to play out.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan revealed it filming the entire episode drained him emotionally. The worst scene was when Negan demanded Rick use his axe to chop off Carl’s [Chandler Riggs] hand. Morgan admits there was a point where he just didn’t want to keep filming the ever increasingly gruesome scenes.

The Verge began a weekly column following the final episode of ‘The Waling Dead’ season 6 called ‘The Walking Dead Quitters Club.’ The column writers discuss just how many episodes it will take before diehard fans, who feel manipulated by showrunner Robert Kirkman -the author of the original graphic novels upon which the series is based – will stop watching all together.

That time may have come according to The Verge’s Bryan Bishop. The critic points out that the balance of drama and emotional involvement became out of whack when showrunner Scott Gimple joined TWD. Basically, Bishop says, the writers and producers have failed to continue to develop the characters and have used “tawdry manipulation” instead.

There are fans that are perfectly happy with episode 1 of ‘The Walking Dead’ season 7. There is a vocal faction of diehard fans who have taken to social media to say that if you can’t take the blood, gore and horror that is ‘The Walking Dead’ then perhaps you shouldn’t continue to watch.

What do you think? Did Robert Kirkman and the writers of ‘The Walking Dead’ take the premiere episode of season 7 too far? Was it too gory, too emotionally draining? Did you feel manipulated and angry with the outcome?

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