So as some of you may have heard, The Walking Dead has lost a lot of viewers this season, to a troubling degree. This has led to a great deal of speculation as to why. But anyone who watched the season opener can tell you. Without a DOUBT, bad guy Negan is the most vicious, brutal, unforgivable bad guy they have had on the show yet. His penchant for violence with his lovely bat Lucille is constant, and the joy he takes away from his own cruelty is palpable, which might be just a little too much for some viewers. But I need to beg a question of those same viewers: This is a show that is essentially about the end of the world and how humans have turned into monsters, so really, what did you expect? A season filled with unicorns and sunshine? My argument would even be that Negan is the best thing to happen to The Walking Dead in years.
First off, yes that season opener was very hard to stomach. To see characters you love and admire get killed and dehumanized is tough, but this IS what you signed up for when committing to this show, and everyone KNEW Negan was coming. When Jeffrey Dean Morgan landed the role people were stoked, and justifiably so. He plays a bastard better than most can (the Comedian in Watchmen as another example), and he always seems to have great fun doing so. Negan was a despicable character in the comic and is despicable on the show, and that is exactly what the show needed. Rick’s group needed to be shaken up and taken down a peg. Let us not forget, the group DID kill a great many of Negan’s men in their sleep and blew a bunch up with a rocket, so monsters beget monsters in this world. That is a given. The members of this group are no angels, make no mistakes.
But rather than turn your back on a show you love because it got darker than you expected, why not wait it out and giving it a chance to rekindle your faith? After all, it’s not like they are gonna lose to this guy. That is not how this show works. Negan did his damage (and will probably do more) but we ALL know our group (even though they will suffer some losses) will eventually succeed. I really don’t want Walking Dead to get cancelled, and Negan’s violent delight makes the show that much more tense, which in turn makes it that much more watchable.
Tags: AMC, Negan, shows, The walking dead, TV