Now I know there are Walking Dead fans here at the Inn so come on take a guess lol.

...I've gotten past the point of guesses, really, as the show has gone in radically different directions than the comics where characters and their deaths are concerned. That said, I'm all but certain that one of the "fan-favorites" is gonna get an up-close-and-personal intro to Lucille and I've narrowed it down to just a few possibilities based on who Dwight and crew already have bagged at the end of last night's episode and who else is "outside the walls" and could easily join them.

1)Glenn - obvious choice given his comics outcome, plus, he's cheated death like NINE times, now. That cat's out of lives! On the other hand, I feel like they're going the "Glenn/Maggie/Sophia" route from the comics with Glenn/Maggie/Enid and there were some interesting little plot points from all of that. However, given what happened to Maggie last night coinciding with Glenn being bagged by the Saviours... it'd be a truly horrific and heartbreaking finale to see Glenn get it... Chances: 8/10

2)Sasha - Seriously doubtful. While definitely an interesting character, she's hardly what I'd call a fan favorite, and, as such, wouldn't have as much an impact if Negan were to end her run, here. Chances 1/10

3)Rosita - see Sasha. Although, if Rosita were to get the brainpan trauma ending, it might set up an interesting set of circumstances that would affect the Sasha/Abraham relationship soooo... Chances 3/10

4)Daryl - Arguably the #1 fan favorite and, therefore, biggest impact as far as a "gut wrenching season finale" would be concerned. Plus, he's put the "no mercy" on the Saviors pretty good and, as such, likely identified himself to Negan as one of the larger threats from the Alexandria folks... Then again #1 fan favorite, right? Do the producers risk a fan exodus if they brain Daryl? Chances 8/10

5)Carol - because, like Daryl, she's put the hurting on the Saviors pretty good, "Miss Gun Up Your Sleeve," and she made the mistake of leaving one alive who followed her... What a display that would make, right? Braining the crazy lady and giving her the escape she was looking for while simultaneously making the audience go "OMG! Not CAROL!!!" Chances 4/10

6)Morgan - see Sasha and Rosita. That aside, the little booger would probably offer himself up to spare the others... I think he's got more time, just the same, and, like Carol, we didn't see him actually with the Saviors sooo... chances 3/10

I'm not going to get into spoilers (I hope), but I will say this - I have watched every single Walking Dead episode, I have built my schedule around this show, and I hated that episode as I have hated little else in entertainment.

The entire episode was a giant middle finger to the fanbase. An extra half hour of bleak cruelty just for the point of being bleak and cruel. I thought I was watching the Walking Dead, not "Saw: the Series". And the "cliffhanger" finale?

Congratulations, Walking Dead. You just did what I thought was nigh impossible - you drastically lowered my interest in resuming viewership when the show picks up in the fall.

Okay, maybe spoilers are below, to a point. Read at your own risk.
















Teasing a major character's death for weeks, then not even showing it? After the multiple camera shots meant to make you think "it's this person!", "no, it's this person!", then the rapid fire showing of everyone's faces before switching to the victim's perspective?

Cheap, cheap, cheap manipulation of the audience. We have to wait until effing October to know what happened? I am furious.

And to be quite honest, the new tone of hopelessness just doesn't sit well with me. I watch this show because I'm invested in the characters, who are (admittedly flawed) heroes struggling to survive in unthinkable conditions. I understand - and accept - that sometimes, even main characters will die; the world is just that dangerous. Sometimes, their deaths don't even make sense. That's part of it.

But even when things have been at their bleakest, there has always been hope. That is now gone. Unless the writers introduce some unbelievable duex ex machine, this is an utterly unwinnable situation - and I'm not talking about the current "make an example" encounter, I'm talking about the plot of the show going forward.

Negan's people have the Alexandria folks outnumbered ten, twenty to one - and all of Negan's are fighters, well equipped. So Alexandria has to assimilate into this brutal dictatorship or die. Or maybe try to run away, where many will die in the process.

I hated almost every moment of this episode, and I hated the way that the show treated us. I hate the direction that the show appears to be taking.

The two seasons of anti-Governor conflict were my least favorite so far; it appears that now, we're going to take that essence that I dislike and amp it up to eleven.

I am really, really unhappy with this.

I think there might a little too much "fluff" trying to build tension, in this episode, and, for all it was hyped to be since the mid-season premier, that ending was pretty "anti-climactic." I would have much rather gone out of season six knowing exactly who got the Lucille treatment. That would have been plenty cliffhangery enough for me. So, yeah, it was kind of a middle finger to the fan-base, in that respect.


That said, and making the following comments as a reader/fan of the comics and a watcher/fan of the TV series, I'm kind of looking forward to the Negan arc. Sure, it appears to be a no win situation for Rick and company, now, and, in a sense, it'll seem that way for a good while... Negan is like the Governor in a lot of respects and there are some definite parallels where the two are concerned, buuuuut Negan kind of makes the Governor look like Mr Rogers in full on comparison. The Governor was certainly running a totalitarian type system but, at least he did it from behind a veil of pseudo-democracy for a little while. Negan on the other hand is just right out there in the open about it... "All of this is MINE!"

Plus, Rick and company have some "lessons learned" that they've taken away from their encounters with the Gov and his ilk and, in this Negan arc, it it's done right, they'll get to employ quite a bit of those lessons learned to great effect.

While I'm not the greatest fan of how season 6 wrapped up, I don't think it got me quite as steamed as Olan.