
The last time I was emotionally invested in The Walking Dead, Negan, a straight-up terrorist, had just arrived, waving a barbed bat like a four-four. The show has since completely lost me.
After the first two episodes this season, following six seasons of loyalty (half of it through binging), I finally up and quit. I am not alone in this world. As of March 12, the ratingsâthough still impressive for a cable show in its seventh seasonâdropped to a four-year low, signaling a larger viewer exodus.
A turning point for multiple fans came last October, after a Season 7 premiere in which Negan beat our friend Glenn to death and initiated the slow-drip process of emasculating Rick. Whatâs going on now? Howâs Negan? Everyoneâs in excellent physical and emotional shape, right?
Based on what I reluctantly watched in Sunday nightâs episode, with minimal context, hereâs whatâs happening: Daryl is still alive, great. But the crew is still trapped with Negan and his torturers. Carl lost an eye. Tara feels bad about something. Lots of unfamiliar faces. Sasha is imprisoned. A dude named David physically threatens her, but Negan stops him from going further, with a speech: âI can see that youâre trying to rape this woman. You were trying to rape this woman, werenât you? This is some unacceptable behavior. Rape is against the rules here.â Okay. This presumably means Negan has standards. Then he stabs David.
Eugene is with Sasha but on the other side of the prison. With Negan??? Thereâs a weird old lady. Rick is plotting again. Walkers! Is that everything? What is Oceanside? How did Maggie deal with Glennâs death? Where are Morgan and Carol? Next weekâs finale will fortunately put an end to a story that I feel has been crumbling under Neganâs weight, as I pointed out early on last year in a piece about Neganâs vapid destructiveness.
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Another piece on The Ringer questioned the showâs poor decision to favor savagery over story, on a level unlike that of seasons past. An Atlantic post from February, âIs The Walking Deadâs Villain Killing the Show?â similarly observed: â...while in comic-book form Negan is a classic supervillainâmuch discussed, rarely seen, and brutally memorable every time he shows upâon TV, he was an almighty dud.â And this Verge post, âThe Walking Dead Quitterâs Club: goodbye for real,â breaks down how The Walking Dead has âdevolved into exemplifying its worst qualities.â
Thereâs also a variation of declarations like this: âStop Watching âThe Walking Dead.â You Hate It.â And âWhy Iâm Walking Out On The Walking Dead.â And âFive Reasons Iâm Done Watching the Walking Dead.â One suggestion is that AMC should prematurely announce a series end date.
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While the ratings are far from horrific, of course, itâs a big enough drop to mean something is wrong. The viewer exodus has largely been blamed on the Negan narrative, the reign of gratuitous terror and a dragging storyline. Further, one could assume that itâs easy for American viewers to develop fatigue for zombies now that we have actual bloodsuckers running the country. Perhaps the post-Apocalypse scenario is too fathomableâbut that has rarely been a reason to avoid escapism altogether.
In fact, thatâs when many of us fall into fantasy (i.e. Americaâs recent obsession over 1984); and during eras of mass depression, Hollywood tends to produce its greatest work by layering fictional horrors with those in real society, making pieces of fiction extra visceral, which is what apocalyptic fantasies should consider. For me, the ride is over and Iâm not sure what the show needs to do to win me back. There was always a masochistic aspect to watching it anyway, knowing our hearts would continually be broken. For those still invested, why stick around?