bunkaroo

I don't recall seeing this mentioned here, but I saw an article about this episode which mentioned one of Negan's men taking polaroids of Glenn and Abraham's bashed in heads. I didn't notice this myself but that immediately reminded me of the wall of polaroids from last season. Funny thing is the writer of the article didn't mention the previous polaroids at all. Nice little detail though - maybe we'll see the pics on a wall in a future episode.

hdnmickey

People that knew what was coming because of the comics picked up on the Polaroids right away as a sign that those guys were linked to Negan, and that they were sick bastards that kept them basically as trophies of people that had met Lucille in the past.

Why So Blu?

Finally caught up and just watched this episode. Wow, lot of pussies can't handle it, waah! Yet, they'll tune in week after week. I like the show enough but tend to skip the seasons until they all release at the same time. I had to binge season 6 and even that took a while.

I do like me some Jefferey Dean Morgan. He's The Comedian character but on acid. He hasn't raped anyone yet, though...

GatorDeb

Just finished this episode, and I'm thinking to myself, should stuff like this be shown on television?

TGM

yes. if you don't like it it's called self control. go watch something else, not a show about the flesh eating zombie apocalypse.

GatorDeb

And yet the worst acts haven't been committed by Zombies, i.e. this episode and Carol and the girls.

mcnabb

I think the bigger point is can they show something this brutal without actually showing it and still get the same effect? You can choose the Quentin Tarantino method of telling a story where you show every bloody detail, or the Alfred Hitchcock storytelling where you show brutality but through editing you never actually see it.

The Carol episode where she had to take out Lizzy for killing her sister was brutal, but they never showed it. It was a very dramatic episode (killing children is almost taboo on TV), but it was done in a way that made it's point without actually showing Carol in the act.

The Negan episode was pure Tarantino as they were going to shock the audience (Glenn's eye popping out) and I think it actually had the opposite effect of the Carol/Lizzy episode. I think could have had Negan beat Abraham and Glenn with Lucille, yet never actually show it and it would have had much more dramatic effect instead. IMO.

TGM

that scene was an homage to an iconic moment from the comic book that was published 4.5 years ago. if you didn't do it that way you'd piss off a large portion of the fanbase. if you did do it that way you pissed off a large portion of the fanbase. no win scenario they painted for themselves.

Original Desmond

I'm just starting binge watching this block

I managed to stay away from any spoilers about who dies

Boy i've seen a lot of violent movies in my time, but those baseball bat killings by Negan of Abraham and Glen were fucking brutal, especially Glen after the first hit with his eyeball. Boy this show really has taken things to another level. Zombie violence is one thing, but this level of human violence is another

But boy has it set up Negan as a villian

Even if Rick's group deserved some payback for how many of Negan's group they had killed, not like this

Would only have been more shocking if one of them were Carl or a female instead of Abraham and Glen

Abob Teff

That is interesting ... I've had this discussion with a few people. So I will ask, was it the method that makes you feel that way? Ultimately, only two people died and (really) only one was retribution for slaughtering the dozens of people at the outpost. Would it have been more appropriate to execute everybody but Rick and Carl with off-screen bullets to the backs of their heads?

eXcentris

Just started watching season 7, and haven't read all the comments, but I must be the only person who essentially laughed all the way through this episode. I'm sorry but I just can't take this Negan dude seriously. He's a caricature of a villain. I might as well have been watching Evil Dead 2...

JoeySeven

I'm also on the boat that Jeffrey Dean Morgan is A terrible laughable villain Negan.I did not think the first episode was all that bad though.
But it gets worse for me.Season 7 was very bad.Not just Negan.Beyond the bad writing and slow pacing.I lost interest in TWD as they seem they going milk this cow to death.

mcnabb

I think we will look back and this is the episode that is the turning point in TWD fandom. I can't tell you how many people I know who were never the same with this show after this episode (including me). The ratings plunged continually throughout the season from 20 million to about 10 million. Yes 10 million for a cable show is still great, but you did something wrong if you lose 1/2 your audience in 1 season.