Monday, April 4, 2016

Who Does Negan Kill On The Walking Dead?

Who cares any more?  Seriously, this could have been a masterful season which built to a roaring crescendo, but instead the producers saw fit to let the end fizzle away in the name of the age old "cliffhanger."  I agree that the concept of the "cliffhanger" is many times necessary to the telling of a good story, but let's remember that this entire season has been pretty much one big, long cliffhanger.  If you push a cliffhanger too far, you risk losing the audience to impatience and apathy.  The solid foundation upon which a good cliffhanger is constructed is the genuine concern of the viewer for the subjects.  If you push the viewer's patience too far you lose them.  This is the mistake the producers made in this situation, in my opinion.

We spent 16 episodes in anticipation of the appearance of Negan, and even those who haven't read the graphic novels knew what was coming at the end of the season.  The viewers should have been given an epic climax to the season, allowed to have the off season to contemplate, to grieve, to mourn.  The threat of Negan and his potential for the future would have been more than enough of a cliffhanger on which to end the season.  We all know that the producers stray from the graphic novels, so nobody really knew what was going to happen EXACTLY.  We all knew that someone had to be sacrificed for Negan and Lucille to fulfill their anticipated threat, but we didn't know who.  This was the cliffhanger we've all dealt with all season long.  This ending was cheap and predictable.  I called it days before, and I was dreading my prediction to come true... but it did.  I really had hoped that the producers would break from the obvious and the predictable, but I was sadly disappointed.  The instant the episode ended I ceased caring which would die.  I'm not going to be one of those who will spend the next five or six months wondering and worrying which will die.  Negan can beat all of them to death for all I care at this point.  I'm calling this "Schrodinger's Negan."  He kills someone for sure, maybe more than one.  However, since the producers have chosen to stretch this out so far and for so long, they've worn thin the patience of much of their fan base.  I'm a pretty average guy, and I know that I represent a decent percentage of the shows demographics.  They pushed it too far with me, and so I know that they pushed it too far with a whole lot of people.  You may not be one of them, and if so, enjoy the next five or six months of nail-biting and anticipation.  As for me, I'll forget this until it comes back and when it does, I'll watch to see who dies and not care at all who it is.




The Walking Dead
Negan season finale
Who did Negan kill?
The Walking Dead spoilers

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