Well, dammit, add me to the list of The Walking Dead fans miffed about last Sunday's Season Finally. Cliffhangers are weak. I'll tell you why in 6 months. It's gonna be AWESOME!
The "who did Negan kill ploy" was unnecessary for the most popular show on cable television. TWD fans are loyal folk who love the show and are well used to series breaks in all programs. No one loses interest over the months while waiting for new seasons to begin. From Gunsmoke to M*A*S*H, to Friends to Grey's Anatomy there has always been breaks in popular shows and viewers always came back. Did you even know Grey's Anatomy was still on? It might not be. I'll let you know next winter.
Some of those shows may have done cliffhangers too. I'm not sure. Can you imagine though, how lame MASH would have been if they had had Radar O'Reilly break into the OR and announce that "Col. Henry Blake's chopper went down in The Sea Of Japan and-" And nothing until next season? Fuck that. Months of wondering if he was dead, alive or captured by the North Koreans? No. They didn't do that. The shock of the unexpected death of a beloved character was awful enough and interesting enough to keep viewers coming back for more.
As it was, viewers were shocked out of their shorts but they mourned Col. Blake and quickly warmed to Henry Potter. People are very adaptable- if you give them a chance to be.
What would have been wrong with mourning the death of _______? I have NO idea who was killed Sunday night. It was just most likely not Carl or Rick because both live on in the comic book series upon which the show is based. And neither producers or Negan would kill Rick Grimes because he's the star of the show and, a Negan needs to defeat hearts and minds and that is accomplished by defeating a leader like Rick via his acquiescence rather than a barbed baseball bat to the noggin. Killing him is too final. Many people think Glenn got the bat treatment because that's what transpired in the comics. Maybe. But, maybe not because, there's no la that says you have to follow the book. Have you seen our Bible and our Christians? Sometimes the book is just a suggestion.
So, maybe I do have an idea after all. My bet is Abraham. He's a big fella who showed his spirit after capture- something that rulers feel prudent to suppress and make an example of. Negan seems to like worker bees who will profit for him so, Eugene could be the victim because Negan might see him as expendable as viewers see him.
The thing is, who cares? Producers have the ultimate control over the story and they are why things happen in the story. Readers or viewers can either like it or lump it. I find it odd though, that in a show that kills off popular characters on a regular basis, that they have to resort to cheap ploys like cliffhangers, thinking that viewers need or will respond to that favorably to tune in months later. The gang getting captured is enough of a cliffhanger. Add knowing that Sasha or Maggie were brutally murdered at the end of the season and you have water cooler convo to last for months. What they have now is internet chatter about how fucked up the finale was. That's not must-see TV. But, maybe fans will forget by the time the show returns? Maybe Negan killed a producer? I'll tune in for that!
Oops! I forgot Daryl! "Hmmm... maybe Ferrerman forgot Daryl on purpose?" We'll find out this summer.... Maybe? Maybe not....
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