The Walking Dead: Every Season 7 Episode (So Far) - Ranked Worst To Best

And just like that, we've reached the halfway point of The Walking Dead's Negan-filled seventh season. To say the season has been divisive would be an understatement. After a heavily watched premiere that saw the resolution of the sixth season's controversial cliffhanger, ratings slipped and the opinions of critics and fans alike were split over each new episode.

In a number of ways, the season hasn't been the easiest to watch, as characters we've spent seasons watching kick ass and take names have been beaten down into submission by the Saviors. Across all eight episodes, there have been a number of lows, such as the decision to spread out and isolate the storytelling a bit too much, and a number of highs, like seeing characters, places, and scenes ripped straight from the comics and brought to life. But whether you've loved it or hated it, it's hard to deny that it feels quite unlike past seasons.

With the wait now ahead of us to see what happens next when the show returns next year, let's take the time for a spoiler-filled look back at the season so far to sort out which episodes didn't entirely click, and which ones stood out among the pack.

In a lot of ways, this episode had much in common with the fifth season's Beth-centric Slabtown. Like Beth, Tara is a divisive character; some love her, some hate her, and others are indifferent. So to devote an entire episode solely to her and her adventures - taking time away from the larger plot and characters people tend to prefer to see, like Rick, Michonne, Daryl, and so on - is a risky decision, one that made the entire hour just as divisive as Tara herself.

In the grand scheme of things, Swear didn't move a whole lot forward. It introduced Oceanside and its staggering collection of weaponry, wrote off Heath (for now), and reinforced the idea that the Saviors have their tentacles everywhere. While all of that is necessary, the big issue is that it all could've been condensed a bit for the sake of including a B-story featuring other members of the cast, rather than be stretched out to fill a full episode, let alone an extended one.

If anything, the most interesting aspect of the hour - Tara eventually returning to Alexandria to find out that Denise, Abraham, and Glenn have died in her absence - almost feels like a perfunctory second thought, Tara's reaction to and grief over such bad news glossed over in a matter of minutes. As a result, the whole episode felt rather imbalanced, resulting in the first half of the season's weakest episode.