The Walking Dead Season 7 Finale: 3 Ups & 5 Downs From 'The First Day Of The Rest Of Your Life'

1. Tiger Attack

One of the most exciting aspects of this season as we headed into it was the arrival of Shiva, Ezekiel's pet tiger. Not only was she his loyal companion, but instantly gave him an air of mystique, and, well, she's a freakin' tiger, who in the comics fights alongside her master and kills walkers and humans alike. Who wouldn't wanna see that?!

Unfortunately, mostly due to how much it actually costs to put a tiger on the screen, she's been kept to minor appearances sitting by Ezekiel's side. As it turns out, they've been saving up their money for the season finale, with the tiger finally let of the leash (and yeah, it makes up for the deer and the junkyard backdrop).

Just as Negan was about to kill Carl (or rather pretend he was about to but find a way of talking about it until something eventually stopped him), Shiva comes flying in with a dramatic save, taking out a Saviour behind Negan and distracting him in the process. As deux ex machinas go, a tiger is a a mighty fine one. Shiva looked impressive enough, and just the sight of seeing her flying into action and killing a few Saviours was immediately gratifying, regardless of what the context of those scenes was. The show may be dumb and infuriating a lot of the time, but hey, at least we get a tiger, which was all kinds of fun. Cut down the cast to save money, and then give us more of this, please.