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

by James Hunt

1. It's An Anticlimax

The Walking Dead Rick
Gene Page/AMC

A season finale is typically the episode where The Walking Dead brings its big guns and has them all a-blazing, but this one fell quite flat. In fairness, maybe anticlimax isn't the right word. Does it really count as an anticlimax if the buildup hasn't been exciting?

The problem with this episode is that the show hasn't really done enough to get us to this stage, spending too much time on singular episodes like the past couple excursions at Hilltop or the Sanctuary. It doesn't quite feel like things are ready to explode, but they have to.

It also means that it pretty much brings us back to right where we were in Season 6. Yes, we know that Negan is *really* bad now, and that Rick and co are *really* ready to fight back, but the ultimate status quo - Rick vs Negan, Alexandria vs Saviours - hasn't changed too much in 16 episodes, and the fightback hasn't properly started yet, which means that what we've watched is all just setup for the next stage.

The war could be great, though there are plenty of reasons to doubt that series' ability to deliver, but means that Season 7 has effectively been filler, which isn't good enough.

What did you think of the Season 7 finale? Let us know down in the comments.

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NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.