The Walking Dead Season 8 Premiere: 6 Ups And 2 Downs From 'Mercy'

2. The More Optimistic Tone

The Walking Dead Father Gabriel Rick Grimes
Gene Page/AMC

Even by the standards of its post-apocalyptic, dog-eat-dog world, Season 7 was miserable as hell. Everything about it, especially the first half, felt incredibly bleak, dour, and difficult to watch.

Mercy readdresses that by imbuing the show with far more optimism than we've seen for some time. This is led by Rick himself, but almost all of the heroes - bar Carl in the beginning - are concentrated on working together and have a genuine belief that they can not only defeat Negan, but also then rebuild the world in their image.

The dialogue reflects this, full of inspirational speeches from the likes of Rick, Maggie, and even Father Gabriel, and it makes the episode a particularly easy, enjoyable watch. It's important that it doesn't actually go too far this way, though, as that wouldn't be staying true to the world. The stakes are still high, and it manages to balance its more hopeful tone while reflecting that the two factions are now at war, and it makes for a refreshing change of pace that keeps you invested throughout.

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Contributor

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.