Walking Dead Finale

I know a lot of folks thought Season 7 of “The Walking Dead” was a dud. I wasn’t one of them. I think that sometimes we need to take a step back  – whether in a book series or a TV series – and engage in a bit of introspection and character development. I think that’s exactly what Season 7 did.

The opener was one of the most difficult things I’ve seen on television. It was emotionally draining – and this is coming from someone who doesn’t get emotionally entangled with TV characters (can’t say the same for books, though). It was a burdensome, violent, frightening episode in which we saw two beloved characters violently murdered while their loved ones watched, and in which we saw how to emotionally break a man – just force him to chop off his own child’s hand or condemn him to watch as you kill everyone he cares about.

I view the rest of the season as the result of that complete breakdown. It’s not that I think Rick is a bad leader. I think he’s very human, with a lot of human failings and weaknesses. Sometimes he’s naive. Sometimes he’s irrationally obstinate. Sometimes he’s just broken and scared. How many of you would keep your wits about you after seeing two of your closest friends clubbed to death and then being forced to nearly chop your own son’s hand off in exchange for allowing the rest of your loved ones to survive? So yes, it’s understandable that Rick lost it. I don’t know any human being who wouldn’t. So it makes sense that the rest of the season leading up to the finale would step back a bit and allow the characters to breathe and to regain some semblance of sanity.

I mean, how long would it take you to recover after you realize that you were broken to such a degree, you were nearly willing to chop your own child’s hand off in order to prevent greater carnage?