The Walking Dead Season 7 Finale Review: The First Day Of The Rest Of Your Life

It’s been a grueling six-month journey from the time we were introduced to Negan blatantly flaunting his power over the surviving communities (it is still in Atlanta, right?). This is probably one of the seasons in “The Walking Dead” where a lot of deaths happened, and where Rick and his crew has been brought down to their lowest. It hasn’t been an easy ride for the cast and viewers, but my god this is a satisfying season seven finale indeed.

The Walking Dead Finale Brief Recap

Negan and the Saviors travel to Alexandria with Sasha in a coffin to confront Rick. Before their arrival, Sasha commits suicide via the poison capsule Eugene gave her; Maggie and Jesus encounter and dispose of the undead Sasha in the woods. In Alexandria, the Scavengers turn on Rick’s group, revealing they’ve been dealing with Negan all along.

The Kingdom and Hilltop arrive just before Negan was going to hit Carl with Lucille, and after a standoff between the opposing communities, a gun fight ensues. The Saviors and the Scavengers retreat; Alexandria, the Kingdom, and Hilltop are hit badly but are prepared for future battles against their enemies. The episode ends with a flashback of Sasha and Maggie watching the sun set in the distance.

Sasha’s Glorious Exit

Truth be told, a lot of us were never really a fan of season 7, even though we’ve stuck through the show since 2010. This season of “The Walking Dead” has been drab and sluggish most of the time and even goes on to just being outright boring. The biggest mistake that season seven has done would probably be showing us scenes that just took way too long for us to understand its relevance to the entire season storyline.

But despite these flaws, the buildup towards the finale is commendable. It’s full of love, hate and emotion that “The Walking Dead” has been to known to possess since the beginning of the show. It’s a gripping and emotionally stressful episode, delivering everything in an hour through a tightly-directed, action-packed conclusion. It’s also one of the best send-off episodes for one of their longest-running characters; with us bawling our eyes out as Sasha remembers Abraham and then dies peacefully (complete with scoring from Donny Hathaway’s ‘Someday We’ll All Be Free’.)

The opening scene introduces us right away to Sasha’s final moments (thanks to Eugene’s poison pill.) Negan has been planning to use Sasha to their advantage, and it’s clear that she didn’t want any part of it. “You are gonna help make sure things get back on track today,” Negan tells her when she was still a captive. He’s right, though. After taking the pill, Sasha transforms into a Walker, giving Rick a taste of having the upper hand.

It’s an emotional end to Sonequa Martin-Green’s character. Way back in the prison arc of “The Walking Dead,” Sasha hasn’t been given with the most engaging scenes. This season was her redemption, and she definitely did it well. Abraham’s cameo was also a welcome treat to fans, as he gave more depth to Sasha’s exit. Given how Glenn’s death kind of overshadowed Abraham’s, it’s also another evident way of redeeming a character’s exit.

The First Day Of The War To Come

As the chaos erupted when Sasha tried to consume Negan, we see Rick end up back to where we started, with him on his knees. Carl’s life was on the line here, as Negan was obviously pissed and wanted to strong arm himself once more. The scene is strangely familiar: Negan gloats in front of a teary-eyed Rick. But this time, there’s a difference. Rick is now consumed with so much hate that he didn’t care if Negan batted the brains out of his son. There’s just so much fire in Rick that it cannot be extinguished by any kind of threat – especially coming from Negan. The former is impressed.`

Meanwhile, Dwight’s story is downright frustrating. In the previous episode, we saw him switch sides from the Saviors. It’s maddening how we’re given trickle indications of Dwight’s allegiance to Rick. Why the hell does Negan still trust him? And why didn’t he ask Dwight where he’s been? Eugene is the immediate suspect in Sasha’s death. Negan saw that right away, but failed to see the transgression of one of his top men. Unless, he’s into conning again.

Speaking of conning, Jadis and The Scavengers were one hell of a bargain for the show. We never really saw it coming too, that she’s been having a deal with Negan all along. As for the glorious climax of the finale, Shiva saving Carl from Lucille is totally a band-aid solution, but also a triumphant moment of pure victory as King Ezekiel marched in with Carol, Morgan and the Kingdom’s army. The Hilltop also joined in the fight, giving us a brief glimpse of how it will be in Season 8. The last scenes gave a satisfying piece of action that we never really saw that much during this season.

The season finale ends with Maggie’s dramatic homage to Glenn, which was the start of it all. We see all the surviving leaders side by side: King Ezekiel, Rick and Maggie. Negan is prepping for war, the same is true for Rick’s camp. Shit’s about to go down.

We can only imagine, why can’t the show have this kind of action spread evenly across a season of “The Walking Dead?” Why not do this instead of focusing all its energy on the finale? We can only hope that Season 8 delivers a more edge-of-your-seat action that the show has been known for since the beginning. Focus on the pace and how it can push the story even further. We’ve had enough of the intercut scenes that lead us nowhere.

This was one hell of a season, one hell of an emotional ride, and one hell of a journey. Now, as we wipe our tears away from everyone we’ve lost, every victory, and all the good things to come, here’s to hoping that the beginning of the rest of our favorite characters’ lives end up in a tremendous win like we’ve never seen before.