For the past few years, The Walking Dead has been one of the best TV shows to gather such a large fan base and sustain it. Whether it’s killing beloved characters, retweeting fans, or even just throwing in a creepy walker close up. We can never get enough!
Season eight is the latest season to be shown so far, and fan reactions are pouring in. The first episode begins with Negan, the bad guy with a weird fetish about his bat, and Rick, our small-town sheriff going to war. Everyone was excited about this episode, but there were many mixed reviews.
The first episode involved the past, present, and future. It’s like Scrooge met the apocalypse and everyone watching is just like “I don’t even know anymore.” However, fans are still hanging on because they want to know what’s going on and make sense of everything. AMC has a reason for using this time-lapse method, but can this cause more of a negative impact than positive?
Yes, some people enjoyed the new episode and found the speeches, flashbacks, and foreshadowing to be interesting. AMC has used this variety of time formats before, but all three formats in one episode might be too much for some viewers. However, at the end of episode one, we are all a little confused if not lost.
The Walking Dead is always bringing in new characters, and as the season goes on, we get to learn more about them. One specific character is Shiva the tiger. Shiva is literally killing at her role as she saves her team from a vicious group called the Saviors. It might be a good idea to keep a house cat around in case of walkers come a-knocking. However, even though Shiva is a killer, she is still our little kitten of fur and sharp teeth.
The Walking Dead is slowly transitioning from walkers being the threat to the survivors being the ultimate demise of humanity in the show. Walkers are more or less the innocent victims now, who are being used as bait by a group of individuals. People are using walkers as their task force, and I’m sure these walkers would have something to say about this. It’s a shame though that walkers don’t have a brain, and their only form of communication is a sequence of grunts. Back to the issue at hand, walkers are no longer the issue. People are enemies now, and everyone is turning against each other. Walkers will most likely not make the population go extinct, instead, it will most likely be the survivors of this apocalypse that destroy humanity.
The Walking Dead has evolved over the last eight seasons. They are taking on darker roles and experimenting with psychological issues in characters. However, when do we get to see just a good old walker killing? At this point, a throwback to a walker killing spree might be more of a way to attend to viewer satisfaction than the twisted dynamics evolving in this series currently. Hopefully, AMC’s strategy will bring clarity to these confusing times, and shine a light on our wary hearts as the season proceeds. Maybe Negan’s beloved bat can lead the way to our salvation?
-Myranda Ross
IMC Hawks Blog 
As a major fan of TWD I loved seeing what you thought about the show. I especially loved, “Shiva is literally killing at her role.” Definitely made me giggle a little. The show itself does such a good job at participating in the community. Without it’s fan base I do not think the show would be as nearly as successful. The Talking Dead also does a great job at involving its fans through social media. Altogether I am with you when questioning, when do we get to see good ol’fashioned walker destruction. I miss the days when you would be sitting at the edge of your seat watching the group run away from a massive herd.
“The Walking Dead” is definitely an interesting show to look at when it comes to how successfully it is able to market itself both within the text and outside. Despite going on for eight seasons so far, and going through its share of criticism when it comes to reviews, it’s notable that even some of its more controversial moves for viewership (ending a season on a cliffhanger without showing which main character is killed) still results in a spike in viewership.