Did The Walking Dead just go too far with the season 7 opening?

We’ve all been waiting since April to find out who was on the end of that beating from Negan’s spiky baseball bat. Never mind that half the internet seemed to have guessed, figured out, or just somehow magically knew who would be taking the bat to the head, it also seems that some critics and fans were blown away by the brutality of the first episode of series 7. And many are not happy.

A quick warning: here will be spoilers if you haven’t seen the brand new first episode yet. So if you don’t want to know who Negan killed, it’s time to find somewhere else to camp my friend.

Well just what the hell was everyone expecting? Did the 17 million people who tuned in to see the climax of that terrible cliff-hanger want to find out that luckily it was all a joke and actually Negan (that old trickster) was really using a rubber bat to fake bludgeon one of the cast? Did anyone want it to turn out that Negan had just seen a spider scuttling past and decided to batter that instead of the heads of one of our heroes? No. No one wanted that thank you.

So any cries of how harsh, or violent, or over the top, or brutal, or tragic, or upsetting, or whatever make me wince worse than seeing poor Glenn’s eye pop out. Yes it was brutal. Yes it was bloody. Yes it was upsetting. But could it really have been any different?

I’ve heard so much whining about The Walking Dead over the last six months that hopefully this series opener will shut some people up. If you don’t like cliff-hangers, go and watch something else. Cliff-hangers make for great television and I for one have enjoyed every moment of speculation since April about who would be having that very special date with Lucille.

But now we have to endure the people who are claiming that The Walking Dead crossed some imaginary line with the latest episode.

1. What line?

2. Go away.

I have no doubt that most fans would not have it any other way. Both deaths were horrible, as they bloody well should be. But neither was any worse than some of the stuff we’ve seen in Game of Thrones, and that’s not even a horror show!

So, no, The Walking Dead did not go too far. In fact, I think by not having Negan make Rick cut off Carl’s arm, the show lost its nerve a little bit. Despite the sad and graphic deaths of both Abraham and Glenn, Carl’s little arm being lopped off by his own father would really have taken The Walking Dead into the big leagues of brutality.

What did you think of the episode? Too far or not far enough?