The Walking Dead Season 6 Finale - First Thoughts - Negan's Here!!!

 So, Negan is here! Billed as being the biggest, baddest villain to ever grace the pages of the comic book, Negan has been teased for the best part of six months now. One of the reasons for the anticipation, of course, was that in the comic books he brutally beats Glen to death with his baseball bat. That same entrance was promised in the series and yes, he beat someone to death with his baseball bat following an epic ten minute monologue by the brilliant Jeffery Dean Morgan. I say that he beat someone because we still don't know who his victim is. Yes, we were left with possibly the biggest cliffhanger in the shows six year history. It's a cliffhanger which has been met with a lot of anger by the shows fanbase and I can understand why. I was angry myself but, after a bit of thought, I can accept it and even forgive it.

Rick is a broken man as Negan taunts him!

Finales are tricky things to get right and not all shows manage to get it right all of the time. The only show which I can think of that consistently got finales right was Lost but maybe I'm biased. A good finale has tension and risk but above all it has conclusion. A season is just a chapter and the finale is the end of that chapter. It needs to justify the viewers investment in the previous sixteen or so episodes. In my opinion the finale of this season of TWD ticked those boxes. It brought to an end the story of Ricks downfall. From the season opener when he planned this huge operation to divert a huge herd of walkers wawy from Alexandria to the finale, on his knees in the dirt as Negan beat the holy hell out of one of his group. That was what this season was all about and when you see it that way you can see how good the finale was.

The true brilliance of the episode was in Negans introduction, something which stretched the whole episode. Ricks group were herded towards the eventual ambush with efficiency and what's more he never saw it coming. There is no doubt that it was all planned by Negan and perhaps even Maggies mysterious illness. There is a theory that Maggie was poisoned by someone in league with the saviours in order to force the Alexandrians on the road. When he did finally make his grand entrance with ten minutes to spare he did not disapoint. He exuded charisma and even though he killed someone, I can forgive him that.

The charismatic Negan

Rick and his group deserved what they got. They killed saviors on the logic of 'get them before they get us', knifing them as they slept in their beds. You can understand Negan being pissed off and you can understand his need for vengeance. In fact, lets be honest, Ricks group probably got off lightly! Can Negan even be considered a baddie in light of this? Surely he's only a better version of Rick. Rick has done a lot of bad stuff and the only reason we route for him is because he's the hero of his story. Had we followed Negans story from the start then Rick would be the bad guy in all of this! Two characters who are basically two sides of the same coin.

So, that cliff hanger! Personally I hate cliffhangers. I love television and I don't like waiting for six months to discover what happens next. I want to know now goddamit! Saying that, I do accept that they serve a function and I think that in TWD's case, this season finale cliffhanger will serve its function very well. In order to justify ending the season in that way, we will get an outstanding season seven premier. Also, we have been promised that Negan will be sticking around for a good while and I for one can't wait to see what he has in store for us!