A hopeful ‘Dead’
BY GREG BRAXTON >>> The troupe of survivors on “The Walking Dead” has confronted all manner of post-apocalyptic menace — relentless attacks by flesh-eating undeads, murderous gangs, power-mad psychopaths.
Despite the never-ending mayhem and the devastating loss of loved ones, the ragtag group led by Sheriff Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), has valiantly fought through its suffering, propelled by the hope that salvation is just around the corner.
“Things have happened, but it’s always worked out for us because it’s always been all of us,” Grimes said in last season’s closer in an attempt to reassure a seriously ill and pregnant Maggie Greene (Lauren Cohan).
But by the end of the episode, the group’s resolve is shattered after being trapped by Negan, the sadistic ruler of the rampaging Saviors, and the most notorious villain from the comic book that inspired the hit AMC drama.
Played with a gleeful chill by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Negan demonstrated his control over his captives by bludgeoning one of them to death with “Lucille,” his barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat. The dark screen that hid the identity of the victim from viewers did little to obscure the horror of the slaying. (The show’s sound effects team deserves an Emmy for that scene alone.)
That bloody cliffhanger — and the sure-to-be-gruesome revelation of Negan’s victim — launches Sunday’s season opener of “The Walking Dead,” which over its f irst six seasons has grown to be cable TV’s top-rated series. But even some devoted fans and critics were upset with those f inal moments, which aired in April. Viewers expressed anger that they would have to wait months to find out who was killed. A consensus on the critic aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes praised Morgan but called the ending “manipulative.”
The expected bleakness of the season has also reignited criticism by some viewers that “The Walking Dead” relies too much on “misery porn.” Those concerns have been fed by some of the show’s promos and bill-
Where: AMC When: 9 p.m. Sunday Rating: TV-MA (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17)