. The Walking Dead Season 7 premiere featured the brutal deaths of some beloved characters. However, we ultimately think the losses will make for a better show overall. While fans continue to dry their tears, here’s why we think it was for the about the deaths are coming! Those that haven’t watched episode 1 have been The Ladies Move Forward The Lucille victims were paired up with two of The Walking Dead’s leading ladies, and now their plots are able to move forward in some pretty aggressive ways. With Maggie, for example, her relationship with Glenn frequently kept her hanging around camp at times when she could have been doing more. The baby might also have that effect later on, but birth hasn’t happened yet. Without her husband, there’s a real chance for Maggie to become the fearless woman that battled Gregory at the Hilltop earlier this year. That will eventually be a big win for on the other hand, just seemed to be in a pretty flat place. She had been scarred from the death of her brother and had found new life in her feelings from Abraham. The latter’s passing will push that story forward in huge ways. Will she become even more of a danger to herself? Will this tragedy actually create a sense of inner peace? These are interesting questions that only Negan can bring. 2 New Characters Are Introduced With every character death, The Walking Dead has historically introduced a batch of new faces to fill in for the lost ones. Without saying more than we need to, the source comics tell us that the personalities that emerge after Glenn’s death are super he’s already been in trailers, the arc of the great king Ezekiel should be mentioned here. Played on the AMC series by Khary Payton, Ezekiel becomes one of Rick’s most trusted allies and is one of the most unique characters Robert Kirkman has ever created. With him arrives a group of survivors that breathes totally new life into what was becoming a slightly stale Alexandria Existing Characters Get Fleshed Out The Walking Dead season 6 did right by fans by bringing beloved characters like Jesus and Heath into the narrative, but both of these intriguing partners were criminally underused. With Glenn and Abraham now deceased, Rick will need more strong survivors that his community can trust. These two seem like pretty promising candidates. 'The Walking Dead' season 6 introduced us to Jesus, but his character was criminally underused. That's likely to change in season 7. Photo Gene Page/AMC Because of the premiere’s deaths, Heath and Jesus will likely become the amazing people that comic readers know them to be. Both will assumingly contribute to the war ahead in massive ways, and that might not have been true if the previously arranged cast was hogging the spotlight. Viewers will finally learn just how important those silenced support roles truly Negan Is Made All The More Evil As much as Sunday’s deaths were painful to watch, they did wonders to position Negan as the most demonic adversary Rick and company has ever encountered. It’s easy to make comparisons between Negan and the Governor at face value, but, with the brutal way the premiere was handled, we’re able to see that he’s on an entirely different level of Negan were to take out a less prominent character like Spencer or Aaron, his entrance wouldn’t have been as impactful. In the comics and on the show, there’s a clear plot that emerges before and after Negan establishes himself. As we said in a previous article, there’s so much more to come. He shatters everything Rick thought he knew about life in the apocalypse. You can’t get a truly clear vision for the terror that comes next without some major deaths Some Stale Arcs Get Cleaned Up We touched on this already, but it’s a point worth reiterating. Glenn and Abraham were in the perfect position for death because their characters had mostly run their course. As much as we love Glenn, when was the last time his story was ever truly necessary? Because his plot mostly exists in Maggie’s belly, he wasn’t exactly needed. Abraham probably could have grown more, honestly, but his romantic failures just weren’t prompting much discussion we can get rid of those stories and replace them with something better. Negan has forced Alexandria into a position of complete servitude for the first time. Will Rick head to war immediately? Will he hang back and quietly recruit allies? The revenge for episode 1’s deaths is so much more interesting than anything Glenn or Abraham could have Walking Dead season 7 continues Oct. 30 on did you think of the premiere deaths? Will The Walking Dead be better without Glenn and Abraham? Tell us in the comments section! This Walking Dead review contains spoilers. The Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 5 The Walking Dead pulled itself out of the darkness this week with a much more hopeful episode. “Go Getters” is a very welcome respite from an overwhelmingly grim and mediocre season 7 that has so far delivered one flavor of storytelling. Except for the Kingdom episode, which really felt out of place as a follow up to the grisly season premiere. Even though last week’s episode, “Service,” was also notably dour, “Go Getters” is less of a sharp turn in the other direction, with several nice moments that ultimately earn it a passing score. I’m relieved the writers decided against an entire episode of Maggie mourning Glenn. I was really afraid that we’d get an hour of Maggie crying over his grave while flashbacks and maybe another alternate future dinner scene reminded us how great Maggie and Glenn were before Negan splattered his brains all over the ground. Instead, we get an empowered Maggie, who decides to keep going at a moment when she has every right to be devastated and immobile. That’s not to say Maggie isn’t mourning, but it’s just that she channels the sadness into strength, which is something I really love about this character. That strength allows Maggie to put the treacherous Gregory Xander Berkeley in his place. She owns the Hilltop’s cowardly leader, who is pretty much marked for death in my book, and even gets to knock him straight at one point when she finds her father’s watch in his possession. This is a particularly important scene since it sets up the passing down of the watch, a significant moment that shouldn’t be understated. Maggie leaving the watch at Glenn’s grave could be interpreted as her losing hope in the future, letting this artifact from a distant past rust in the rain. And while it’s true that the new world doesn’t seem to have any need for clocks, that watch is a symbol of hope, passed down from hero to hero. The fact that Enid, who has continued to appear in episodes for no particular reason but to remind us that there are teenagers on this show, gets the watch is a hint that she’s perhaps destined for greater things. Or at least she’s destined to be a force for good for as long as she can. Join Amazon Prime – Watch Thousands of Movies & TV Shows Anytime – Start Free Trial Now In fact, “Go Getters” does a great job of emphasizing the newfound bond between Maggie, Sasha, and Enid. These three women have suffered many losses since the outbreak, but have come out stronger and more determined to push forward. That’s something I’ve always liked about The Walking Dead. Even when characters like Carol or Sasha or Rosita are at their very lowest moments, this show doesn’t just let them mourn and perish something that did pretty much happen to Carol in the comics. Instead, they become renewed. If and when they die, they’ll die fighting. The Walking Dead continued that theme tonight. I have to briefly mention how much I enjoyed tonight’s action scene. Season 7’s been pretty low on action, but the two big sequences it’s delivered so far have been absolutely excellent. While not quite as good as Rick’s terrifying scavenger hunt in the season premiere, tonight’s mix of vehicular, melee, and kung fu ? action really elevated this otherwise talky episode. I cheered when Maggie ran over those walkers with the tractor, and watching Jesus dropkick ??? the undead in the face just became my new favorite thing. It’s campy fun that pays tribute to the zombie flicks of yore. The scene felt a bit a surreal, too, like it almost wasn’t actually happening, as the walkers appeared through the smoke to the sound of classical music. It was almost dreamlike in nature. “Go Getters” picked up some pieces from last week’s episode, too, which helped make it feel connected to the larger picture. Carl’s still having a tough time dealing with the new management at Alexandria and decides to take matters into his own hands. This kid is obviously in way over his head, but that’s actually pretty exciting. Not only are the writers allowing him some time in the spotlight this season, but they’re also letting him make mistakes for once. Carl has always sort of been the perfect teenage killing machine who rarely rebels against Rick or any of the other adults. The one time we did see him at odds with Rick was all the way back in season 4 – in the midseason premiere, “After,” one of that year’s best episodes the one with the chocolate pudding. Now that Carl’s on a mission to find the Sanctuary and kill Negan, the writers have a chance to really create an independent character that’s not just an extension of Rick. Readers who have kept up with the source material know that the show is following Robert Kirkman’s comics pretty closely with the Carl storyline this season, but the fact that Jesus is tagging along for the ride does remix things a tiny bit, although the Hilltop scout also made his way to the Savior base in the book. It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out. Steven Ogg returned this week as Negan’s right hand man, Simon, and he delivered another enjoyable performance. With only two major appearances to his name he only appeared briefly in the season premiere, Simon is already a much more interesting villain than Dwight, who returned to scowling bastard last week after a sympathetic turn in “The Cell.” I love that Simon didn’t turn true heel this week or do anything particularly awful to any of the characters – well, except for taking Gregory’s Scotch, which was just hilarious. I much prefer his friendly neighborhood asshole demeanor to Dwight’s scowling or Negan’s yelling. Of course, this is The Walking Dead and it’s probably only a matter of time before it’s revealed Simon likes to eat children or something… Until then, I’m glad “Go Getters” pulled us out of the misery long enough to remind me of what The Walking Dead looks like at its very a best a story about people who strive to make good things out of very bad situations. In other words, at its very best, The Walking Dead is a show about hope. Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! Don’t forget to listen to Den of Geek’s Walking Dead podcast, No Room in Hell! Walking Points – I mentioned that there were some lighthearted moments and even a bit of humor in this episode. One subtle moment was when Sasha revealed to Enid that she’d put the balloons on the wrong grave. I giggled. – Enid and Carl finally had their first kiss tonight. Good for them. Also, they got to skate! – How many times has Enid climbed over that fence at this point? Alexandria needs better security. – I really hope that we learn more about Jesus this season. He’s still a pretty vague character. We know almost nothing about him. I want to know why he likes to dropkick zombies instead of just stabbing them. Seems inefficient. – I didn’t really talk about Sasha much tonight. She had some great moments, including the scene where she was willing to give up a life at the Hilltop in order to secure Maggie’s place at the settlement. – I’d like to see Carl drive some more. Maybe a roadtrip with Enid and the other teens. Maybe a spinoff? Speed Past the Walking Dead. John Saavedra is an associate editor at Den of Geek US. Find more of his work on his website. Or just follow him on Twitter. As far as Negan's concerned, Maggie died after the harrowing events of the season seven premiere, which saw her husband Glenn brutally clubbed to death at the hands of the villain's barbed wire-covered baseball bat, Lucille. Rick informed Negan of this obvious ruse when he visited Alexandria in season seven's fourth episode, "Service," and with the help of Father Gabriel, a faux-grave was made for her. So, where is Maggie? As the preview for The Walking Dead's fifth episode, "Go Getters," shows, she is currently at the Hilltop Colony along with Sasha and our lord and savior Jesus. It's unclear what Maggie has been doing there since the premiere — has she given birth to her child? — but it's undoubtedly a relief for fans to see the character very much alive. Things are looking less promising for the Hilltop, however, who are visited by the Saviors. The community's incumbent leader Gregory is left to deal with them, and it doesn't look good. The current synopsis for the episode is quite vague "Members of our group go to Hilltop." Cool. These aforementioned group members may include Michonne and Carl, who discuss how they should handle Negan. Carl was confrontational toward him and the Saviors in "Service." Michonne was in the same boat — she's even practicing her sharpshooting outside of Alexandria — but a revealing monologue from Rick about keeping his children safe has ostensibly stopped her from pursuing this. "Even if I think [Rick is wrong], I don't know," she tells Carl. The first four episodes of The Walking Dead's seventh season have devoted the entirety of their episode to one location Negan killing people with a bat, the Kingdom, the Sanctuary and Alexandria. While we'll probably get a glimpse of Alexandria on Sunday, it looks like most of the action will hone in on the Hilltop. What this means for Maggie, Jesus and the rest of the community remains to be seen.

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