Extracurricular: The Day Will Come When You Won't Be: One Of The Darkest Episodes In TV History

   In the season one finale of The Walking Dead, Rick Grimes and his group are stuck at the CDC. Dr. Jenner, the sole surviving doctor present, locks the g group inside and initiates a self-destruction sequence. He tells him this is an act of mercy, a chance at a quick and painless death, an exit from having to deal with the cruel and murderous world they've been surviving. After a lot of arguing, the group convinces Dr. Jenner to open the doors. To let the group members decide for themselves whether or not they would die there. Everyone chooses to leave except for one. Jacqui stays behind and meets her end with Dr. Jenner.

    Before the rest of the group leaves, Rick tells Dr. Jenner he's grateful for him deciding to let them out. Dr. Jenner responds, in a tragic line, "the day will come when you won't be." For years that line was just a chilling remark, but it came full circle six seasons later.

    The season seven premiere was called The Day Will Come When You Won't Be. Months prior, in the season six finale, titled Last Day On Earth, the new bad guy, Negan, came out and lined up eleven of our survivors. We knew he killed at least one of them, but we didn't know who, because the killing itself was filmed from the P.O.V. of the victim. 

    So we had spent those whole few months wondering who Negan killed. I remember strolling through the internet, desperate for leaks. People were combing through every minute of Last Day On Earth, looking for subliminal messages and tiny little details that possibly gave a hint at who the victim was. I remember watching a video where a guy analyzed the background noise of the characters screaming to try and decipher which screams belonged to whom, to rule them out from being the victim. 

    I belonged to a TWD spoilers page at the time (in still in it). They had an inside source who confirmed for them that the victimS, not just singular, where Abraham and then Glenn. I didn't believe it, and I made a lot of comments expressing my doubt. I was kinda shunned by the group because apparently their intel is hardly ever wrong and I should be ashamed of myself for doubting them for even a second. 

    The Day Will Come When You Won't Be (episode S7 E1) aired, and they revealed through Rick's flashbacks what Negan had done. Negan selected Abraham through a game of eenie-meenie-miney-moe, and destroyed his head with his barbed-wire-wrapped baseball bat, Lucille. He then taunted Rosita, Abraham's ex-girlfriend, with the bloody bat. This caused Daryl to lash out and punch him. Negan, as a reaction to this, punished the group further by killing Glenn in the same way he killed Abraham.

    One might wonder, in a show full of murder, why were these two deaths so important? One, because of who was killed. Abraham was a beloved character and one of few comic relief characters. He was killed in front of his love interest, Sasha. But Glenn was even harder. He was a major character, and had been around since the beginning of the show. His death was slower and more gruesome than Abraham's, plus he was killed in front of his sick, pregnant wife. After Negan hit him the second time, his eye popped out and he had a nasty indent in his head, which Negan taunted him about. Glenn uttered his choked last words, to his wife, through spurts of blood. 

    It was a hard to stomach episode, even for those who aren't squeamish about gore. The characters who were killed and the way they went out, it was brutal. 

   It marked a new phase of the show. Now it was about settled communities who are capable of going to war with each other. Being terrorized by a group much larger than your own. Plus, tons of people stopped watching the show because the deaths were too much, especially Glenn's. 

   I've been rewatching this show, and I saw that one this morning. Brutal stuff. It was a terribly dark episode, one that will go down in history as one of the darkest of television. Anyway, I just wanted to talk about it. Bye.