Crushed Heads (and Hopes and Dreams)

We can add American Horror Story: Roanoke to this week's list of shows with crushed heads, and crushed is putting it lightly. If it didn't come right on the heels of The Walking Dead season premiere it might not have been so jarring, but as it was just 3 days later it was tough to take. I can understand the motivations for both shows but I'm much more understanding of one over the other.

*spoilers ahead if you haven't watched yet
All 3 crushed heads were gruesome and hard to watch, but I feel only Walking Dead had another layer to the gore. The Negan scene in "The Day Will Come When You Wont Be" was designed to convince the viewers that there truly is no hope of our group ever defeating him. We needed to not only believe that the group was defeated in every way, but we needed to feel that way as viewers too. The episode was hard to watch, very heavy and emotionally draining but we had to go through that ride with the group (I usually each Walking Dead twice within a day or two, I'm not quite ready to watch this one again yet, even to catch nice moments like Abraham's peace sign to Sasha). If you didn't notice, this isn't just a normal leader or group like they have faced before. This isn't a group that can be defeated in an episode or 2, or 6, and not even a retreat, like from the prison, looks possible. This is a group that is large and vicious and our group can either work for Negan or they are a threat to him and must die.
Negan uses his trusty barb wire bat, Lucille, to teach a lesson and prove a point, he is in complete control. So far we know very little of the Saviors other than they offer "protection" in exchange for half of everyone's supplies and they like to kill someone from a group they meet to in order to set the rules for their relationship. As brutal as they appear, Negan seems to have a twisted sense of morality and fairness. Obviously killing someone to establish dominance is not a moral or fair move, but this is a post apocalyptic world where everything and everyone is a threat. He may very well feel that walking into the Hilltop and killing someone before demanding half of their stuff in exchange for their protection, is a way to protect these people in the long term. I guess at least they get to live rather than the Saviors just killing them and and taking all their stuff.
If Negan feels justified killing others for control, he definitely feels like he is taking it easy of Rick's group. They blew up a group of his men with a rocket launcher, killed dozens more of his people unprovoked in cold blood and then took out even more of his group following their attack on their base. Rick and his group killed a lot of people and based on the the size of the Saviors there's no doubt they could have just killed them all at Alexandria for revenge. But there was no revenge here, just business as usual in order to establish dominance. If this show was done from Negan's point of view you would likely identify with or at least understand that in this situation Negan was justified in this showdown and would possibly even be the good guy.  Overall I liked the episode (it was too draining to love) especially for what it establishes for the season and future. I can not wait to see the Kingdom this Sunday!

Gee that's a lot of people there, wonder if that may come into play this season.

As for AHS: Roanoke, I've really liked this season (for the first time in a few years, I only watched the first couple episodes last year in the needlessly gory and convoluted Hotel). It's more of a classic ghost story (maybe classic but definitely on steroids) and I even like the direction of the midseason reboot starting in "Chapter 6" (Directed by Angela Bassett) and continuing in last nights "Chapter 7". Now there are 3 layers of storytelling with the recounting of the story by the original characters, the reenactment by actors and now watching them all together back in the house through the cameras of a reality show. I love that we are getting multiple accounts of the story just like Extreme foretold. I thought it was very smart to let us know right off the bat in the reboot that all but one person at the house dies, and they didn't wait long for the deaths to start piling up.
Which brings us back to the crushed head. The house is supposed to not only be haunted but bring out the worst in people, both fears and actions. So there is a reason why there would be a brutal bludgeoning, on top of that is the complete betrayal and realization of her worst fears. But this was a situation where the act should have been worse than the result, they could've shown it without it being so gruesome (one of the many ways AHS tries to top itself is being disturbing and gross just for the purpose of being disturbing and gross (another way is the blender of "scary" plot points and storylines that many of the previous seasons have tried to needlessly pack in like the whole second half of Asylum) without furthering the story or terror). Gore is not terror, at least it used to be, maybe we should be trying to Make Horror Great Again? The murders are just too much if there is never anything but shock value to them, they could accomplish much more with more with deaths like Reg's tension building misdirect of a death than gruesome hacking without much tension or suspense.
And next week I'm not really interested in spending more time with the Polk's, the backwoods inbred family been done before (and not just in this season, The X-Files episode "Home" was creepier and better executed than this over the top exaggeration), and doesn't add to the real intrigue of seeing the actual ghosts that we previously saw as their TV portrayal versions.

The End of the World!

Alright, you got me, that's most likely hyperbole, although there is a chance it is what we're dealing with. I mean really with the Cubs in the World Series against the Indians and a megalomaniac, millionaire reality TV show host having a 50/50 shot at being President of the US, I know I may not have a lot of time to share my thoughts with you. And any possible apocalyptic scenario should have you thinking about one thing, The Walking Dead of course.


So here we are after a summer of not knowing who meets their demise via Negan's barbed wire laced bat aka #meetlucille, with little more than speculation to get us through. An extremely enjoyable season 6 left us wondering who had died between Eugene, Carl, Aaron, Sasha, Rick, Maggie, Abraham, Michone, Daryl, Rosita or Glenn. The second that I realized we weren't going to find out who died in the season finale I was rightfully upset. Luckily I watched The Talking Dead after and got the explanation from show runner Scott Gimple of why we were left in suspense, he said season 7 is the story about what this death does to the group and how they go from there, and we will find out who right away. I can understand that, but I was still upset and searched online for theories and analysis, checked out blogs and podcasts for insights, all within the safety of knowing at this point no one knew for sure because it hadn't even been filmed.
 I even did something I was holding off on doing, I read the comic. I had previously read the first 2 books but didn't want to spoil anything within the show since that is the source material for the show. But I knew I wasnt necessarily spoiling anything because of the many differences between the 2 and the fact that this Negan killing is an iconic moment in the comic which almost means it must be different in the show. I had intended to only read up to the Negan killing to get a sense for what was different in the setup and delivery of meeting Lucille. There are drastic differences, so much so that I ended up reading all of what is at least season 7 and probably part of season 8, and I absolutely loved it.
Shortly after I read the comic I stopped searching for the answer, becuase once filming for the season started you could get legitimate spoilers with on set pics or details of who is working when. This is the closest to a spoiler I have gotten since

So if this isn't misdirection we know by the blood that the person that dies is to Rick's right, that includes Maggie, Abraham, Michone, Daryl, Rosita and Glenn. But who is it?
Season 7 trailer

In the comic you may know it was Glenn, his death spurred Maggie into a new and pivotal leadership role. There is a chance its Glenn, though after their recent fake out of his death its unlikely. If its Rosita it will effect Eugene and alter Abraham and Sasha's romance but likely none of them would be deeply effected. Daryl will greatly effect most fans, and the entire group but none of them would have a deep character pivoting effect. Michone would pile onto the heartbreak of Rick, those this would turn him to extreme rage or depression neither of which work for what he needs to accomplish. Abraham would take one of Rick's trusted people away and could push Rosita or Sasha into the comic role that Maggie followed, but for emotional impact this is the easy way out and most likely to be who it is. If its Maggie, it would be like a repeated punch to the stomach for just about everyone. The group would all be effected by the loss of their pregnant friend and savvy peacemaker, but Glenn would be destroyed likely beyond the point where we could hope for his vengeance to come before his death.
No matter what I am looking forward to another great season, and cant wait to see King Ezekiel at the Kingdom and his pet tiger Shiva and how they come into play in the show.