The Walking Dead aired its first episode ‘Days Gone Bye’ October 31st, 2010. It started off as a promising series about a sheriff named Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) leading a small group of survivers through the zombie apocalypse.  Seven years later, the show has concluded with its newest season…and it was a letdown.

To recap: season 6 ended on a cliffhanger as the main group of characters were being held hostage by the new big bad, Negan (Jeffery Dean Morgan). Avid viewers were delibely kept in suspense when it came to who Negan killed. So, fans were in for a big surprise when the show returned half a year later.

When Season 7 premiered in October, it was revealed Negan killed…Abraham & Glenn. Fans were shocked that not one, but two characters were offed, especially Glenn (a series favorite). Evidently, the character shares the same fate in the comics. 

Ever since the death of those two beloved characters, the show has taken a turn for the worse because of how the other characters are dealing with Negan and living under his new rules.

Throughout this season, the show has been jumping around because they have introduced us to 3 new groups (the Saviors, the Hilltop and the Kingdom). Fans have not been able to see a consistent timeline of what is actually going on. For example, one episode could focus on the Saviors. It could be a good episode and leave us with a cliffhanger ending…but we won’t get to see how it turns out for another two-weeks because they rather focus a whole episode on Tara .

Imagine that scenario being repeated over and over again, especially with the Kingdom. They made their first appearance in October’s episode The Well, and we didn’t get to see them again until the mid-season premiere Rock In the Road, which aired in February.

That’s another thing that was done so poorly throughout this season: it felt like characters would just disappear. With there being so many storylines going on, it felt like the characters in the show were just gone when they focused other episodes on completely different characters.

For example, one can look at the character Heath (Corey Hawkins). Heath is one of the best characters from the comics. He is important in so many story lines. When it was announced he was going to be in the show, I was quite happy! But since they introduced him, he’s been a waste because he’s rarely used him in season 6, he had one episode in season 7 and LITERALLY JUST FLED. I honestly don’t know how to describe it, because it is so befuddling.

Granted, we haven’t seen the last of him because they left his fate on a cliffhanger. But it just goes to show that this season didn’t know how to deal with all of the many characters.

Lennie James, who plays Morgan on the show, told digitalspy that he hated filming this season because of how separated everybody was: “You just didn’t see anybody – because we film The Kingdom in a completely different area where they were filming either Alexandria or Hilltop or where the Saviors were…no-one was close to each other.”

One of the things that made The Walking Dead so good the first few seasons was that the group worked together as a cohesive unit. Even one of the actors on the show said that everyone likes working with each other because they all work well together. So when they’re miles away from each other and only communicating through walkie talkies, it just loses its touch.

Now don’t get me wrong, season 7 had some good episodes. They’re trying to expand in order to show viewers that there is a much larger world outside of Rick’s group. The issue is that the executing of it is done poorly.

Hopefully with the conclusion to season 7, season 8 will be more thought out and clear with what direction the show is headed for the future…granted, that’s what everyone said when season 6 ended.

The Walking Dead returns in October on AMC.