“It was the first day in the whole six years of working on ‘The Walking Dead’ that I was late for work because I woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn’t get back to sleep,” said Andrew Lincoln, the man behind the main protagonist of the show. “I was so angry and frustrated and I felt sick. And that was just after reading it.” (Source: Entertainment Weekly)

Lo and behold, the finished television product had the same effect on its viewers. But in place of the shed tears that were ponderously predicted by the cast, shouts of frustration filled living rooms across the globe. Why you may ask?

The answer comes within the last seconds of the broadcast in the form of one word: Cliffhanger.

Before any further denigration, I must advise those who aren’t caught up on the show to not read further. Well, on second thought, the stinging disappointment might be avoided if you just continue.

The entire sixth season of “The Walking Dead” was sprinkled with foreshadowing to the introduction of the show’s upcoming adversary, the leader of his own group by the name of Negan (Jeffery Dean Morgan).

Simply to expand on the point, the vast majority of the final episode served as nothing more than a build-up for his first appearance. And any fan of the comic books knows that his first meeting with Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), gang in tow, is bloody and brutal.

With members of the show claiming the hour-and-a-half special would bestow one of the greatest character introductions in the history of television, the millions of viewers held onto their seats as they braced for what was to be the death of one of their beloved survivors.

“You can breathe. You can blink. You can cry. Hell, you’re all going to be doing that.”

Those were the last words to leave the mouth of Negan as the camera switches to the point-of-view of his fated victim. Following, whoever the perspective belongs to has their head bashed in at the hands of their newly-formed nemesis.

Who was it?

I wish I could tell you. And I’m sure that every last avid fan of the franchise wishes they could let you in on the secret too. But, the reality of the situation is, we aren’t going to officially know who it is until October brings us the season 7 premiere.

The outrage that the cliffhanger sparked was beyond anything I could have pictured, and that speaks volumes. The internet was ablaze with irked viewers storming the producers of the show, even calling for writer Scott Gimple to be booted from the team for using such underhanded tactics for the sake of ratings.

But instead of tweeting my resentment or sending less-than-friendly mail to the writers, allow me to express myself through the following words.

The ending of this “grand finale” sent disappointment coursing through my innermost-self. For the writers of this show to chop and remix one of the most iconic scenes from the comics was a slap in the face to dedicated supporters, and that doesn’t even begin to detail the absolute cheapness of the moment.

Historically, cliffhangers haven’t always been the worse thing. For shows plagued with a depleting popularity, a well-timed and properly done ending to leave the viewers guessing can surely boost ratings. But when you’re the mammoth that is “The Walking Dead,” that’s no longer a necessity. Millions are still going to flock to their televisions to tune into the start of the next season.

At the conclusion of the episode, I was left with one question in mind: “What am I watching?” Truly, it’s still implanted into my thoughts as I type this. Am I watching a season finale from one of the most substantial shows to exist, or am I watching an independently run series which rakes together around 200 viewers a month? From the bottom of my heart, I honestly couldn’t tell in the heat of the deplorable moment.

The season’s windup was borderline childish, and that’s just the harsh reality of the situation. What could have been a spectacular feat in the realm of television quickly turned into one of its biggest embarrassments. I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t be tuning in when the time comes to find out exactly who bit the bullet, but every second of the promised scene will come with a grain of salt.