"The Walking Dead" is a story about survivors of an epidemic called "Wildfire." The disease reanimates corpses and wreaks havoc for the people still alive. That's the basic synopsis of the show. This article contains spoilers for the entire series as of December 11, 2016.

This show isn't just about flesh eating monsters. The Walking Dead is about hope, trust, and blood. It's a painful and joyful series to watch. Since season seven premiered in October 2016 it was cruel.

These characters have been through hell and back multiple times; the original camp - when Rick reunites with his family and it was overrun by the Walkers, Hershel's farm and it was overrun by the Walkers, the prison - when the worst character to ever live blew it up and made it uninhabitable, Terminus - I understand why the people of Terminus did what they did but still, and as of now Alexandria.

Alexandria has been Heaven for the Atlanta Four and the rest of the team. Rick refuses to let it go even when it's being overrun by Walkers. When Mrs. Monroe took them in it was a breath of fresh air for everyone watching, of course, we were all skeptical of the civilians inside. How could a large group of people go over a year (approximately 538 days) without dealing with what was right outside of their walls? It worked out anyway.

This series have killed some of our most beloved characters and have threatened to kill more. That's what draws us in; the fear of not knowing who was getting chopped or bashed. The writers of this show (Frank Darabont, Charlie Adlard, and Robert Kirkland), have us wrapped around their fingers. It's scary how dependent some of us are on this show. It's a fun ride, though.

This series shows what the true nature of people is. We want to survive and thrive. The willpower these characters have is admirable. They lose, they fight and then they win. It's a never ending cycle. The drive of the leaders of The Walking Dead is incredible.

Maggie loses her husband (aka Glenn) and she rises up higher than when she lost her father (Hershel). Maggie has grown so much and it's inspiring. She commandeered the Hilltop and she is enduring a very tricky pregnancy (with no husband but there's Sasha and Enid and that's good enough).

Rick has lost his wife, almost lost his son (on multiple occasions) and has a baby daughter to take care of. It's stressful enough to be a parent to a preteen-teenage boy but add a baby girl to the mix and people and Walkers who have it out for you and it's 100 times more demanding.

Daryl is my favorite character on the show (with Jesus close behind). His character didn't even exist until Norman Reedus auditioned for the part of Merle and Darabont created Daryl for him. Daryl has moved on from being a meth-head hillbilly who made a living by thieving. He is a survivor, leader, fighter, and a protector. He has saved so many lives and has so many good intentions.

I'm not sure why people haven't been agreeing with season seven lately. It still has all of the guts and the glory. Maybe losing Glenn pushed some people over the edge but it's still an engaging storyline that makes you wince and jump with glee, there's just no Rhee.

I agree that the beginning of season seven was overtly cruel and slightly monotonous but it's the way the story had to go. It had to drill into our head that Negan is the Big Bad for the foreseeable future and that it's going to suck big time for our heroes.

The last couple episodes ("Go Getters," "Sing Me A Song," and "Hearts Still Beating") were three of the best in the series (I'm leaving out "Swear" because it was a filler episode). It gave everyone hope that our characters will make it through this and they will come out of it stronger than before. This entire story is a learning experience for them, trial and error style. We don't have the non-stop pain and suffering, we can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel and we can see our Big Bad Rick coming back out to play.

It's getting better and we'll see the horizon soon, "not today, not tomorrow" but we will.