This is in the top 3 of most dark and gritty TWD episodes since its pilot episode launched almost 6 years ago.
I was emotionally drained after watching it. I usually go on with daily life quite quickly after watching an episode, but the things that happened this time haunted me for hours. I guess that goes to show how much of an impression this first episode made. It's brute, gory, dark and gritty. All hope seems lost for Rick and our main group of survivors, which are now fully controlled by Negan and his crew. And for the first time, I had the feeling that there's absolutely NOTHING they can do about it at this point.
About Negan, the things he does and says in this episode makes you absolutely despise and hate him, but for me, that's only proof that the acting of the character by Jeffrey Dean Morgan is absolutely great (just like King Joffrey and Queen Cersei in GoT). He's the embodiment of evil in the world of The Walking Dead and is way worse than any of the previous villains. Andrew Lincoln's acting is also very impressive by the way (again).
10/10