Grab your hankies, grab your support animals, grab your vino. You’re going to need them all. The Walking Dead mid-season finale is upon us and it promises to be rough. The Alexandria, Hilltop and Kingdom alliance has been waging war on Negan for what feels like centuries. There have been some big wins. There have been some even bigger losses. And they’ve all lead up to the final stage of Rick’s plan. Unfortunately, even the best laid plans can come undone. Rick learned that the hard way when he arrived at the Sanctuary, Scavengers in tow, to find his snipers butchered, the walker horde extinguished and the Saviors gone. In a single instant, Rick plummeted from conquering hero to worried father. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the first stop on Negan’s revenge tour.
Rick desperately tries to make contact with his battalions, searching for any sign of life. The airwaves are dead. He leads Jadis and the Scavengers to the Sanctuary courtyard, trying to make sense of the destruction. When machine gun fire rings out, Rick jumps to safety. The Scavengers decide the change in circumstances aren’t in their favor and flee. Rick is abandoned, cornered and confused. But in this war, he never fights alone. Carol and Jerry arrive to ferry him away from danger. Their first order of business: warning the others. They separate to cover more ground, determined and stoic. Alexandria. Hilltop. The Kingdom. Alexandria. Hilltop. The Kingdom. Alexandria. Hilltop. The Kingd… In a flash of lights, Jerry is sideswiped. The Three Musketeers are down to two.
Aaron and Enid head to Oceanside in what is most likely a fool’s errand. Before barging into unwelcome territory, they spend a night in the woods. Aaron wakes to the sight of someone lurking in the shadows. While investigating, Enid hears him attacked and shoots blindly. The Oceanside warriors surround them and Cyndie cries over her grandmother’s lifeless corpse. This definitely isn’t the entrance Aaron and Enid planned.
Daryl and Tara have returned to Alexandria, thinking their plan to weaken the Saviors worked. As far as Alexandria is concerned, the war is about to end. The sun is shining. The mood is light. Alexandria enjoys a day in the life, made all the more poignant because only we know the terror headed their way. Without warning, Negan pounds on the gates, demanding entrance. Everyone freezes in fear. This isn’t supposed to happen. The plan was working. While Negan counts down three minutes until he launches bombs, Carl shifts into action. He sends a group to the quarry to create a false escape trail and hides everyone else. As Negan blathers on about the type of apology performance he wants. Carl takes complete control of Alexandria. This is his show and they’re doing it his way.
King Ezekiel sits on his stage, wrapped in Shiva’s chains, clutching a farewell letter from Jerry. His pity party is rudely interrupted by the Saviors. While Ezekiel hides in the theater, Gavin explains the new Kingdom rules: Everything and everyone now belong to Negan. Anything they grow goes to Negan. Anyone who can work, works for Negan. And the Saviors who previously lived at the demolished outposts will be moving into the Kingdom. The only outstanding issue is capturing the King. But Ezekiel isn’t making that easy. The threat to his people has reinvigorated the King. He sets off a huge explosion that pulls the Saviors’ attention. The distraction allows the Kingdom residents to flee outside the gates. They pass Carol running towards the Kingdom, looking for the King. As she nears the gate, she sees Ezekiel. He tells her to save his people. “Like you saved me.” He uses Shiva’s chains to lock himself, and the Saviors, inside the gates.
Maggie and Jesus, unaware that The Plan has been rendered moot, lead a convoy to the Sanctuary. A tree in the road warns Maggie that something is amiss. Simon pulls up in a truck and unloads a captive Jerry and an empty casket. It’s time for Savior Theater 101. With a gun to Jerry’s head as leverage, the Saviors go car to car, confiscating weapons. Simon informs Maggie that the Kingdom and Alexandria are being absorbed by the Saviors. The Hilltop will be left unmolested, as long as they continue to provide. And behave. But at least one person has to die. Simon randomly shoots one of Maggie’s passengers. With his blood dripping down the back of her neck, Maggie shakes in anger and fear. Simon heads towards Jerry, willing to take his life if Maggie needs another lesson. She doesn’t. She agrees to Simon’s terms. All she wants in return is the casket to bury her passenger in.
With time ticking down, Negan cries out for Rick. Carl answers the call. Negan loves him some Carl. Carl tries to reason with him but Negan thinks punishment is more in line. So Carl offers his own life. Negan gazes at him, half in admiration, half in stupification. Carl knows his death is inevitable (this IS the zombie apocalypse after all) so he’s willing to sacrifice to save his family. Outside the walls, Dwight purposefully allows several Alexandria trucks to escape and lead a group of Saviors in pursuit. Negan, furious that Carl was distracting him so others could flee, starts an all-out bombing assault. As houses burst into flames, Carl limps throughout Alexandria, setting off smoke bombs and dodging explosions. The Saviors breach the walls but Carl is able to elude them through the smoke. He takes one last look at his burning home and disappears into the sewer.
The Alexandria A Team (Tara, Rosita, Daryl, and Michonne) lie in wait for their Savior prey. Tara tells Daryl that it’s not their fault the Saviors escaped. Rosita philosophizes that things might have turned out the same no matter what anyone did. Michonne just wants action. Dwight leads his group of Saviors right into their trap. A gun fight erupts, aided by Dwight. He can no longer deny his complicity. The only survivor is his second in command. She shoots him in the arm and demands he stop the battle. But it’s too late for that. He’s no longer Negan. He no longer kneels. As soon as it’s clear, Daryl and Tara arrive with weapons drawn on Dwight. He informs them that his cover is blown. He can’t return to the Saviors. He wants to continue helping them. He wants Negan dead. They can settle their beefs once that’s done. Daryl rips his vest off of Dwight and storms away. Rosita helps him to his feet.
It’s midnight and Eugene stares at his clock. Wine is no longer strong enough to help him sleep. The blood on his hands lies heavy on his heart. He stumbles to the infirmary to tell Father Gabriel he’ll support his mission to get the doctor back to the Hilltop, as foolhardy as he thinks it is. He fed the North gate guard laxative-laced coffee and gives them keys to a waiting vehicle. Gabriel tells him to come, that the group will forgive him. Eugene isn’t interested. He only helped in the hopes that it will finally allow him to sleep.
Maggie is out of the car the minute they arrive at the Hilltop. She marches directly to the prison. She selects the Savior that tried to kill Jesus and shoots him in the head. It doesn’t make up for the man they lost but it’s a start. She orders more guards, stronger walls and a return to farming. They need to be ready to support any allies that need help. She fills Simon’s casket with the dead Savior and pens a note on top: We have 38 more. Stand Down. It’s up to Hilltop to make the last stand and Maggie’s precisely the woman for the job.
While Tara, Rosita, Daryl, and Dwight crawl into the sewer, the Saviors continue to blow up Alexandria. Michonne refuses to join the others. She has a dangerous look in her eyes. Rick finally makes it back to Alexandria and heads directly to his house to search for his family. Negan welcomes Rick home with with a little help from Lucille. They wrestle and tussle. Rick momentarily gets the upper hand and grabs Lucille. Negan acts like a jealous lover. Rick has had enough so he jumps out of a window and flees into the night. Michonne kills walkers and Saviors indiscriminately, the way Rick did after Carl lost his eye. Rick finds her and pulls her out of her mania.
Michonne leads Rick into the sewer and he sees all of the survivors. Including Siddiq. Carl explains that he searched out his new friend and brought him to Alexandria. And that’s when it happened. Carl shows Rick his walker bite. I knew he was shook after his close call with Siddiq but I guess it was more than that. Carl is resigned to his fate but Michonne drops to her knees and shakes. Rick stares at him with tears in his eyes. I’m bawling like a baby. And that’s where we end things.
Feel free to share your feelings in comments. This is your TWD home. The Walking Dead returns on February 25, 2018. I’ll be waiting…
Thank you so much for the excellent recap Lady C. The show was so dark I couldn’t see a darn thing. My eyes aren’t perfect so I checked another channel and the color was fine. I couldn’t make heads or tails of this episode because of way it was shot. My husband watched on a different TV and he said he didn’t know what was going on either. Sorry about Carl but I am now hardened to the shock and awe of the walking dead. The entire half season of the dead was a big fat dud in my opinion. The only thing that tugged at my heart was when Shiva ” Tiger” was killed and what Siddiq said about releasing the souls of the dead. Glad Daryl got his vest back, um not really. If you had not recapped this episode I would still be in the dark. I appreciate you and a job well done Lady C.
Thanks so much, Marsha. I have to turn the lights out in order to see TWD. It really helps!
Wow is about as intelligent a word as I can muster right now. Chandler is probably going off to college, but just wow as for how they are writing him out of the show. I got the impression from listening to Chris Hardwick of Talking Dead that this is not what happens in the comic books so wonder why his demise? Probably so he can get on with his life now that he is 18.
I watched the Talking Dead and right at the end there was a sound problem and I couldn’t hear squat and they were talking about the first episode in February and Carl (Chandler).
Shiva and now Carl………Rick will be in shock, but Michonne is going to go off the deep end over this. She and Carl bonded long before she and Rick had any kind of relationship. He shared a candy bar with her when they were walking on the railroad tracks way back when.
Maggie finally found her ‘girl sac’. BUT, when she turned around after shooting the savior, the pain and realization of what she had done was all over her face. She and Carol have done some Emmy worthy acting this season as did Carl tonight.
Eugene will eventually pay for the doctor and Gabriel getting away. The guard being in the bathroom does not explain – to Negan – how they got the keys for the available car just parked outside the door.
So, I guess Carl got bitten helping Siddiq? That would explain the limp that kept getting worse.
I was so hoping Negan would be gone. Maybe next time. When Rick grabbed Lucille, Negan went nuts. Wish Rick would have kept beating him. For a minute there I was yelling at the screen and applauding…for a minute, then he was out the window.
Thank you for taking the time as you always do, to write such an in-depth recap. There was so much going on, it was hard to follow at times. I will watch it again.
Carl never even got laid! I kept thinking it would happen with whatshername (Enid?) when they would meet out in the woods, but it never did.
And Rick will have to put him down just like Carl did for his mother. I won’t be watching when that happens 🙁
He’s such a great kid and we have watched him grow into a man, for real!
I am so bummed.
They better damn well leave Carol alone!
And, Daryl.
At the end of Talking Dead, Gimple was asked when Carl got bit. For some reason, he didn’t come right out & say it happened when he found Siddiq but he did say the producer’s were surprised no one caught it. In hindsight, Carl was clearly reacting to a bite but, at the time, I thought he was just relieved to survive such a close encounter.
Thanks! I thought the same as you did regarding Carl and the fight with the zombies. Now I see where he could have gotten bitten because they were REAL close in that scene.
‘zombies’ instead of ‘walkers’…..I am obviously watching way too many of these shows 🙂
They should rename this show The Stumbling Idiots.
I didn’t get to see the episode, my DVR messed up. Are we sure Carl does? No way to amputate where he was bitten? For some reason I thought we eventually discover that Rick was immune to the bites, anyway Carl could be too?
Nope. Some zombie bit him in the side, leaving teethmarks but not gouging any flesh or ripping his clothes. I don’t recall Rick being immune, but I may have missed that.
Carl’s done. I think the actor wants to go to college.
This show’s so sloppy and has been insulting viewers by asking them to make so many leaps of faith in the past year that we can all qualify for the Olympics track and field team at this point!
But, to echo comments above, thank goodness for Lady C who can make sense of a nonsensical show.
And those goofy closeups montages. That’s worth an extra 30 mins?
Well damn, I don’t think I’ll watch it then. I hated last season when they almost cut off his arm, I ran out of our living room yelling that seeing a child harmed was not entertaining to me, lol, my husband thought I was crazy. I’m not sure if the show said Rick was immune or if that’s something my brother told me, he’s really into the novels. He also thought Fear the Walking Desd was going to cross over in this finale and combined the shows. I gave up on the Fear because I really didn’t like any of the characters.
The crossover is going to happen on Fear. It will be Morgan that is on the crossover. I too stopped watching Fear, but it was early, like the 4th episode.
On the show we havent learned that Rick is immune. That’s probably from the comics and the show either hasnt or isnt going to give that info to us.
Fear has gotten so much better. It’s actually got zombies! The storylines are fascinating and the acting is pretty good, too.
I quit watching after the first season and then binged watched several months ago and am hooked again. The acting is excellent and the characters are interesting.
the writing is so good. And, I wonder who survived the bridge blast? The mom – can’t remember her name – is so much like Carol. Loved it when she had had enough and killed the son’s friend under the bridge. That was unexpected and way too long in coming. We know she survived and no doubt Strand.
I enjoyed watching the series way more than I am TWD this season.
Yeah, it’s a kill bite. But Carl’s not dead yet. I think he’ll be a big part of the 2nd half of the season. I’m even starting to think he might be the one who kills Negan. Maybe.
I hadn’t thought of that, but they were saying he had a very important ‘something to do yet’ in the February episode before he dies and killing Negan would be about as important as it gets.
And, if Negan doesn’t know the kid’s been bitten, he will let him get close because they do have that odd relationship between the two of them where Negan talks to Carl like he is an adult and even appears to respect him more than Rick and any other adult.
Now, that would be worth watching. Sasha almost got him coming out of the casket. Maybe Carl will actually get it done!
Watching Ezekial chain the gates using Shiva’s chains was emotional. I am hoping he stays around a while longer.
I looove King Ezekiel! It was so good to see his smirk back.
Gabriel should’ve popped him the second he heard his voice in the trailer. Would’ve saved everyone a lot of time and grief.
Also, if Rosita hadn’t missed with the bullet Eugene made her.
ALSO if Rick had been faster in his house in Alexandria and finished him off.
So many opportunities.
Thanks for the recap. I tried watching, because I’m a loyal viewer, but it was unwatchable. Too dark, too many moving parts. I’m sorry about Carl. That makes me sad.
I just read that Carl (Chandler)was blindsided with the end of his character and he had just bought a house near the filming area. He had already decided to put college on hold for a year because of the show. He was ‘killed off’ two weeks before his 18th birthday.
His father is not taking it well and going off on Scott Gimple for it happening. It is not in the comic books that it would happen.
Hopefully, ‘dad’ is more concerned about his son than losing that fat paycheck from the show.
So now Rick is left raising Shane’s daughter, Judith 🙂 Yes, I am one of the viewers who think it is entirely plausible that the kid is Shane’s.
He’s lucky they didn’t kill him off earlier. He’s the worst actor on the show. Judith IS Shane’s daughter; Rick said it a while back.
Aw, he seems like a nice kid, but maybe Gimple is doing him a favor. As you said, Ktina, he’s not that great of an actor and he should go to college. He was adorable as a little kid, though. I don’t know how Rick gets past this. I guess we will have a season of him going bananas and talking to his dead son on an old iPhone. 😉
Now if they could kill off Scott Gimple, that would make my day.
Talking to his son on an old iPhone lol
Wonderful recap, thanks. After what happened to Glenn and Abraham I can’t watch anymore. Glad for your recaps.
I’m trying to articulate this in a way where I don’t sound like the complain gaggle that every series drawers, condemed to complain about every little thing for all of eternity.
That being said, and I know I’m not crazy because my partner who I watch the show with sees it too, the production value/directing/realism – even some of the acting – has gone WAY down hill. Like, hilariously down hill. As in we literally laugh out loud.
The weird thing is I can’t put my finger on it. Does anyone else see it? I don’t get what changed that in one season it’s one of the best shows on television and then all of a sudden it’s hilariously corny and frought with bad story lines.
yes! i agree, the original season was the best. i think they had a lot of turn over with show runners. It has become worse and worse each season. Now it is laughable. which is such a shame
Scott has been the show runner since season 3 but he was the number 2 guy in season 2.
I agree though, the production values are much lower. It doesn’t even look like high def any more.
Also agree that Chandler is one of the worst actors though alot on the show suck at acting. And it should be a surprise to no one that their character is killed off, they’ve said anyone can be.
The Walking Dead “jumped the shark” when, way back, Rick made a deal to attack a group called the saviors (hilltop’s enemy) in return for getting food from hilltop. At that point, Rick never heard of the saviors, so Rick, Carol, Glenn, Daryl, etc. attacked live people who had done them no harm. So out of character for the good guys up till then. It was the first time Glenn killed a person. It went counter to everything the original survivors stood for. At that point the show hit the skids for me; all we kept and keep seeing is submission and degradation of the original good guys and their humiliation season after season. Yet there’s no redemption, nothing to cheer for from the audience who love them.. Scott Gimbel should go. He’s ruined the show. Now he’s killing Carl off!! Are you kidding!!! What an idiot who’s lost perspective of what the audience wants. You killed off Abraham, Glenn, Sasha, etc. humiliated the two heroes (Rick and Daryl) for over two seasons, now you kill Carl. I’m done with a show I wouln’t miss, now I won’t watch.
Hi! TWD fan, out brilliant recapped for TWD is frolicking at the beach right now to recharge for the upcoming season. Please come back and share with us during the new season, and for now, enjoy the older posts!
Great recap, thank you. So happy Carl is a goner. Just something about him I can’t stand. Also want Rick gone but I know that’s too much to ask.
I completely agree with you on this show and it makes me sad as a fan. The first three seasons I thought were some of the best tv I have ever seen. Season 4 got a bit iffy for me with the cannibalism. Season 7 and now 8 for me are so bad for all the reasons you stated above. The story lines are not plausible and carry no emotional investment for me. The series used to keep you on the edge of your seat questioning what you would do in every situation but not so much anymore. I still watch but don’t feel much of a connection with anyone but the original cast members.
On a side note, Negan is just unwatchable mostly because I can’t stand the actors portrayal of him.
Lady Cocette thank you so much for the recap as I had misunderstood a few things!
I agree, unfortunately. I used to love this show, wouldn’t miss it for anything, and I was profoundly indifferent to this entire mid season finale. I thought the writing had fallen off in recent seasons but I was still eager to see what played out with Negan, especially after Glen’s death. But the plot holes this season are gaping. Things don’t make sense. I still care about characters like Rick, Carole, Maggie, Daryl, etc. but the show doesn’t carry the emotional heft it once did with me. I was not distressed at all about Carl, that surprised me.
I will continue to watch, but I am pretty sad about how lackluster it’s become.