“The Walking Dead:” Episode 808 “How It’s Gotta Be”

AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” returned last Sunday, December 10th, with a huge game-changing mid-season finale, entitled “How It’s Gotta Be”. Warning: MAJOR spoilers ahead!

The episode kicks off with a flashback conversation between Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Carl (Chandler Riggs), which is a callback to the first episode of the season, just after they met Siddiq (Avi Nash). Carl is trying to appeal to Rick’s humanity and convince him that peace is the only way to resolve their differences with the Saviors and continue living after the war.

Resuming from the conclusion of last week’s episode, in which the Saviors escaped the herd of walkers, they now launch a full attack on the alliance. At Alexandria, Carl, who has taken a leadership role in Rick’s absence, proposes a plan to evacuate the area and avoid the ensuing Savior onslaught. He gives an impassioned speech to Negan, claiming that he is willing to die for the safety of his people. This buys the Alexandrians enough time to escape to the sewers under the safezone before the Saviors blow up all of the buildings at the safe zone.

By the end of the episode, Rick finds the remaining Alexandrians temporarily out of commision, recuperating from the attack, and a weakened, pale, Carl. Carl looks at his father, and then lifts up a bandage on his stomach to reveal a bite wound; Carl is going to die. This death may very well be the biggest character death thus far, and certainly one of the most controversial.

In other news, The Saviors also take over The Kingdom. However, the people of the Kingdom were able to flee because Ezekiel turned himself in, sparing them time to run. Also, Maggie uses her war prisoners as a bargaining chip to keep the Saviors away, threatening to kill them if the Saviors attack. Lastly, Erin and Enid embark on a journey to find Oceanside, a group of women who had faced the wrath of the Saviors, and ask them to join the alliance in their fight.

The episode was overall a success. Tension kept building between the Saviors and Rick’s alliance until each of the groups dealt with their problems in their own individual ways. Character arcs were concluded, too, like how Ezekiel rose up as king once again to save his people, and how Maggie finally accepted that she might need to kill prisoners. The ending plot twist of Carl’s bite wound, while certainly sad, leaves fans with enough to be satisfied until the show returns next year. The Walking Dead will return next February to continue the All-Out-War storyline between Negan and Rick.