I gave the episode an 8. It was pretty intense at certain points. I had to deduct a point for them not showing Carl get bitten. I'm sad to see him go but why deprive the viewers of seeing the act of the true cause of his death. Especially for a young character that has been there from the beginning.

 

LIKES
Chandler was excellent in this episode, it's a shame we have to lose him, though I understand (if the rumors are true) why Chandler wanted to leave the show. I think it's a stupid move, but I get it. RIP Carl Grimes. The MSP is gonna be hard.
I liked that multiple locations were shown and that we checked in with everyone.
The pacing was decent aside from a few moments
Dwight was actually really good in this episode too.
I like that the final shot was only of Rick, Carl, and Michonne. Judith being in there would've been nice, but I can see how blocking that would be difficult.

DISLIKES
The close up shots of the faces is so pretentious and annoying.
Sorry Daryl and Tara, this was your fault.
Natantia dies right away? lmao
And finally, I hated that they had to give Carl a complete personality change to make this arc work. Carl was angry last season, he wanted revenge for his friends. Now he all of a sudden has to become the moral compass and worse of all, the way he got his bite was stupid as hell. I would've rather him gone out in a fight with a Savior.

 

I have to ponder this... I'll be back

 

Was it a perfect episode? Nah. Was it a lot better than what we've been seeing for a few weeks? Yeah. But most importantly, did they potentially kill of Carl Grimes? For that alone, if it comes to be that he dies, I'm giving this an 11.

 

I'm sorry but I can't give this episode anymore than a four or a five. This has got to be about the worst possible way they could have adapted this storyline from the comics. Everything was so choppy that it made it difficult to follow what was going on. Half the time I couldn't tell if they were at Alexandria, Hilltop, or the Kingdom. The main character of your show is only in a mid season finale for about five minutes??? Whose idea was that????

Not sure why they needed to make this so convoluted when the storyline from the comics when the Saviors attacked Alexandria was really straight forward. Nobody was split up into four or five different groups and all that mess. Half of the stuff in this episode didn't even need to be in it. I think the only reason a lot of this stuff was in this episode was because AMC designated this episode needed to be an hour and a half long.

 

Solid 8 Karl seemed at Pease with the situation. However now I think we'll see Rick become a different person again he already feels defeated and now with Carl situation we will either see him give up or fight harder. I can't speak for other fans but I believe the statement that Maggie made tonight was absolutely necessary

 

Like @Jag said... I need to really think about what happened... It's a lot to absorb.

For now... I will just say that this episode gave me the hope that Carl might have made it out of the finale alive, genuinely led me to think the unconfirmed rumor could be wrong (boosted by my own denial of course), only to then sweep the carpet from under my feet at the end and make my grown ass cry (yeah I'll admit it haha). An episode like that probably deserves a 10.

 

It gets a 10 from me. Despite all the rumors flying about, I never thought for a minute they'd kill Carl off. A gutsy move, in my opinion, and now everything is a question mark.

Loved the Maggie stuff! Now this is a true leader.

I hope they secretly brought in Sarah Wayne Callies for a cameo in the premiere to take Carl on the next part of his journey. Would be quite emotional, as he'd been carrying the guilt of putting her down.

 

Coral being bit makes it 9.

I don't care about the rest of it. All I know is for 8 years I've made mean comments and hoping he'd cut his fake mutton chops side burns hair etc and wishing they'd kill him off but the walking dead curse snuck right under my nose this time (where they make you like the character with a cool arc or some action where they are nice/display a humanitarian side then KILL THEM as soon as you like them) I literally cried. It was horrifying to see the bite mark. Why you do me like this TWD?! first the tiger and now Coral. *sniff *grabs tissues.

 

I rated it a disappointed 4. It was such a bleak episode and the episode lacked internal consistency. I was left with too many questions.

How did the the Saviors escape?

The Saviors were too numerous and too well organized. Rick’s crew were a disorganized mess. Why?

Why didn’t Daryl hang around to find out if his stupid plan worked instead of rushing home to brag to Michonne?

Why didn’t they post guards or lookouts at Alexandria?

Why were the Hilltoppers driving to the Sanctuary in the middle of the night? How did the Saviors capture the Hilltoppers without a single shot fired?

Alexandria was overrun by saviors and Rick just happens to bump into Michonne while running around in the dark. Lucky fluke or .....?

Chandler Rigg’s performance partially redeemed this episode. Ezekiel was pretty good too.

I still love this show but please writers try to give us episodes that makes sense.

 

This will be my last episode of the show. It was a great ride early on, but the show has been on a steady decline for the past couple of seasons. Glad that Kirkman is suing AMC. Perhaps they killed off Carl out of spite. I hope Kirkman wins big. Would love to see the franchise given a shot as a film series one day.

 

See ya. BTW AMC doesn't do the deciding on who gets killed off.

 

Gimple was on TTD and said that if people were paying attention they'd have realized when Carl had been bitten. He said he was surprised there wasn't more reaction to it. I expect it was when they fought the Zombies in the woods. I plan on rewatching that segment.

 

How so? I guess AMC as a whole doesn't but the writers and EPs do decide who gets killed off.

I personally don't agree with Gimple's reasoning on killing Carl. I think Chandler wanted out and he's(Gimple) taking the fall for it. He loves sticking to the comics why change it all of a sudden so drastically?

 

That my friend is a very valid point. So many posts/interviews are making it seem like it was all Gimple's idea whereas I do wonder (as was speculated early on) if in fact it was actually Chandler that wanted out.

 

I dunno. 5 I guess.

They did seem to put a bit more effort this episode. Then again it is the mid season finale, so that's one of the few times they ever put any effort.

The whole scavenger sideplot sure fizzled out fast. The whole escapade was time filler. I don't know what to think if Rick tries to recruit these useless allies a third time.

Aaron and Enid's attempt at an olive branch with Oceanside was literally not thought out at all. Tara didn't seem to be doing anything and she's the only person with at least a semi positive relationship with them. Was this even sanctioned? Seems like a lot of people running around doing their own thing.

The whole deus ex machina explanation of how Eugene did some "Eugene stuff" to help them escape was pathetic. Nevermind the details, because the writers couldn't come up with one.

 

I gave the episode a solid 9

Weeks ago I caved and read the spoiler about the speculated (at that time) death. But even that did not prepare me for how sad it would be and how much it would hit me in the gut.

The entire episode was intense. My stomach was in knots the entire time and at one point I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat.

Maggie - I love her more and more with each appearance she makes since the death of Glenn. And I know that some of you will not believe this but here goes - I actually said "shut up Jesus" when he was going to attempt to stop her from killing Dean!!! I KNOW.....ME!!!!....going against Jesus. I even shocked myself.

Dwight - I was so scared that barcode girl was going to kill him! And then when Daryl yanked his vest off of him my first thought was "he (daryl) is such a petulant child". I wanted so much for Dwight to tell Daryl and that yes, in fact, this f*cked up scenario is your fault!

I am so worried about Ezekiel.

And at some point today I am going to offer my thoughts about Carl. For now though my mind is still racing 90 miles a minute in regard to that and coherent thoughts are still not quite at the ready. I will say this - while I have never though that Chandler was a good actor (always seemed a bit forced to me) he hit it out of the park with this episode.

 

I haven't read the comics, but sounds like a lot of commenters have. And apparently there's already been so many differences between the 2 over the years why get your knickers in a knot over another one?

 

I gave it a 6. Carl's death is way too drawn out now to be shocking. I'd preferred a zombie just kill him instantly, the trauma would be felt way more. Also really dumb they didn't explain or show how the saviors got out or how Rick's snipers got killed. Also the episode was so dark I couldn't see what was happening about 75% of the time.

Bingo!