I am expecting the helicopter to land at the last second with the cure.

 

This show wouldn't survive a second fake out death a la dumpster Glenn...

 

I like it!

 

Theories ugh. The bite happened two episodes ago, while he was helping Siddiq. You missed Carl's slow reaction in getting up from the walkers and him dazed and staring at the dead walker. He knew he was bit than and in shock. Gimple pretty much admitted on TTD that he was surprised people didn't pick up on it. Carl is out. Maybe Enid will take the whisperers storyline or Siddiq. Ooof going to be a long hiatus.

 

Is Carl's hat like Frosty's hat? He'll be back next year?

 

Enid is going to take Carl's place in that future story arc, and Lydia is going to become a Logan or something.

 

Haha that be hillarious! The Whisperer going "Wrgh! Hurgh! ****! Damnit! ops! Waaargh" xD

 

Carl was bitten through a T-shirt and a flannel shirt, right? Unless he had a big hole in his shirt hey could always say that the infectious agent didn't make it past the protective barrier of his clothes.

 

Can't really see a plausible way in which Carl survives the bite unless they do a 'fake out' and have it as the bite didn't penetrate enough with such a minor infection occurred that Carl gets sick but comes through (bare in mind most who change have had big chunks of them ripped out by a Walker feeding).
But given that Riggs is going to college it seems more likely this genuinely is the end for Carl. My only gripe is the fact the bite didn't happen in a bigger more epic scene. Maybe saving Rick or someone from near certain death, caused Carl to be bitten, instead of the somewhat meaningless fight between Carl/Siddiq and a handful of Walkers in the woods.

I hope (if it it the end for him) that the second half of season 8 is a long farewell in what will be TWD's biggest death yet (topping Glenn's by some way) with lots of flash backs to Carl as a kid, the close calls he's had, fun times, sad times etc.

It'll be interesting to see how they have Rick deal with the loss of his son. Will there be a complete breakdown emotionally, will he be out of the game or will he become more ruthless than we've ever seen before, slaughtering Saviors for fun.

Another view is will he go the other way and follow Carl's talk about working together? It seems Negan has a soft spot for family, wives, kids etc (anti rape, used to help children).
When Carl asked Negan if this was how he planned ending up. I'm wondering if Rick will tell Negan what's happened and there will be some sort of 'work together' truce between Rick and Negan (who respected Carl).
This could cause a big void in Rick's gang and the likes of Morgan, Maggie, Tara, Daryl hate the Saviors probably more than most, so will there be a split in his gang, some with Maggie, some with Rick?

 

So many survival theories scattered about. I cant keep track of them all. I'll add one I havent seen. They freeze Carl until a cure can be found. That way Chandler can go off to college but Rick can look at Carl thru freezer window ( a canned shot reused over again) and soliloquy . Leaves options open, if Chandler leaves college or graduates, to thaw him out. For a special episode, they can even thaw him out for an hour on his birthday to eat a piece of cake and quick freeze him again before he dies.

 

Why are people saying this? I don't get the concept of not watching the show because of that. I mean what if it were a plausible realistic reason why Carl didn't die...your hate or dislike for the writer (Gimple) would actually trump your like (I presume) of a character (Carl) to the point that you would rather see him dead from tomfoolery with a walker vs him living and maybe growing old or dying a different way? Ok....

 

Its more like valuing the integrity of the show. One of the reasons fiction is suspenseful is that main characters can die and when they do die, they stay dead. Its why Inspector Gadget, while comical, is not suspenseful. Nobody watches Inspector Gadget going "OMG!! Gadget just fell from a building and they went to a commercial! ARGGGHHHHH!! I need a drink!! I can't believe this, they can't get rid of Gadget, what will the show become with only Brain and that girl that's good with figuring things out??? This is an absolute disaster, and OMG ANOTHER COMMERCIAL!! Get back to the show, this is torture!!"

The reason is because they know its a trick. Gadget will say "Go go Gadget propeller, and then a mallet comes out and hits him on the head, but no matter because he landed on top of a hang glider anyway.

When you start getting into too much of a habit of tricking your audience like that, then close calls become arbitrary and carry less weight and meaning.

 

My rebuttal to that is this...

Of all, and I mean ALL of the ways for Carl to die, stumbling and having him struggle fighting one on one with a walker then a second walker all because he wanted to be nice and help a stranger by giving him food was not the way I would think many would envision Carl dying if he were to die.

That seems like the type of death reserved for the little kid that was following Carol into the woods who said he wanted to help fight the Saviors.

 

I'm not sure how that's a rebuttal to what I was talking about. I was talking about fake-out deaths. If you don't like his manner of death, that's another discussion. But I kind of like how he went out. Because its how people would often die in that world. Right out of left field. It reminds us that this is a zombie apocalypse and that background threat is very real. "We got a war going here, so our plan is......ah shit, I'm bitten". That would happen from time to time. A random death not related to what was really going on at that moment.

Sometimes I think the show trivializes the walker threat by having characters run through hordes untouched. Denise and Owen running through the No Way Out horde and making it out alive annoys me much more than having a character just slip up, make one mistake, and boom. Its over. Cause that's all it would take, in reality. Even the strong characters could slip up.

 

February, 2018...in a shocking reveal to the audience, it is revealed that Carl was bitten by the deer he fell on with it's final breath.

Fan reaction is swift, ranging from "Oh, deer..." to "Frankly, my deer, I don't give a damn."

No comment from Scott M. Gimple, who has apparently gone into hiding.

Norman Reedus, who plays the popular character Daryl Dixon, was quoted as grunting "Ehhh, whatever. Watch 'Ride', Mondays at nine."

More as this exciting story develops...

 

While this is admittedly a creative and clever way to introduce the whispers (and while I am desparate to believe this), I see a few problems with this.

1) None of those walkers that Carl was attacked by looked like anything other than walkers.

2) Why would a whisperer bite someone? I find that an odd way for a human to attack someone and no whisperer has ever bit someone in the comics.

3) If Carl stays alive, then why is Chandler Riggs father so open to aring out his frustrations online about the people Chandler would still have to work with.

Pains me to say, but Carl is dead at the end of 809.

 

Intelligent writing would buck trend. With carl dead, if they hold a dance, Enid will have to go stag.