Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes – The Walking Dead _ Season 8, Episode 9 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
The Walking Dead mid-season premiere for season 8 saw the death of Carl Grimes, and nothing will ever be the same.
On the last episode of The Walking Dead, Carl Grimes told everyone that he was bitten and would die. This episode saw everyone say goodbye to the young hero as he let his dad know what needed to be done if he wanted to make this a world worth living in for Judith.
On top of Carl Grimes death, there was also some progression for Morgan, a look at Carol and Ezekiel, and the struggles for morality that has risen over the past season on The Walking Dead.
With The Walking Dead mid-season premiere in the books, here is a look at five takeaways from the massive episode.
Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes, Danai Gurira as Michonne – The Walking Dead _ Season 8, Episode 9 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
1. Carl’s death takes center stage on The Walking Dead
The most significant story when it comes to The Walking Dead mid-season premiere was the death of Carl Grimes and how it affected everyone around him — specifically his dad Rick Grimes. This was what took up most of the running time of this episode, deservedly so.
Chandler Riggs was easily the MVP of the episode, but a lot has to be said about the writing as well. Carl delivered some of the best lines of the entire season, as he explained the problems with how Rick and company have been doing their business, especially when it comes to killing becoming too easy.
There was also a great moment at the very end of the episode where Rick said that his entire goal was to build the new world for Carl and Judith and that his job as a father was to protect his son. Carl corrected his father, saying explicitly that Rick’s job was not to protect Carl but to love him. It was a powerful moment, and to say that the tears easily flowed this episode is an understatement.
There have been a lot of complaints about the eighth season of The Walkling Dead, but the scenes with Carl proves that this series can still create great television. Chandler Riggs deserves all the praise he will get for his performance here.
Also, who thinks that Carl giving the cowboy hat to Judith was passing the torch, similar to what Robert Kirkman hinted at before?
Lennie James as Morgan Jones – The Walking Dead _ Season 8, Episode 9 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
2. Morgan continues to break down
A lot of complaints have risen about Morgan and his trip from being a pacifist to being a sociopath and a cold-blooded killer. That continued here. Morgan was one of the men who had Negan’s base covered as a sniper but almost died when Negan’s men made a break for it and knew precisely where Morgan was based.
Morgan then hooked up with Carol and headed to the Kingdom to save Ezekiel. The great part was that Carol used to be in the same place Morgan is now — killing anyone and everyone without a care. It was also interesting to know that, at that time, it was Morgan who was trying to convince Carol that killing was not the answer. Their reversal of roles is masterful.
The expression on Carol’s face as Morgan brutally killed people was perfect and showed how low Morgan has fallen over the years, and maybe that Carol sees a little of what troubled her in him. With Morgan heading to Fear the Walking Dead, his story will be interesting to watch the rest of this season.
The scene where Morgan ripped out the Savior’s intestines has to go down as one of the most brutal kills in Walking Dead history.
The final scene had Ezekiel and Carol talk Morgan down from killing an unarmed man, only to have the young child Henry kill the man from behind when Morgan finally relented. The look on Morgan’s face as he watched a young child brutally kill someone showed that he realizes what he is becoming. Will he finally find a redemptive arc before leaving The Walking Dead?
Khary Payton as Ezekiel – The Walking Dead _ Season 8, Episode 9 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
3. Can Ezekiel be saved?
Ezekiel has been a shell of himself since he lost Shiva and all his troops. He feels that he failed his team and was no longer worth calling himself a leader. This episode saw Ezekiel mostly a prisoner to Negan’s men and having a few conversations with a Savior about right and wrong and being able to walk back if you feel things are wrong (that is the same Savior that Henry killed at the end).
By the end, Ezekiel and Carol work together to take down the Saviors who have conquered the kingdom. Then, he stood up and tried to talk down Morgan from killing the Savior. When Henry murdered the Savior, it was Ezekiel who stood up and comforted the child, acting like a leader for the first time since he lost all his men.
It will be interesting to see if this will help Ezekiel become the leader that is needed to help win this All-Out War with Negan.
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4. The truth about The Walking Dead flash forwards
Remember those flash-forwards on the season 8 premiere of The Walking Dead? Remember how everyone assumed it proved that Rick and Michonne and Judith lived and were building a new community? They aren’t real.
It turns out that those scenes — that utopia — were from Carl Grimes’ dreams. The visions are of the community that Carl believes that his father can build if he becomes the man that Carl thinks he can be. This is what Carl wants to happen after his death.
That included two shocking things. One was Eugene back in the good graces of the survivors, helping them plant their crops. However, at the end of the episode — after Carl’s death — there is a scene with Judith running up and seeing a smiling Negan working alongside the survivors. That might be a shock to fans of the television show, but comic book readers know that it is a possibility.
However, while we thought that those flash forwards were spoiling who did and didn’t live on The Walking Dead, they are all just the fantasy of a dying young man.
Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes, Danai Gurira as Michonne – The Walking Dead _ Season 8, Episode 9 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
5. What does the future hold for The Walking Dead?
This leads us to figure out what this episode means for the end of The Walking Dead‘s eighth season. The entire reason for Carl’s death — according to the producers — was that his death would lead Rick to make hard choices down the line. While the preview for next week’s episode shows that Rick still wants to kill Negan, everything that Carl said in this episode makes it sound like Rick needs to think of ways to solve the world’s problems without killing.
In the comic books, Rick wins the All-Out War, but he allows Negan to live, albeit in prison for his crimes. Will Rick repeat that this season? There is a good chance that TV fans will reject that because when it comes to The Walking Dead TV series, fans are bloodthirsty and want deaths.
This Walking Dead mid-season premiere sets up the chance for Rick Grimes to show mercy. Now, with the second half of the season underway, the question is whether or not he will when the time comes.
Next: Carl's death drastically changing The Walking Dead
Watch season 8 of The Walking Dead on AMC every Sunday night at 8 p.m. CST.