(Spoiler alert: Do not keep reading if you have not seen the midseason finale of “The Walking Dead”)
In the midseason finale of “The Walking Dead,” Negan finally exacts his revenge on Alexandria for Carl’s (Chandler Riggs) failed ambush in last week’s episode.
We open with Maggie (Lauren Cohan) settling into her new leadership role at Hilltop Colony, while Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) settles in the suburban life in Alexandria, treating himself to a shave and a hot meal. At the Saviors’ Sanctuary, Daryl (Norman Reedus) makes his move after receiving the note telling him to escape.
Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Aaron (Ross Marquand) decide to cross the walker-filled lake in a bullet ridden boat, using two broken pieces of wood as oars.
Carol (Melissa McBride) is living peacefully at her home near The Kingdom. Morgan (Lennie James) stops by with some fresh fruit for her, but Richard (Karl Makinen), Ezekiel’s right hand man, interrupts their visit.
Rick and Aaron make their way to the houseboat in the lake, but not before Aaron is nearly killed by the walkers in the water. They find a large cache of guns and start loading things up, while a mysterious figure watches from the opposite shore.
At Hilltop, Enid (Katelyn Nacon) realizes that Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) is lying to Maggie about Jesus’ whereabouts, and deduces that she is working on a plan to kill Negan. Enid is upset–not that Sasha lied, but that she was not included in the planning.
Richard sits down with Carol and Morgan and tells them how Ezekiel came to strike his deal with the Saviors. Richard believes it is only a matter of time before the Saviors attack The Kingdom, and he needs their help to convince Ezekiel to strike first.
Carol refuses, saying all she wanted is to be left alone. Morgan likewise says he will not participate, as he will not lead people from The Kingdom to their deaths. Back at the Sanctuary, Daryl has stolen some clothes and is slowly making his way outside.
Daryl finally reaches the motorcycles kept at the back of the Sanctuary. Before he can escape, he is discovered by a lone Savior. The man pleads for Daryl to let him go, as he is just trying to get by. Instead, Daryl beats him to death with a steel bar, just as Jesus (Tom Payne) finds him.
Spencer (Austin Nichols), thinking he has impressed the Saviors with the supplies he scavenged, approaches Negan with a bottle of liquor, looking to make a deal.
Michonne is still holding the Savior woman hostage that she captured in the last episode. But when she sees the sheer size of the Savior encampment, she realizes the scope of the fight they are in for, kills the woman, and drives the car into the woods.
Spencer and Negan play a game of pool, during which Spencer tries to convince Negan to kill Rick and let Spencer take control of Alexandria. Meanwhile, Rick and Aaron get back with the supplies they found, but when the Saviors find a derogatory note left by the original owner, the Saviors beat Aaron in retaliation.
Negan isn’t convinced by Spencer’s plan to replace Rick, saying that Spencer is simply a coward who wants Negan to do his dirty work. He ends their game by slicing Spencer open with a knife, spilling his guts in the street. Rosita (Christian Serratos), having observed all of this, suddenly pulls out a gun and fires her the bullet she had Eugene (Josh McDermitt) made for her.
Somehow, Negan manages to block the bullet using Lucille. He has one of his people hold Rosita down and demands to know where she got the bullet. She says she made it herself and Negan knows she is lying. So, he orders an Alexandria citizen to be killed at random, with Olivia (Ann Mahoney) meeting her end courtesy of a Savior bullet.
Eugene tearfully confesses that he made the bullet to keep someone else from dying. Negan decides to take Eugene back to the Sanctuary to use his bullet-making skills, and then departs.
Michonne returns and finds Rick in the makeshift cell Morgan constructed. She said they have always been fighters and that they must fight now to survive. Rick kisses her, and they travel to Hilltop and consult with Maggie to prepare for war against Negan and his Saviors.
As the episode ends, we see the same mysterious figure that observed Rick and Aaron spying on Alexandria.
'The Walking Dead': The Most Shocking and Disturbing Deaths So Far
"The Walking Dead" has never been shy about gore and death, but some characters' demises hit harder than others. Now that the final season is upon us, let's take a look back at the carnage from past seasons.
Andrea's sister Amy (Emma Bell) was the first sympathetic named character to go, when a random walker bit her at camp.
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The death of Jim (Andrew Rothenberg) in Season 1 showed the characters how to treat a bitten person for the first time.
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Sophia (Madison Lintz) was beloved by all, but Rick did not hesitate when it came time to pull the trigger when she became a walker.
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Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) was the moral compass of the group, so it was upsetting on several levels when a zombie ripped his guts out.
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Shane (Jon Bernthal) was ready to kill Rick over his love triangle with Lori, but Rick acted first.
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T-Dog (IronE Singleton) gave his life to save Carol from walkers when the group tried to take the prison.
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Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) died during childbirth, prompting Carl to shoot her in the head to prevent her reanimation.
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Daryl's brother Merle (Michael Rooker) finally tried to be a good man by defying the Governor -- and it got him a bullet in the heart from the Governor himself and a new life as a zombie.
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Andrea (Laurie Holden) failed to see The Governor for what he was -- a bad guy -- and paid the ultimate price.
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Hershel (Scott Wilson) wanted peace, but The Governor took his head to prove a point to Rick.
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Tyreese (Chad Coleman) let his guard down for a just a moment, but long enough to get bitten by a walker.
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Lizzie (Brighton Sharbino) killed her sister Mika (Kyla Kenedy) before Carol shot Lizzie in the back of the head.
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Beth (Emily Kinney) finally had enough of Dawn, the tyrannical overlord of Grady Memorial Hospital, stabbing her with a pair of scissors as a parting gift. But Dawn immediately shot Beth in the head -- prompting Daryl to in turn shoot Dawn.
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Noah (Tyler James Williams) endured one of the most gruesome deaths in "Walking Dead" history thanks to Nicholas.
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Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge), Ron (Austin Abrams) and Sam (Major Dodson) all died within seconds of each other. Sam got eaten when the horde invaded Alexandria. Jessie died as she tried to save him. Ron then attempted to kill Rick, but got stabbed by Michonne and was subsequently eaten.
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Abraham (Michael Cuditz) was the one we had to wait six months to see murdered by Negan. He, of course, got his head beaten in with Negan's barbwire-wrapped baseball bat, Lucille.
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But Abraham wasn't Negan's only victim that night. After Daryl punched Negan, Negan decided he had to make another example out of someone in the group -- and he chose Glenn.
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Spencer (Austin Nichols) thought he could use Negan to kill Rick in order to assume control of Alexandria. But Negan had other plans, gutting Spencer in full view of everyone in the community.
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Olivia (Ann Mahoney) suffered plenty of indignities at Negan's hands, and he eventually repaid her by having her shot.
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Ole Dr. Carson (Tim Parati) made a critical error by saying mean things about Sherry to Dwight over and over again. So Dwight framed the good doctor for helping Daryl escape from the Saviors -- and Negan threw him into the furnace for it.
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When King Ezekiel's crew was short one cantaloupe in its tribute for Negan's Saviors, Benjamin was shot in the leg as punishment. Unfortunately, the shot hit an artery, and young Ben bled out.
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It turned out that Richard had tossed one of the cantaloupes because he wanted to start a war between the Kingdom and Saviors -- and he thought they would kill him for being short. They shot Ben instead, but Morgan strangled Richard the next day after Richard confessed.
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Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) used Eugene's suicide pills to kill herself while she was theatrically locked in a casket because of some ridiculous thing Negan was doing. When Negan opened the casket she popped out as a walker and saved Rick and the residents of Alexandria in a clutch moment.
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Morales (Juan Gabriel Pareja) returned in Season 8 after having been gone since Season 1, but that return was short-lived. Now a member of the Saviors, Morales was around again for about 10 minutes before Daryl shot him.
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Eric (Jordan Woods-Robinson) got shot during the Alexandrians' battle against the Saviors, and then bled out and turned into a walker after a tearful goodbye scene with his boyfriend Aaron (Ross Marquand).
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Shiva the tiger bit the dust while saving Ezekiel, Carol and Jerry from a bunch of walkers in Season 8. There were just too many and they swarmed and ate her.
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Carl (Chandler Riggs) died in the Season 8 mid-season premiere after suffering a zombie bite in the first half of the season.
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Gregory (Xander Berkeley) got his long-overdue death when he was executed by hanging for trying to murder Maggie in the Season 9 premiere.
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Jesus (Tom Payne) was killed when he tried to decapitate a zombie only to discover that zombie was actually a living man disguised as one -- this was Alexandria and Hilltop's first real contact with the Whisperers.
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Near the end of Season 9, the Whisperers made a big statement by killing 10 named characters at once and putting all their heads on spikes. The most notable among those killed were Tara (Alanna Masterson), Enid (Katelyn Nacon), Henry (Matt Lintz) and Tammy Rose (Brett Butler).
Siddiq (Avi Nash) was killed in Alexandria by Dante, who it turned out was a Whisperer infiltrator, because he discovered that Dante had poisoned the town's water supply.
Earl Sutton (John Finn) was killed during the battle with the Whisperers at Hilltop when he was bitten by one of their zombie horde. Over the course of this conflict, the Whisperers got his wife Tammy Rose and his son Kenneth as well.
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As the final season kicks off, we look back at some of the emotional devastation this show has wreaked over the past decade
"The Walking Dead" has never been shy about gore and death, but some characters' demises hit harder than others. Now that the final season is upon us, let's take a look back at the carnage from past seasons.