4221

Rick as hamburger: Kinda doubt that the main protagonist from the comic is going to die, especially since this is supposed to be a shocking and Rick-defining episode. Shocking invariably means people die for The Walking Dead, and the Talking Dead usually sneaks in the dead-that-episode as special unannounced guests, and they announced Andrew Lincoln as the guest, so…figure that he lives.

Michonne: Too badass to die as a mere meat pie.

Carol: still a loose cannon as a character. Big chance she gets resolved heroically (move over Beth and make room on the barbie!).

Daryl: Now, if they offed him that would be shocking - but let’s face it, he’s not from the comics and so is actually expendable from that standpoint.

Bob and Tyrese: See what they did? They can off the black dude and still have one left over to claim that they simply don’t automatically off the black dude (not to mention Tyrese, like Carol, has outlasted his comic counterpart). But then again, they might just go for the double-header and reintroduce Morgan Jones (last seen having lost virtually all his marbles).

Sasha: Oh hell no. But then again she did wuss out on the road.

Glenn and Maggie: The only people allowed to have sex in the ZA. Why mess with a good thing?

Eugene, Abraham and Rosita: They are probably going to drag out his alleged-knowledge thing for a bit, and the other two along with him for now. Not to mention that if you ate Eugene butt or shank portions you’d probably get the runs.

Lesbian Girl: Sorry, I forget the character’s name. I’d like to see her develop a bit more, but she’s expendable.

Carl: Teen-age angst in the unforgiving ZA? A recipe for death, not to mention Chandler Riggs is visibly aging faster than the story line.

Baby Judith: Babies in action-adventures are boat anchors. Well, okay, Shoot 'em Up, but they only had to maintain that for effectively one episode.

4222

As far as I’m concerned, they can all end up on the spit.

Except Eugene.

I want the show to become a weekly travelog featuring Eugene pointing out all the things you can use to make a homemade battery and explaining why Diablo 2 was better than Diablo 3.

4223

So I understand why Carol is interesting - she’s gone from being a mousy battered wife to a hardened, confident survivor without losing (much) of her humanity along the way. She really is an excellent character combined with a great actress.

Michonne is kind of interesting now that we’ve gotten a glimpse of her backstory and she’s started to interact with the group a bit more. I guess. She’s still a bit of a cypher and a comic-book hero. Again, they’ve picked a winner of an actress for her, which mitigates things quite a bit.

But Tyreese? What is interesting about the character so far? He’s angry a lot, he’s lost a lover and (right now) a sister, and… what else?

Now don’t get me wrong - Chad Coleman is great. He makes me care about Tyreese simply because he makes me believe Tyreese is a real person on screen, as opposed to some others. But I’m not sure why the character is more interesting than say, Bob, who at least has another facet, character-wise.

Maybe I’m being unfair. It’s OK to have a character that simply represents the everyman in the ZA… as opposed to the ex-cop leader, the ex-redneck ubersurvivor, the plucky kid, etc. And as long as that character is played by Chad Coleman, I’m good with it.

4224

Beth, Tara or Carol seem like the obvious dying choices. Beth because she’s a background character that suddenly got a lot of sympathy-inducing screen-time; Tara because of the familiar leg injury situation and because she’s never really been a main player; Carol because she’s still sort of the Darabont hold-out that was exiled but not killed off (yet). Daryl is the wild-card, I doubt they’d write him off willingly at this point, but if Norman Reedus wanted to work on other things…

4225

I think Beth or Carol are the ones on the way out. Beth, well she and Daryl bonded. So where do you go now? Beth and Daryl reunited, which leads to…nothing worthwhile. And Daryl’s not on the way out, not yet. Carol, well she’s on about a high a note as a character gets on this show. She’s at peak impact right now, if they keep her around when are they ever going to come up with a storyline to top the current one?

4226

Nah, it’s almost certainly Tara. CCZ is right on: she’s already got the silly gimp leg thing going on; if cannibal Tasha Yar is going to cull the herd, it’s almost certainly going to be the antelope that can’t run.

4227

My vote is for Tara and/or Beth. I would not be surprised if the show takes a page from the game and has Daryl (or someone) find Beth alive and drugged up in a back room somewhere minus a couple of limbs. I can also see Tara going out, not as dinner but in a blaze of glory saving Glenn and his gang, as that would give her a final redemption story that played to her self-doubts and need to do something heroic for someone.

I seriously doubt that Rick, Michonne, Carl, Daryl, Glenn or Maggie will die yet as all have too much potential for major plotlines going forward. Carol and Tyrese would seem to have played out their usefulness in terms of plot devices, and yet they are fan favorites and have become major players, so they too could be spared the axe. I see any deaths coming from the fringe: Tara, Beth, Sasha, Eugene, Rosita, Abraham or Bob, with the first two being most likely due to the impact they would have.

Now granted, the writers could opt for the full on awesomeness of a Walking Dead Red Wedding and elect to kill off Glenn and Maggie, which would result in viewer outrage but certainly keep people talking about the show for weeks afterwards…

4228

There is no way Carol is killed off before Rick has a chance to be all “what the hell are you doing here?” and her explaining that she and Tyrese are good now.

Agreed that Beth and Tara seem like the obvious choices. However, Rick saw the whole group and knows that Tara was one of the people who attacked the prison. I can see that being played out for a few episodes before he casually lets her die to a pack of walkers on a supply run. That would leave Beth playing the part of “the other white meat”.

I’m frustrated because I know the season finale isn’t going to resolve a dang thing. It’s going to be nothing but set-up for next season. At best we’re going to have the crew reunited in Terminus and then find out something fishy is going on. I doubt Darryl and the bandits make it to Terminus yet; my bet is that they get near it, see Rick walking in, and Darryl realizes who they’re hunting. What happens next? Find out next season!

4229

Me? I love a good cliffhanger.

4230

I like cliffhangers as well. I prefer when they wrap up at least half the plotlines though. Unless this is a 3 hour season finale, I don’t see how they wrap much of anything without it feeling rushed.

I guess one could argue that the central plot of this season was being separated and that it will be resolved at the end of the season.

4231

The only plots that really need resolved are:

  1. Beth’s disappearance
  2. Daryl’s plight
  3. The group regathering
  4. Eugene and the Funky Bunch and their mission to save the world/create homemade batteries.
  5. Terminus

To be honest, only 2 and 3 are all that important to me. The rest could be ongoing stories.

4232

The group being split up has been great for the show, at least to my mind. I don’t really want to see the group regathering, to be honest. More of the individual (or small group) survival stories and less of the social melodrama would be great.

4233

It was a nice change of pace, but it’s run its course. This show has always been about the interaction between oftentimes disparate characters forced into close proximity. While it can momentarily work with 2 or 3 members at a time, it’s much more interesting with a larger group.

4234

I don’t count Tara because she’s a very minor recent character. It would not be shocking in the least if she dies, it would be shocking if she winds up as a regular next season. Same with the three on a mission and the group Daryl is with. Even if all those people were killed off it’s not going to be shocking. I think the show wants to blow people’s minds with this finale and only a real regular, or two, dying will do it.

4235

I suspect that Carl and/or Judith will die.

4236

Hmm, I can see Carl buying it. He’s been in such a good place. Michone and Rick have been happier because Carl is happier. If, say, one of Darryl’s new gang kills Carl, we should see a reckoning.

4237

The problem with Carl and/or Judith dying is that we will be stuck with another season of Rick going to pieces.

4238

I think it’s going to be Beth and Tara; I like the idea of Tara going out in a blaze of glory.

I’ve liked this season but tell the truth, it’s reminding me of a Game of Thrones book - each episode is like a chapter in the book, focusing on one character. First a Rick episode, then a Carol episode, then a Glen episode, etc. While I think it’s been an interesting way to show what’s been going on since the breakup at the prison, it’s sort of gotten silly lately since they all appear to be walking down the same railroad tracks, just at different times. So I’m interested in them getting through with it, doing whatever they’re going to do with Terminus, and going forward from there.

4239

There’s almost 0 chance Carl will die.

I know the tv show likes to pride itself on being different from the comic books, but I just don’t see them deciding to be that different.

4240

I thought Carl was the future of the show. Rick would be killed off before Carl, Judith too. The series finale can go one of two ways. The grim ending is it’s all hopeless and everyone is doomed. I don’t see them ending the show that way. The other ending would be some variation of the final survivors finally making it to a safe place to start over, and that would have resonance if it’s the younger people. Rick reaching that end would be weaker than Carl reaching that end. The only way Judith is the one at the end is if the show ran so long that both Rick and Carl were killed off and Judith was at least a teenager by then.