The Walking Dead “Start to Finish” 

With an incredible amount of action taking place over the course of the first half of this season of The Walking Dead, I was expecting the mid-season finale, titled “Start to Finish,” to be a showstopper. However, I was surprised to see an episode that kept the action restrained and kept the body count to a minimum. With Alexandria under siege by the swarm of walkers, not everyone was going to make it out alive.

Sadly, our major casualty turned out to be Deanna. I’m sad to see this character go since she represented a pillar of hope for Rick and the group. Even in her final moments, Deanna used what bullets she had left to take out as many walkers as she could. She may not have been a good shot, but she certainly gets points for effort.

With Deanna’s departure, she has left the blueprints for the expansion in Michonne’s hands. More importantly, she imparted an important mission for Michonne; to figure out what she wants. I don’t believe Deanna meant those words in a selfish way. Deanna seemed to be saying Michonne needs to figure out what she wants for the future, and how to best go about achieving it.

I hope Michonne can figure out a future for everyone because Alexandria is done for. With the herd of walkers roaming the streets, everyone was trapped inside their homes. Interestingly, we didn’t see what was going on with the people outside of our core group. Even though we didn’t see any casualties, there must be plenty.

Not a lot happened with Rick and the few members of his group stuck inside Jessie’s house. He spent the majority of the time dealing with a dying Deanna and figuring out how to get the walkers away. The action inside Jessie’s home was mainly focused around Carl and Ron. Those pesky writers sure know how to work up the fans. Everyone was positive this was going to be a crucial moment from the comics where Carl gets seriously injured via gunshot. Thankfully, Ron was unsuccessful in taking him out.

Carl showed incredible maturity and growth as a character in his scenes with Ron. Instead of killing him or ratting him out to Rick, Carl simply told Ron he understands why he is so mad, but to just get over it. His words about Ron’s father being as asshole were hurtful, but true. Carl could see his pain and forgave his actions. There’s already worry this will be another Glenn and Nicholas situation, but I think Ron just needed to unleash his anger. He has the potential to be redeemable.

Someone I can’t stand and needs to be removed immediately is Sam. Sorry kid, but you have got to go! I understand he was scared, but Jessie clearly coddled him too much. I was already nervous for the group as they were leaving the house covered in the walker guts. Then Sam had to start saying, “Mom” over and over again. Jessie needs to put her hand over her son’s mouth and shut him up. Fast!

Another character who is on my s*** list is Morgan. His character has become so infuriating this season. I was thrilled to see him come aboard full time, but all he’s done is make me yell at my TV. The confrontation between him and Carol was bound to happen, and the whole showdown went exactly as I thought it would. This led me to speak to my TV as if the fictional character could really hear me saying, “Dammit Morgan! I told you this is what would happen.” The “this” being Carol trying to kill the Wolf to save other people, but Morgan stopping her, and the Wolf getting freed.

I really hope when Morgan comes to that he deeply regrets keeping the Wolf alive because now he’s loose and has Denise as a hostage. I don’t know how he plans to get through all those walkers, but I’m crossing my fingers the plan doesn’t include using Denise as a walker food distraction. I’ve liked the addition of Denise, so it’d be nice to see her make it out of her current situation alive. I was also disappointed that Tara, Rosita, and Eugene quickly surrendered their weapons. Couldn’t they have shot the Wolf quickly without him slitting Denise’s throat?

Carol was put in a terrible position by Morgan. She knew that the Wolf was dangerous and keeping him alive would only endanger everyone. You could see her inner turmoil at the thought of having to kill Morgan in order to kill the Wolf in order to keep everyone safe. Carol is a quick thinker and doesn’t hesitate too much when making a decision, but she’s not a full-blown killer.

The Wolves are killers. Carol just knows what needs to be done in order to keep her people safe. Carol has always been a good judge of character. She was able to see the goodness in Daryl back in Season 2. I trust her when it comes to reading people, and she knows the Wolves are pure evil. Carol may have lost this round with Morgan, but Morgan is still clearly the loser here. His faith in humanity has been put to the test and failed. Some people may be redeemable, but that Wolf is not one of them.

To recap the 2-minute sneak peek of Episode 8 shown afterward:

Daryl, Sasha, and Abraham were all in the car heading back to Alexandria when they came across a group of bikers blocking the road. One man told them that they needed to hand over their weapons and that everything they had now belonged to Negan.

This is an exciting development because now we know for sure that these people and the group Daryl came across in Episode 6, are the Saviors from the comics. With the casting of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan making headlines recently, it only made sense we would be introduced to his people now. Negan is a character fans of the comics have been eager to see on the show, and he will surely bring terror and craziness when we meet him in the second-half of the season.

Observations & Questions:

• Glenn and Enid have spotted Maggie surrounded on the platform. How are they going to get her out of there?
• We were given the answer of who Daryl heard calling for help over the walkie talkie and it was Eugene.
• Is Sam going to get someone in the group killed with his talking?
• Where were Spencer, Aaron, and the other Alexandrians during all this?

The Walking Dead will return on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016 on AMC.

Check out the 2-minute sneak peek of Episode 8, if you haven’t already.