‘The Walking Dead’ season 6, episode 8 (midseason finale) review: Who died in Alexandria attack?

Welcome to “The Walking Dead,” where characters die … of course provided that they have not been regulars for longer than just a couple of seasons.

“Give them hell” was one of the last words from one of the more notable deaths of the night in Deanna, who knew that the end was near the moment that she was bit. This was so easy to predict, given that so long as she was alive, Rick would never be in full control of Alexandria. There are expected deaths, and then unexpected deaths. Deanna was unfortunately in the former category, and other than a great conversation with Rick about seizing control, we found much of her story to be non-eventful as she eventually shot up some walkers and then turned.

Also, let’s talk about almost-deaths: We’re looking at you, Ron! Carl nearly took the guy down after the two engaged in a spat over their father being monsters / leftover Enid tension. Eventually Carl joined up with Michonne, Jessie, Sam, and Father Gabriel (who seems on the path to winning Rick over), heading to safer ground by covering themselves with blood and disguising themselves as walkers to the best of their ability. Maybe Sam screws it up by flipping out, but there’s a zero percent chance to the show starts off season 5B with Rick and Michonne getting mauled by walkers. Did you miss what we said at the start of this review?

Is there a cliffhanger of sorts surrounding Morgan and Carol? Sure, in that Morgan knocked Carol unconscious to try to protect the member of the Wolves he kidnapped, and then he in turn got free, knocked out Morgan (we think he’s alive), and then escaped with Denise. We love Merritt Wever, but is capturing her really the biggest cliffhanger?

Maybe we’re a bit hung over still from the terrible way in which this show mismanaged the Glenn story this season, but other than the Deanna conversation with Rick and some excellent zombie footage, this felt like the weakest midseason finale in years. Nothing that shocking happened, and we’re now left to wait to February to see Glenn and Maggie’s reunion. Also, why no Daryl other than the “bonus scene” at the end? Grade: B-.

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