‘The Walking Dead’ season 4: Why this midseason finale is critical for the series

It is not too often that you can actually say with a straight face that a midseason finale for any show is something that could make or break a show. It’s typically the premiere and the finale that matter the most, and people may be more inclined to exercise patience when you have an episode that kicks off a hiatus, and then keeps you away from new episodes for several months at a time.

But the upcoming midseason finale for “The Walking Dead” season 4 is no ordinary episode; as a matter of fact, we would be willing to wager that this is the most-important episode of the show since the gang’s first arrival of the prison. The truth here is that while the ratings for the AMC show are better than almost everything else on TV, the series itself has been attacked with some harsh reviews this time around. There is criticism about the illness storyline at the prison, and about it taking so long to get to The Governor. While we appreciate Carol being made interesting this year, it wasn’t until last week that any critic out there was willing to proclaim an episode one of the best in years.

If the show manages to mess up tonight, which may be something pulled directly from the comics in The Governor’s assault on the prison, it could scare some people off never to return. This is the time in which many viewers tend to shift away from a show, and it becomes harder and harder to pull in new ones. It’s no longer a show that you can dive into easily when there are over 30+ hours of television that are back-logged. Someone has to die tonight, and it has to be somewhat important. Not only that, but it has to change the entire structure of life in the prison.

We are going to have our full review of this episode online soon enough. Want to know where to find it? Then just be sure to visit the link here; it will be up shortly after the show ends at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Photo: AMC