The Walking Dead season 8 episode 8 'How It's Gotta Be' spoiler-filled review

*Major spoilers follow for The Walking Dead season 8 episode *

Last year's The Walking Dead midseason finale ended with one of the show’s most optimistic climaxes in years - Rick finally took back control and rallied the troops after eight brutal episodes at Negan’s mercy. While it may not feel like much ground has been made in the ensuing episodes considering it’s only been a matter of weeks for our characters since that moment (season 8 has just comprised mere hours in series time), this year's midseason finale drew to a close with a blindsiding twist that makes you take stock of just how far these characters have come in just 16 episodes.

We are going to not just one of the show’s leading characters but the one that many assumed would shape the future of this series. But there’s no two ways about it - Carl (Chandler Riggs) is going to die having suffered a bite in a scuffle with some walkers in scenes which aired a few episodes back ('The King, the Widow and Rick' - re-watch that moment here). It's a groundbreaking revelation no less because producers are veering drastically away from the comic book source material (Carl becomes the group's eventual leader) as well as proving that the flashforward sequence which aired in the season 8 premiere was merely Rick's fantasy.

Carl's scenes have added poignancy upon reflection - the way he assumes leadership in the absence of his father when Negan comes a-knocking at Alexandria's gates knowing his days are numbered is an extremely bittersweet notion in so far that he's genuinely using the situation as his last chance to try and speak to Negan's conscience wreaking havoc (“is this what you wanted to become?” he asks Negan, silencing him) as well as providing evidence that he is precisely the leader the group needed following Rick's inevitable abdication. Sadly, it won't be a fate we'll get to see in this universe of the series.

After Negan tells the Alexandrians one of them will have to die Glenn and Abraham-style at the hands of Lucille, Carl offers to be that person. “Do you want to die?” Negan asks him. “No I don't... but I will," he replies, cryptically adding: "Its gonna happen." This is a teenager who knows his life has been cut short and is about to leave the ones he loves behind to wallow in a world of misery. Riggs is nothing short of sensational in the scene and is sure to bring his A-game when he final episode airs in February. “None of this shit's fair," Negan tells him had to kill your own mum,” he tells him, no doubt leaving carl agonised that his dad is going to have to go through the same pain all over again.

Naturally, all of the episode’s other events fall by the wayside in light of the Carl twist - possibly the biggest to have rocked this series.There are, however, some interesting developments going into the second half of the season. With the walkers led away from the Sanctuary thanks to Eugene’s iPod-contraption last week (pretty much everyone knows he was responsible so number the mullet man's days), the Kingdom and the Hilltop Colony are also paid visits by different Saviour factions: Gavin (Jayson Warner Smith) leads one, his mission to capture Ezekiel (Khary Payton) who shakes off his grief over the death of Shiva to save the friends and family of his fallen army - the only remaining Kingdom dwellers. He does just this but surrenders himself to an uncertain fate. It’s certainly going to be intriguing to see this character away from his throne in a place where his head is wanted on a spike game of thrones style. He may have no tiger to save him but Ezekiel does have one thing better that\s proven to be very worthwhile in this world - Carol (Melissa McBride).

Then there’s Maggie (Lauren Cohan) who gets blockaded on the road by Simon (Steven Ogg) who has captured Ezekiel’s protector, Jerry. He gives the Hilltop's de facto leader two choices - let one of her people die in apology to the Saviours or become their prisoner. He then proves his seriousness by murdering a Hilltop passenger sat in her car in cold blood. It's this moment where Maggie's elevation to fully-fledged Hilltop leader clicks into place - she immediately heads back and kills one of the Saviour prisoners. "We aren't even but that's a start," she tells them, ordering her people to leave it where the Saviours can find it. “The Last Stand” has well and truly arrived - and with Carl's time in the series coming to an end after eight seasons, it's impossible to predict what comes next.

The Walking Dead season eight returns in the US on AMC February 2018 with the UK premiere arriving on FOX. It will also return on NOWTV

Follow Independent Culture on Facebook