Walking Dead Season 4 Finale: Reaction

If you’ve read The Walking Dead graphic novels (or have a friend that loves spoiling things for you that does) you had a pretty good idea of what you were in store for on the season 4 finale of the show.

However, if you went in not knowing, you probably were a bit shocked about what went down in The Walking Dead season 4 finale.

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW!  LOTS OF THEM!

Here are my top 5 reactions to The Walking Dead Season 4 Finale:

1. I can’t believe they actually went forward with the scene were Carl was going to be raped.  The fact that AMC even allowed teasing at a scene where a young boy was going to be raped by a really creepy old guy is mind blowing.  Even though it seemed as though nothing really ended up happening, the thought of it happening was disgusting enough to really set the wheels in motion to do something really desperate to get out of it.  Also, why did “The Claimers” want to do this?  I understand people probably get lonely in the apocalypse, but still..hard to believe all those guys would be okay with one of their own doing that.
2. Many folks are saying that Rick has lost it, but I think he has finally figured out what is worth fighting for.  Protecting his son and the rest of his “prison family” is something that Rick had to really put as a top priority as a leader of the group.  Especially when it comes to his son.  If you think Rick was going to sit there and watch his 14 year old son followed by Michonne be sexually assaulted while they take turn beating Daryl to death, you are crazier than anything Rick would have done to stop it.  When you think about it that way, Rick seems a lot less mentally unbalanced than you’d think.
3. Where are Beth, Carol, Tyreese, and Judith?  A few episodes ago, we saw a black car with a cross in it drive away with Daryl’s travel companion and we haven’t seen her since.  Is she in Terminus?  Somewhere else?  Does a different group have her?  Is she alone now?  Or is she dead?  And we knew Carol’s group was on the way to Terminus after what happened at the house in the woods, but I guess they’re either not there yet or maybe in a different train car.
4. What is going on at Terminus?  I mean, they’re herding anyone that comes there into train cars.  Are they shipping them off somewhere?  Are they storing them like cattle?  And what is with the room with the names, personal items, and candles on the floor along with the motivational words on the walls?  This place has SUPER CREEPY written all over it, especially since they don’t seem to want to kill anyone before they put them in the cars.
5. How are the survivors going to get out of that train car?  Now that they’re in there, it’s really a question of what will be done with them or where they are going.  The writers at The Walking Dead are good enough to deviate enough from the comics to keep people guessing while giving them enough continuity to make them happy.  So, how will they have the team do this?  Will they break out?  Will it open at a different destination?  Will the door open and them run out?  Who knows…
6. It was nice seeing Hershel again.  Even if it was just in flashbacks, seeing Hershel was nice.  He’s such a gentle soul and was one of my personal favorite characters.  It really helped watchers realize that the pocket watch that the man had in Terminus belonged to him before he gave it to Glenn after he found out his intentions to marry Maggie.  Sadly, I don’t think we’ll be seeing Hershel ever again.  Not even in flashbacks.
7. Michonne seems to be treating Carl like her son.  It’s odd.  Carl’s own mother never really seemed to be a good mom to him, but Michonne is always willing to be goofy with him and be there for him when he needs someone to talk to.  I’m sure this has something to do with losing her son, but it’s nice to see two characters that really seem to need each other come together and make it seem like they’ve known each other forever.
8. Who is Gareth?  Seriously, who is he?  He seemed so calm with all the weapons pointed at him and while giving orders to Rick and his crew.  He wasn’t a part of the comic book world of The Walking Dead, but we have to assume we’ll find out a lot more about him in Season 5.  With how strangely he seems to be handling things in Terminus while maintaining complete control, you’d have to assume that he’s going to be a MAJOR part of the upcoming story.
9. Was that a pile of bones that the group ran past on their way to the trap? Perhaps I saw something that wasn’t really there, but it sure looked like there was a cage of bones in a chain link fenced off area with a tarp on the ground that the group ran past on their attempted escape from Terminus.  Does this confirm a theory that a lot of fans have about them being cannibals?  Or could this be for some other weird reason?
10. That guy that got eaten at the beginning was a very unlucky man.  Did you see his death?  A walker essentially ate the eyeball right out of his head.  While a lot of people have different things that really bother them, mine is messing with eyes.  Watching this walker biting through his eye hole and tearing the flesh and eyeball out of his head was one of the grossest things I’ve seen on the show in a long, long time.  Normally, I have a strong stomach, but that one got it rolling a bit.

Did I miss any big observations or questions?  Feel free to add them in the comments.