"The Walking Dead" Season 8 midseason premiere was by far the saddest episode this show has ever done as it marked the last ever appearance of Chandler Riggs' Carl Grimes, our favorite one-eyed teenager in the zombie apocalypse. And despite the fact that the fans already knew Rick's son is not going to make it through the episode, seeing this kid who grew up in front of our eyes, saying his final goodbyes was simply devastating.
As the episode's name would suggest, "Honor" was all about honoring Carl's legacy and planting the seeds for future events. There were, of course, a lot of interesting callbacks to earlier episodes. But before diving deep into all the interesting details of this insanely heartbreaking episode, let me give you a fair spoiler warning: Stop reading this article if you are not caught up with everything that happened in the "TWD" Season 8 midseason premiere.
Eugene's plan was finally revealed
As you already know, Negan and the Saviors spent the better part of the season so far trapped in the Sanctuary, surrounded by hundreds of walkers.
And then all of a sudden, in the winter finale we saw them attack Alexandria. But their escape remained a mystery, as it was only revealed that it had something to do with Eugene.
It wasn't until the latest episode that we learned Eugene's plan. The Saviors were supposed to shoot as many walkers as they could, so the pile of bodies formed a wall. And so they did, and that made their escape a whole lot easier, as we learned through Morgan's flashback.
Will Morgan have a change of heart?
While on the topic of Morgan, the fans couldn't help but notice how cruel he was in this episode. It was almost as if he made a vow to kill every single Savior who dared to stand in his way. So much so that even Carol stopped for a second and wondered what was going on.
Not to mention the scene in the theater, when he brutally killed that Savior. No wonder Carol and Ezekiel exchanged the worried looks, and Gavin ran away so quickly.
However, despite being on a killing spree, it seemed as though Morgan was going to spare Gavin's life. Perhaps he would if it wasn't for a young Henry who killed Gavin in cold blood. But the real question is whether this incident will change Mogan's perception of the world. Perhaps he will go back to being peaceful again because he doesn't want to be a bad role model for Henry, who is still a kid.
The old man Rick vision explained
Carl's death was without a doubt the saddest death ever on "The Walking Dead." We have never seen Rick so broken.
So much so that he couldn't even say goodbye to his son. And the same goes for Michone whom Carl called "his best friend." Knowing that neither Rick nor Michonne could put him down, Carl took the matter into his own hands and pulled the trigger before he could turn into a zombie.
However heartbreaking the boy's death seemed to be, it carried an important message for "The Walking Dead" in the form of Carl's vision for the future. That's what the old man Rick sequence turned out to be. Not a flashforward, not Rick's dream, but Carl's perspective, a hope for a better future, not just for the good guys, but for Negan as well.
In the end, Rick made a promise to his dying son, that he will make this vision come true.
But does that mean he will spare Negan? The last scene of the episode showed Rick sitting against a tree, wounded. So it doesn't seem that he will even be in a position to make a decision like that. The scene will probably take place in the Season 8 finale, and we have seven more episodes to go.