AMC
During the midseason finale of The Walking Dead, fans had a HUGE shock. There was a twist we weren’t expecting because it wasn’t in the comics. But now fans are trying to figure out when it happened. There are major spoilers below for the midseason finale. Only read on if you’ve already seen the episode.
At the end of the episode, Carl revealed to Rick a bitemark on his stomach. Yes, it appears that Carl has been bitten by a walker. But when did it happen? It didn’t seem to have happened during tonight’s episode. There were no major zombie encounters. So our best assumption is that he was bitten while he was helping Siddiq in an earlier episode, and he’s been hiding the bite for a while.
While Carl was escaping Alexandria, he didn’t seem to have any walker encounters that would have left him bitten. But he did seem like he was really struggling, as if he were truly sick. When Rick saw him, he said to Rick that he had brought Siddiq to the community. And then he said: “That’s how it happened” and showed him the bite mark. Yes, he counteracted his dad’s decision to drive Siddiq away.
This means that, in a way, Rick is responsible for Carl’s death. Rick wanted to kill Negan and all the Saviors to keep Carl safe. But Carl had grown weary of his dad’s need to kill everyone and wanted a better way. In a roundabout way, Rick’s anger and suspicion might have inadvertently led to Carl’s getting bitten. Carl had to save Siddiq because Rick wouldn’t.
If you recall, Carl had some close encounters with zombies while he was helping Siddiq get to his community. It didn’t appear that he was bitten but apparently he was. And he’s been getting sicker and sicker. Watch the scene again below. Can you tell when Carl was bitten?
If you look back at the episode, you can see that Carl knew he was going to die. He told Negan he was willing to sacrifice himself — he knew he was going to die already. Gimple also said that the scenes we’re about to see on the next episode of the show with Chandler were among the best acting he has ever seen on the show.
Are you ready to say goodbye?