The Walking Dead‘s penultimate episode, “Try“, is now in the books and it was a doozy. It was easily one of the most intense episodes of the entire season and served as a great build-up to the 90 minute Season 5 finale next Sunday. Given how much crap just hit the fan and how much additional time The Walking Dead is going to have to work with, I can’t imagine “Conquer” going down without somebody taking a dirt nap.Of course, there is a lot more to The Walking Dead than just people dying but one of the central themes of Season 5 has been the immense amount of loss that Rick’s group of survivors has suffered and I don’t think they’re out of the woods just yet.
After the bloody window-smashing fist fight between Rick and abusive husband Pete, the citizens of Alexandria are more frightened than they’ve ever been and Deanna has a tough choice ahead of her.
Before I dive head first into what I think is going down, take a look at the sneak peek below and draw some conclusions of your own:
Are you sufficiently pumped up for the finale? Good! Let’s dive into predictions.
Rick will not be exiled.
The feeling AMC wants to give fans of The Walking Dead through the sneak peek video is definitely that Rick is on the verge of exile and could very well be excommunicated from Alexandria, but I find that hard to believe. While Nicholas sat and gave a despicably false and exaggerated tale about what happened during the disastrous supply run that Aiden and Noah didn’t come back from, Rick’s group still believes in him.
Michonne knocking Rick out with a rock and putting a stop to his near psychotic ranting was an act of good faith to the Alexandrians who were watching, and we can’t forget that a number of the survivors have very quickly risen to prominent roles within the Alexandria community, with Sasha acting as the official town lookout, Abraham heading up the construction crew, Michonne (and initially Rick) taking up the role of constables and Carol officially undercover as the unassuming den mother.
Even if Deanna comes to the conclusion that Rick is to be exiled, I’m not convinced she’ll have the chance to actually put that into effect because of what comes next…
The Wolves are coming
It’s been hinted at throughout the entirety of the second half of Season 5. The Wolves are out there. Who are they? Are they responsible for the W’s carved into the heads of the dismembered Walkers that are showing up everywhere?
The biggest (and most likely) theory coming out of the woodwork is that the Wolves are The Walking Dead TV show’s version of the DC Scavengers from the comics. In the comic series, the Scavengers absolutely wreck shop in a confrontation against Alexandria and the timing of the foreshadowing of the Wolves coincides almost exactly with the introduction of the Scavengers in the comics.
Of course, if there’s anything we’ve learned about the Alexandria residents on the show, it’s how completely, shockingly incompetent they are when it comes to survival. Having been able to hide behind the walls for such a long time, the Alexandrians haven’t had to arm wrestle their own humanity to survive as Rick’s group has, evidenced by Nicholas, Aiden and Tobin’s shared knack for abandoning their comrades to be eaten by Walkers when things get hairy.
If Alexandria is to survive this destined clash with the Scavengers, they’re going to need people who know how to fight and survive, and that means they’re going to need Rick Grimes too.
Who’s on the chopping block?
I previously wrote about who I felt might be headed for the sleep eternal before Season 6 rolled around but a lot of conditions have changed since then.
Sasha
Despite being completely unstable and, as “Try” showed, a tad bit suicidal, Sasha has a more important role than I initially realized. In The Walking Dead comics, Andrea is still alive and is one of the group’s best sharpshooters. But TV Andrea died a long time ago, back in Woodbury, making Sasha, a character not tied to comic book story lines, her replacement.
I’m still not convinced she’s got long to live and she could very well croak in “Conquer” but given her prowess with the sniper rifle and her unbridled fury, I think she’ll end up being a key player in the brutal confrontation with the Wolves.
Pete
He’s the town doctor, sure, but he’s also a womanizing, child-abusing POS and he only lasts five issues in the comics before Rick puts a bullet in his brainpan. Here’s to hoping the same thing happens in “Conquer”.
Nicholas
Nicholas is an anomaly, a complete 180 from his comic book counterpart, and is directly responsible for leaving several people for dead, including Noah, who was savagely torn to pieces right in front of Glenn as a direct result of Nicholas’s actions. There’s no room for people like this in a post-apocalyptic world and The Walking Dead universe tends to ravage the corpses of people like him. Without any obvious importance in the show, he’s an easy candidate for Walker fodder.
Carol
I love Carol. She’s a complete badass and is one of the strongest characters on The Walking Dead, even if her behavior occasionally borderlines on sociopathic. She’s the one responsible for informing Rick about Pete’s abusive habits and is a far cry from the weak and timid mother from Season 1.
Still, it’s really hard to imagine The Walking Dead airing for 90 minutes without killing off one of the principle actors. Without anything tying her down and her comic book counterpart long since deceased, Carol is by far my pick for who’s getting the axe, should the show choose to kill off another major character.
So, who do you think is going to be snuffed out in The Walking Dead Season 5 finale? Sasha? Pete? Nicholas? Carol? All of them? None of them? Or are you still hoping to see Coral bite it? Let me know in the comments section below.
The 90 minute Walking Dead Season 5 finale “Conquer” airs Sunday March 29th, 9:00 PM ET on AMC.
Sasha and Carol in the TV series are parts of Andrea from the comics, neither will die in the finale. Pete will die. Deena’s husband will die. Walkers will breach the walls. Pete’s entire family will die.