The Walking Dead recap: 'How It's Gotta Be' 

Andrew Lincoln, Lauren Cohan, Danai Gurira, Melissa McBride, Norman Reedus, Chandler Riggs, Steven Yeun

— it’s a not-so-subtle tip-off that the talent will be chatting it up with Chris Hardwick about the latest death on the show. So when Khary Payton was listed as a guest, I was already preparing myself for Ezekiel’s impending demise. But there was a twist. Season 8’s midseason finale didn’t end with a death at all, but with the promise of a death — and it wasn’t Ezekiel.

After Negan broke free of the walker herd at the Sanctuary and plunged AHK into chaos, Rick meets back up with his comrades in the sewers under an imploding Alexandria. There, amid the huddled, broken masses, is Carl, now pale and covered in sweat as he reveals to his father and mother (as Michonne essentially is now) a walker bite on his torso. While characters have been known to walk away from things far more severe, executive producer Scott M. Gimple teased on

that this will play out how walker bites typically play out. But the aftermath is next year’s problem when the second half of

So how did we get here? If you were paying attention to the clues sprinkled throughout the hour, you could’ve seen this coming.

The last scene of last week’s episode saw Rick trembling beneath his sniper binoculars at the sight of a walker-less front yard at the Sanctuary. Again, no one is responding over the walkie, confirming his fears that Negan has somehow broke free — and we know it’s because of some self-proclaimed ingenious plan on Eugene’s part. As Rick is rushing toward the site with the Scavengers, we see a flashback to when Rick and Carl met that stranger by the gas station. We saw Carl say it was enough after Rick scared off the young man with warning shots, and in the aftermath of that conversation, Carl told his father that he’d learned to act when you care about something. Hope alone is never enough.

The Scavengers, meanwhile, are proving once again that it’s silly to rely on them for anything. It was just in the season 7 finale that they betrayed Rick’s group for the Saviors, and they quite literally run away and abandon Rick as shots are fired at them when they approach the Sanctuary. Luckily, Carol drives up with Jerry in the passenger seat to rescue Rick from hellfire. We see more flashes of Rick’s chat with Carl, who says the point of fighting against the Saviors is to create a world where they’re working together and not all just hoping for the best.

As with episodes throughout the current season, the camera blends through different close-up shots of characters, ending on Negan, who’s smiling at the thought of the revenge he’s about to inflict.

Aaron and Enid, we learn, are driving to Oceanside to recruit more forces — only these women have already been so wronged by AHK and Tara that it’d be a miracle if they granted them an audience. Aaron turns the wheel over to Enid, and she makes a pit stop to accommodate a truck filled with alcohol from Roanoke Way Distillery to bring as a gift. Despite this gesture of good faith, “Roanoke” isn’t something that typically denotes good fortune, as

At Alexandria, Michonne is promising Judith she’ll bring back her dad. She spots Daryl, who claims his plan worked and the Saviors will have no choice but to surrender. Carl is up in his room, sitting in a corner as he writes a letter to his dad. He also grabs for a piece of paper that reads, “Just survive somehow,” the farewell note he received from Enid. As he considers this, the camera pulls back to show a wide shot of his room. His sleeping bag bears a red patch at the bottom that foreshadows the walker bite.

Outside, Tara approaches Rosita to tell her that their plan worked — though it didn’t really — but Rosita still seems frustrated by their hasty actions. She aggressively piles up box after box into Tara’s arms, though she tries to make light of this hostility.

Back with Aaron and Enid, they roll up to a spot on the edge of the woods near Oceanside. Night falls and Enid is sleeping in the back when Aaron, sitting in the driver’s seat, spots someone moving by the distillery truck. They silently disembark the car and circle both sides to try to cut off whoever it is. The assailant turns out to be Natania, grandmother to Cyndie. She knocks over Aaron, but Enid shoots her dead. The other women from Oceanside swarm them with wooden sticks as Cyndie breaks down over the sight of her murdered grandmother. Not exactly what I’d call the best negotiation tactic.