The Walking Dead season 8 episode 8 'How It's Gotta Be': The midseason finale's most traumatic moments

*Major spoilers follow for The Walking Dead season 8 episode 8*

The Walking Dead midseason 8 finale dealt out the tragedy like only a Walking Dead midseason finale knows how to (read our review here).

Considering how much the writers raised the show's stakes going into this season, it's perhaps unsurprising that an episode such as this was to arrive in the form of blowback culminating in what is considered the biggest death to have rocked the series across all of its eight seasons (yes, even bigger than Glenn).

The episode's plot is simple: Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and The Saviours escape the Sanctuary and head to Alexandria, the Kingdom and Hilltop to unleash hell onto Rick's army.

Below are the five most traumatic moments to have rocked episode 8 - easily the show's most distressing since the deaths of Abraham and Glenn.

*Major spoilers ahead - you have been warned*

Alexandria falls

Having had the walkers lured away from the Sanctuary (your days are numbered, Eugene), this episode saw Negan and his Saviours head to Alexandria, Hilltop and the Kingdom to unleash hell on Rick's army. As Negan arrives unheralded demanding an apology for the war they waged against his people, Carl (Chandler Riggs) jumps into action taking leadership in the absence of his father. He hatches an escape plan which everyone - including Michonne, Daryl, Rosita and Tara - follow: with Carl serving as a decoy - offering Negan his life in exchange for the safety of his friends ad family - Daryl leads a convoy of vehicles away from Alexandria - but when Negan realises, he orders his men to blow every building in the once Safe-Zone sky high.

Ezekiel's reign ends

Having spent half of this season clutching the empty chains of his beloved tiger Shiva who died saving him back in episode four, Ezekiel jumps into action as The Saviours arrive baying for (even more) Kingdom blood. Setting off an explosion as decoy, he manages to gain the upper hand for long enough to orchestrate the escape of his remaining people. “Save them like you saved me,” he orders Carol as Gavin descends and Ezekiel is taken prisoner to bring Negan's head-on-a-spike plan to life.

Maggie becomes a force to be reckoned with

After running into Saviours on the road, Maggie is given an ultimatum: return with them to the Sanctuary as their prisoner - in the same coffin Sasha died in - or return to the Hilltop where they will kill one of her people. To prove their point, Simon (Steven Ogg) guns down a passenger sitting in Maggie's car.

A shaken Maggie opts to return to Hilltop, requesting she bring the coffin with her. The Saviours oblige. As she gets back, she takes one of the Saviour prisoners out of the pen and murders him in cold blood. She puts his body in the coffin and tells her people to leave it where The Saviours will find it - they're preparing for “a last stand.” She walks away and begins to cry, realising the true cost of leadership.

Carl suffers a fatal walker bite

Probably the most shocking moment to rock the entire series - mostly because this veers from the future of the show's comic book source material in drastic fashion - but the episode's closing moments reveal that Carl (Chandler Riggs) is succumbing to a walker bite that he suffered a few episodes back (re-watch that moment here), much to the distress of Rick and Michonne. Riggs himself confirmed his exit in a post-episode interview revealing that Carl's final moments will arrive in the very next episode.

The Walking Dead season eight returns in the US on AMC February 2018 with the UK premiere arriving on FOX. It will also return on NOWTV

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