Tonight AMC’s The Walking Dead returns for the second half of its eighth season. As the first half of the season came to a close, the Saviors retaliated in full force, doing devastating damage to our combined force of good guys. They stopped Maggie and her Hilltop caravan, killed one of the citizens as a show of force to get Maggie back in line, and sent her back to the Hilltop to keep producing their crops/food supply. In the Kingdom, Ezekiel set fires to buy his people some time to escape, before turning himself over to the Saviors. And Dwight stuck to his agreement, helping lure some of the Saviors into a trap that Daryl and Rosita had set, but blowing his cover in the process. Meanwhile, Negan and his men attacked and burned Alexandria to the ground. Negan was out for vengeance, and Carl offered himself up as a sacrifice, but Negan wasn’t having any of that. Carl and the others managed to escape the town as it burned via the sewers. However, at the end of the episode we (and Rick) discovered why Carl was so willing to offer himself up—he had been bitten and it was now only a matter of time before he would join the ranks of the undead.

Will they really kill off Carl? (this seems highly likely, despite the showrunner’s recent backpedaling) And if so, what does this mean for Rick? This whole series started with Rick’s desperate search to find his son—how will Rick change without this driving force in his life? And how will the rest of the group be affected by the loss of Carl? How will Dwight fit into the group now that he can’t go back to the Saviors? Will Eugene ever man up and do the right thing, or will he continue to stick with the Saviors? And will our group ever manage to kill Negan?! I can’t say that I wasn’t extremely disappointed with the way the first half of the season ended—I’ve kind of been disappointed with the series as a whole ever since the arrival of Negan. I really hope the series can course correct in this second half of the season and become the great show it once was. And if this is his final episode, I hope that Carl gets a great send-off, and that he can make one final big move on his way out that helps our group.

In tonight’s midseason premiere, “Honor”, Rick faces new difficulties after a battle. Meanwhile, the fight continues in other communities as core members face hard decisions.

Tonight I’ll also be watching/recording Big Brother: Celebrity Edition, A.P. Bio, Worst Cooks in America, Crashing, and Counterpart.

For additional suggestions on what to check out tonight, including Private Eyes, check out the If We Controlled Your Remote… 2/25/18 post at TVisMyPacifier.com.