Walking Dead
The midseason finale of "The Walking Dead" aired on Sunday, Dec. 1. Gene Page/ AMC

“The Walking Dead” aired its midseason finale on Sunday, Dec. 1, and jaws are STILL on the ground. Fans knew that the AMC series would be killing off a few key characters, but that didn’t make the deaths any less shocking. So, who bit the dust in episode 8, “Too Far Gone”? We’re breaking down the three gruesome deaths that occurred in the midseason finale of “The Walking Dead.”

The past two episodes exposing the Governor’s whereabouts for the past few months was a bit of a drag, but episode 8 picked up with the Governor trying to convince his new group that they need to attack and take over the prison. Revealing that he took two hostages from the prison -- Michonne and Hershel -- everyone at the camp (besides Lily) jumped on his bandwagon and loaded up the tank for war.

With the Governor flipping personalities between his Woodbury days and good ol’ Brian, Hershel took the chance to beg for co-existence. “We can find a way to live together,” Hershel tried to reason. “You’ve changed, so has Rick.” But the Governor doesn’t bite, and instead insists that they’ll never be able to live together. Despite Lily’s pleas to not attack the prison, the Governor leaves her and Megan alone at the camp while he leads his army to commandeer the prison … which is where things started to go downhill.

Megan

With Lily alone at the camp with Megan, she’s doing her best bad mom Lori impression to keep an eye on incoming danger while Megan plays in the mud by the river. While Megan calls for help in removing a metal sign from the ground, Lily’s distracted by a walker trying to make its way across the river. The walker ends up losing its balance in the water and drifts downstream … but that doesn’t mean that Lily avoided danger.

As Lily watches the zombie float away, Megan finds that the metal sign that read “Warning: Flash Flood Area” wasn’t the only thing buried in the dirt. A walker digs its way out of its muddy grave and quickly grabs Megan. The little girl screams for help but it’s too late by the time Lily reaches her … because the walker bit Megan right on the neck.

Hershel

Meanwhile at the prison, the Governor gets Rick and the gang’s attention by shooting up one of the towers. Revealing that he has Hershel and Michonne captive, the Governor warns Rick that he has until sundown to get his people out of the prison … or they die.

Rick tries to explain that they have sick children inside, and a few of the Governor’s crew members begin to doubt their decision to fight. However, the Governor stands his ground.

“We can all live together,” Rick begs. “There’s enough room for all of us.”

But when the Governor refuses to compromise, Rick changes his tune -- and tells the madman that they’re not leaving and will fight back if the Governor tries anything. “We can all live in this prison,” Rick tells him one more time. “Or none of us can.”

Not the answer that the Governor wanted, he holds Michonne’s katana to Hershel’s neck. Realizing that they’re going to be forced to fight, Rick makes one more plea, but this time to the people with the Governor.

“You in the pony tail,” Rick calls to Tara. “Is this what any of you want?”

“Put down those weapons, walk through those gates and be one of us,” he begs. “We let go of all of it. And nobody dies … Everybody is alive right now. Everyone has made it this far. We’ve done worse kinds of things to stay alive. We can still come back. We’re not too far gone. We get to come back. I know we all can change.”

As Hershel smiles over Rick’s declaration, the Governor shows that he is too far gone. Yelling “Liar” to Rick, the Governor takes the katana and slices Hershel in the neck.

Mass Fatalities

From that point on, the prison grounds break out in chaos. Upon watching the Governor almost sever Hershel’s head, Rick whips out his fun and manages to shoot the Governor in the arm. Everyone begins firing and Rick ends up getting shot in the leg.

Injured and unable to get back up to the second prison fence, Rick takes shelter behind the overturned bus. While the Governor’s people begin firing at the prison group, the Governor finishes what he started with Hershel … and uses the katana to fully cut off Hershel’s head. But with everyone distracted, Michonne manages to get away before the Governor can come for her.

As the guns fire in every direction, the Governor is faced with Lily, who walked to the prison holding her dead daughter. And while “Walking Dead” viewers thought that Megan’s death would have a crazy effect on the Governor, he instead takes her body from Lily and without a second thought puts a bullet through her head.

With the Governor’s tank through the first fence, Maggie gets Beth to begin loading up the emergency escape bus as she runs inside to get Glenn. But at that point, Beth discovers that baby Judith and the rest of the kids are missing. Things look bad for Daryl and Tyreese when they become cornered by some of the Governor’s henchmen. But Daryl gets himself out of a sticky situation with Mitch when he uses a grenade to get him out of the tank. Once out of the tank, Mitch finds himself face-to-face with Daryl’s crossbow … and Daryl shoots him in the chest without a second thought. Meanwhile, Tyreese is forced to hide behind some pots to escape Alisha’s gun fire, but he’s rescued by a surprising prison comrade – Lizzie, the young girl that was in Carol’s care. Previously taking baby Judith out of the prison walls with a couple of the other kids. Lizzie stepped up to the plate and shot Alisha point blank in the head.

As walker’s begin to infiltrate the grounds, the bus takes off and the rest of the group begins to follow suit on foot … but not the Governor and Rick.

The Governor

Hiding behind the bus, Rick jumps the Governor as he broke down the fence and came around the corner. Weapons aside, the two have an all-out brawl with their fists. But things begin to look grim for Rick when the Governor gets a good hold on his neck. Losing consciousness and weak from pain, Rick’s saved by Michonne … who uses her katana to impale the Governor through the chest.

Rick and Michonne leave the Governor to die a slow painful death on the walker-ridden field. But that’s not what Lily has in mind for her former lover. Walking up to him with gun in hand, she looks at Brian as he gasps for breath and shoots him in the head.

Baby Judith?

Rick stumbles back to the prison yelling for Carl, but his son is nowhere in sight. And as a walker closes in on him, he’s saved by a gunshot … from Carl. Asking about Judith, Carl reveals that he doesn’t know where she is. Walking the destroyed grounds they find her baby barrier … empty except for blood.

What did you think of the midseason finale of “The Walking Dead”? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

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