‘The Walking Dead’ — Season 4 Finale Predictions

While we wait — DAYS — to view the finale, it’s fun to speculate on what’s to come for our dear friends and foes on “The Walking Dead.”  I started this conversation on Facebook earlier this week, but I just wanted to expand upon it a little here.  Here we go.

Warning — POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

1. What happened to Beth?

So… Beth was taken by a dark car with a cross on the back window, correct?  Creepy. The whole funeral home business was a big trap.  It has to be.  Anything that appears to be too perfect usually is. A whole cabinet full of food?  With pigs feet and peanut butter?  It’s basically customized for Daryl and Beth. They chow.  They get comfortable.  They have a moment of peace.  And then the sad, one-eyed dog arrives.  Tricking them into thinking it’s walkers (or worse) at first. But the second time, it’s a trick and all hell breaks loose. Chaos ensues. Daryl nearly gets killed and loses Beth.

Speaking of Beth…  In the WD comic, after the group flees the prison, some characters encounter a group of cannibal hunters.  It’s a quick sub-plot, but it’s fascinating and actually comes to a semi-gratifying end.  You see, in the comic Dale — not Hershel — loses a leg to a zombie bite.  He later gets into a small battle with a group of walkers and is bitten on the shoulder.  Before he can die, this aforementioned group of cannibals kidnap him.  Dale wakes up to discover his other leg has been devoured by said cannibal hunters.  While the hunters are ultimately killed by Rick & Co., Dales gets the last laugh because he gets to tell his killers that they are eating infected flesh.  Kind of fun, right? Anyway, I have a hunch that Beth’s kidnapping involves a similar group of cannibals. Normal non-people-eating survivors would not — could not — spare that cabinet of good food (again — PEANUT BUTTER!), but people-eating people could.

I also have to add that I think Beth will be the finale’s casualty (at least one of them).  She’s pretty expendable.  We saw her grow a little this season.  First, acting as Judith’s babysitter.  We also witnessed her toughened, “shit happens” reaction to the death of her boyfriend.  She saw her father murdered.  She lost her sister.  She bonded with Daryl over moonshine and moony glances (ew).  I believe that her purpose this last half of the season has been to nurture Daryl.  She drew out who he was before the world ended and let him know that it’s okay to let go of it all and just be who he has become.

2. Terminus

Again, anything too perfect cannot be true.  Maggie, Glenn, Abraham, etc., finally make it to Terminus (‘End of the Line’).  The gate is unlocked (weird, right?), but all appears to be serene.  Flowers are a good sign, too.  Well, unless you’re Lizzy. After another (unlocked) gate and a couple of turns, they are greeted by a woman, Mary (Denise Crosby, Pet Sematary) cooking on a massive grill.  She is welcoming and is about to make them a plate.

At first, I thought maybe Terminus could be a good place — the Alexandria Safe-Zone in the comic, maybe?  But after hearing that most of Season 5 will involve the trek to DC, it’s clear that Terminus is a temporary situation.  So, this either means something big goes down here and it’s all destroyed — OR Terminus itself is the issue.  Because of its apparent short-lived future on the show, I can totally buy that THIS is the cannibal community.  The welcoming nature of Mary (and the road signs), plus the focus on grilling food right off the bat is almost too obvious a clue… is it?  Is Beth what’s cooking on the grill?!

Need more on Terminus and Mary?  Read this.  It’s kind of awesome.

3. Rick, Michonne & Carl

Here’s what worries me/excites me.  The finale’s TV spot, shows a bloody, disturbed looking Rick.  Now, I love Rick.  I just do. He’s awesome in the comic — and Andrew Lincoln plays him well.  I most like Rick when he has his shit together and can kick some ass.  Obviously.  Seeing a messed up Rick concerns me.  With that said, I have a theory as to why we see a messed up Rick.  There is a point in the comic — after leaving the prison — where Rick’s group (which includes Carl and Abraham) gets attacked by three bad dudes.  One of the bad guys attempts to rape Carl.  Rick rightfully goes psycho and kills two of the men.  By biting the throat out of one and mutilating the other. Now, I don’t think they will show an attempted child rape on TV, but I think Michonne might end up being the intended victim here.

Theory: Michonne will almost get raped (or she may actually get raped — in the comic, the Governor did this to her) and Rick will go psycho crazy and kill the bad guys.  I also think this will tie into the group of marauders that Daryl’s hanging with these days.  They’ve already proven themselves to be a ruthless and seedy group of men.  They made lewd comments about the ‘girl’ when they found Michonne’s shirt at the house.  And now we know they are after Rick for already killing a member of their group.  Also, WD creator Robert Kirkman has recently stated (via Entertainment Weekly) the following:

This last half of season 4 has been a character defining group of stories for everyone, but really, Rick Grimes — really finding what this guy is going to be able to do and how he is going to carry on, and is he going to get these people back together, and where is he going to go from here? And I think there are some big questions that are asked that are going to be answered in this final episode…. This is Rick Grimes being pushed to his absolute limit. And if you think you’ve seen that before, you haven’t. And the Rick Grimes that comes out of this is really going to shock people.

And what’s more shocking than seeing our compromise-loving Rick brutally — and literally — tear apart a group of men who are set to hurt his own post-apocalyptic family?  I kind of want to see that Rick.  A no-nonsense Rick proving that he has what it takes to be the leader he needs to be.  It’s not all about diplomatic talk with Rick.  He can — and will — do anything to protect those he loves.  Fundamentally, he is a good person; but he can be a killer when needed.

And there you have it.  A long-winded look at my personal predictions for the Season 4 finale. Share, comment, argue!