This season’s finale left a lot of characters with blood on their hands and holes in their hearts.

Carl’s gunshot attracted a large group of zombies who killed Patricia, Dale, and Jimmy. While others would say that the deaths of the three teammates is Shane’s fault, Carl is left with a guilty conscience.

Hershell realized that he could no longer continue to live his pastoral life and fleed from the plague.

Robert Kirkman is a writer for The Walking Dead and shared many decisions around the finale. The goal for the finale was to pack it with action sequences while maintaining the series’ dark and traumatic edge. But they still wanted it to be fun for the viewers to watch, “Hey, isn’t this kind of fun? Guys are riding around in cars, on motorcycles, shooting guns and fighting zombies.” We wanted to have kind of a cleanse-the-palette beat at the beginning of the finale. But we were very mindful of how much we were packing in.”

Viewers are intrigued by the amount of danger that they sense within the series and have become accustomed to their favorite characters getting killed off. The Walking Dead has also been breaking patterns that we have seen in other horror movies. A perfect example of this would be when Glenn told Maggie he loved her. After touching moments such as this one, viewers expect that one of the lovers will become zombie chow, and when this didn’t happen, the audience was pleasantly surprised.

While some loves grew stronger this season, others became more complicated. Lori was livid when she learned that her husband killed her former-lover Shane. Considering all the hatred that Lori has displayed for Rick’s former partner, viewers were left feeling confused about where she stands and what her true motivations are. Did she get a little too used to having two men vie for her attentions? Is she too self-absorbed? Was her connection to Shane just a matter of increased security and protection?

Carl also began to cry over losing Shane considering he was a second father to him. How do you think this will change his relationship with his father in the third season?

In times of war the psychology of women, especially mothers and wives can become extraordinarily complex. The same goes for fathers and husbands and Rick is a shining example of what war can do. Where he was once a loving and doting husband, he is now a murderer enduring constant physical and emotional stress. This is most evident when he proclaims that the group is no longer living in a democracy.

Rick’s decision to kill Shane is sure to change the dynamics that he has with his wife, son, and remaining group.

The most disturbing discovery in the finale was that Randall turned into a zombie without ever being bitten. Was the man they met at the CDC right? Is everyone already contaminated?

The show will be back with another 16 episode season in the fall.