Warning: The following contains major spoilers from The Walking Dead season seven finale. If you haven't watched yet, you may want to bookmark this page and return once you have. Proceed with caution.
War! What is it good for?
For a minute there, it sure looked like Rick Grimes' answer to that questions was going to be: Not a damn thing.
As The Walking Dead season seven finale proved, there are very few plans that our foolhardy hero puts together that ever go according to, well, plan. The weirdo trash people led by that creep Jadis had turned on Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and the gang in a very big way, making a better deal with Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Michonne (Danai Gurira) was being beat to death on a balcony, Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) had sacrificed herself and Carl (Chandler Riggs) was seconds away from having a very unfortunate run-in with Lucille.
And then the tiger pounced.
In what may be one of the most triumphant moments our poor heroes have had in, well, ever, King Ezekiel (Khary Payton), Carol (Melissa McBride) and the Kingdommers arrived, Shiva in tow, to save the day and share the s--t out of Negan. (Minor quibble: How did Shiva know which humans to eat and which to spare? We'd love to learn how Ezekiel trained her for that particular skill.) They were closely followed by Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Jesus (Tom Payne) and the rest of the Hilltop crew, proving that our heroes just might have a chance to defeat Negan after all.
And what do you know? The big bad boss of the Sanctuary ran home with his tail between his legs. Sure, he was declaring war once he got there, but he was shook.
Kudos to the producers for seeming to learn their lesson after last season's controversial finale cliffhanger. Closing out the season with the image of Ezekiel, Rick and Maggie sharing the stage, addressing their new coalition was enough of a thrill to hold us over until October. War may be here, but for once, it seems like it might not end in total tragedy.
Before we go, let's pour one out for Sasha. We knew her days were numbered with Sonequa Martin-Green nabbed the lead role in CBS All Access' new Star Trek series, and she got to go out in high fashion. Seriously, has there been a cooler reveal in recent Walking Dead history than Negan, pompous as hell, opening up that coffin, only to be attacked by Walker Sasha? And her death let Michael Cudlitz return to the show for a surprise visit, as she relived her final conversation with Abraham as she faded away. And just when we'd written off Eugene (Josh McDermitt) as a total traitor, it looks like there may be hope the goof could be of some assistance to sleeper agent Dwight (Austin Amelio) down the road.
And with that, another season of The Walking Dead is behind us. After the complete misery the first half put us through, did the second half help redeem the show at all? We're still debating where we land on that one, but the sight of the Alexandria-Kingdom-Hilltop coalition finally in action has us hopeful for next season, at least.
Now it's your turn: What did you think about the finale? Sound off in the comments below!
The Walking Dead returns for season eight in October on AMC.