How It's Gotta Be

In the wake of Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Tara's (Alanna Masterson) attack on the Sanctuary that unintentionally allowed the Saviors to escape, Savior lookouts open fire on Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) and the Scavengers; Rick is abandoned. Suddenly, Rick is rescued by Carol (Melissa McBride) and Jerry (Cooper Andrews); the three decide to split up to warn the allied communities. With the Sanctuary now back under their full control, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and the Saviors launch a counterattack against the Militia. Inside the Sanctuary, Eugene (Josh McDermitt) helps the ill Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) and Dr. Harlan Carson (R. Keith Harris) escape to the Hilltop Colony, though Eugene fears Gabriel may not make it. At Alexandria, Carl (Chandler Riggs) sits alone in a room in contemplation and writes a letter to his father.

Elsewhere, Aaron (Ross Marquand) and Enid (Katelyn Nacon) decide to try to make up with the Oceanside community, whose guns they took to fight the Saviors, by bringing them a truck full of alcohol from a nearby brewery. Waiting outside the community at night, Aaron is attacked, but Enid shoots his attacker, which turns out to be Natania (Deborah May), the leader of Oceanside. The two are then surrounded by other Oceanside members; Cyndie (Sydney Park) mourns her grandmother.

Meanwhile, Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Jesus (Tom Payne), and a large convoy of Hilltop residents head presumably towards the Sanctuary to meet up with the Alexandrians in the hopes that the Saviors will surrender. However, a group of Saviors overtake the convoy, revealing that they have captured Jerry en route to the Hilltop; Simon (Steven Ogg) appears and approaches Maggie's car. Simon then orders Maggie to give up her convoy's firearms to the Saviors or else Jerry and everyone else will be shot; Maggie agrees. Before the convoy can head back to the Hilltop, Simon shoots and kills one of the people inside Maggie's car as punishment. Upon returning to the Hilltop, Maggie executes one of the Savior prisoners—Dean (Adam Fristoe)—in retribution and orders the Hilltop to be fortified.

At the Kingdom, Gavin (Jayson Warner Smith) and a force of well over a dozen Saviors have gathered up the citizens for an announcement. Gavin proclaims that the Kingdom and whatever they produce are now property of the Saviors, all able-bodied residents will be taken to the Sanctuary to see to its repair and refurbishment, and announces that his men will make the Kingdom their home due to the destruction of their former residence. Ezekiel (Khary Payton), who had sneaked away, creates a distraction that allows the residents to escape into the nearby woods. Carol encounters the residents and finds Ezekiel, who locks himself in the Kingdom to face the Saviors alone; Morgan (Lennie James) observes this from a distance.

Back at Alexandria, Carl prepares to deliver more food to Siddiq (Avi Nash), but is unexpectedly interrupted by Negan, who orders the community to surrender over a loudspeaker outside the walls. Prepared to torch Alexandria to the ground, Negan is interrupted by Carl, who appears over Alexandria's walls. Carl tries to talk sense into Negan, offering and willing to give up his life. However, this is a distraction to allow all of the Alexandria residents escape into the sewers. Acting as a decoy, Daryl, Michonne (Danai Gurira), Tara, and Rosita (Christian Serratos) drive and smash trucks in the walls at the back of the safe-zone and through a roadblock of Savior vehicles, purposely arranged ineffectively by Dwight (Austin Amelio); a chase ensues.

Infuriated by Carl's ruse, Negan orders his men to launch grenade launchers into Alexandria; several buildings and houses are razed. Negan's troops smash their way through the front gate and pour into the community while Carl provides cover through smoke bombs before he escapes to the sewers. Concurrently, the pursuing Savior group is led into an ambush set by Daryl's convoy; Dwight begins to kill several Saviors. However, Laura (Lindsley Register), a high-ranking Savior, catches Dwight in the act of betrayal and shoots him in the arm, and then escapes. In the aftermath of the firefight, Dwight joins Daryl and company, who then descend into the sewers as Alexandria burns; Michonne remains above ground. Amidst the bombardment, Rick eventually arrives and sees the town in flames; he rushes to his house to look for Michonne, Carl and Judith, only to find Negan awaiting his arrival. The two brawl, but Rick, severely injured, manages to escape and meets with Michonne; the couple descend into the sewers. Joining the surviving Alexandrians, they find Carl looking sweaty and tired; Carl lifts his shirt, showing them a walker bite on his abdomen. Devastated and stunned, Rick and Michonne comfort Carl as they take in the horror of what must come next.

"How It's Gotta Be" features the revelation that the character of Carl Grimes was apparently bitten by a walker in the sixth episode, "The King, the Widow, and Rick". Showrunner Scott M. Gimple explained that Carl's bite is "a one-way ticket". He alluded to the show's next episode, following the mid-season break, that the bite is "very important to Carl's story and the entire story what happens in the next episode".[1] Carl's pending death deviates significantly from the comic book series, as, at the time of airing, both Carl and Rick were still alive in the comic's published arc, with Carl having a critical role in the Whisperers arc that follows the "All Out War" narrative. Carl's pending death is considered the largest deviation that the television series has made from the comics to date.[2][3] Chandler Riggs, who portrays Carl, explained that the decision to kill Carl off was not due his own personal life (at the time, he was taking a year off before entering college) but a choice made by the showrunners to account for a gap in the comic's story. In the comic's "All Out War" story arc, the war ends with Rick slashing Negan's throat, but then time jumps two years forward to show that Rick had kept Negan alive, although in prison. Riggs said that Gimple felt they needed to make Carl appear as a humanitarian figure in death as to give something for Rick to aspire towards, as to overcome this characterization gap in the comics.[3] Riggs himself only learned of the character's death during the filming of the sixth episode of the season.[3][4]

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