I enjoyed that I was proven wrong and that the show has moved away from being predictable by clinging onto the tropes of the zombie subgenre. I expected a huge firefight that would result in the deaths of Beth, Carol, and maybe Hershel, with the Governor and Rick pulverizing each other into hamburger meat. I think a lot of people were expecting that too, but you knew it was not going to play out like that when you saw Martinez blowing up the guard towers with that grenade launcher.

I really do feel bad for Carl though, he finally sheds what remains of his humanity only to have everyone else in the group regain theirs. I can definitely see Rick's absence during the direct aftermath of Laurie's death playing a larger factor in the degradation of Carl's humanity next season.

I do think there's going to be some kind of schism next season though, with the group splitting up with Glenn leading one group and Rick leading another. Not necessarily in the same power struggle kind of way that Rick and Shane had, but there are definitely going to be conflicting opinions as the group gets use to having all these new people from Woodbury around.