Spoilers for last night’s finale. Veiled potential spoilers for future episodes.
Last night was the finale of season two of The Walking Dead, and it was awesome. We got to see plenty of zombie killin’, people in peril, and chase scenes. I’m an avid follower of the comic series, and there were some excellent references to the comics. At one point, when a new character was introduced to swoop in and save Andrea, I actually gasped out loud. I knew that Michonne was coming, but they really did her justice in this first scene. What’s more is that there was an incredible reference at the end of the show to the place where our merry band of survivors is about to end up. I won’t give anything more away, but I’m getting really excited for next season. Let’s hope they keep up the drama and don’t let it drag as much as it did this year.

Well a bunch of people from Hershel’s farm were killed this episode, and they were people we didn’t really care about that much. (I’m talking about this episode, not last episode when Shane and Dale bit it. I felt like we didn’t get to know the people who got killed last night. When that dude in the RV got eaten I was like “who is that guy?” I’m surprised T-Dog made it, because they hardly developed that character.) At the end, there was an epic scene with the group where Rick admitted killing Shane out of self defense and told everyone “if you don’t like it you can leave” basically. We also got confirmation that everyone is infected with the zombie craze virus, and that they’ll all turn into zombies when they die whether or not they’re bitten.

Here’s a quick peek at things to come for this show. The really spoilery parts are in white, and you can highlight the blank spaces to get the spoilers.

Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his dwindling band of survivors made it through a zombie herd that overran Herschel’s (Scott Walker) farm, and they are left virtually out of ammo and supplies on the side of road.

For readers of creator Robert Kirkman’s comic book — which provides the basis of the hit AMC mini-series — there are a lot of hints that have been planted as to what’s to come. And probing Kirkman and executive producer Glen Mazzara for more details now that the next season has been mapped out in the writers’ room, there are plenty of teasers to sift through.

Here’s what we expect for the next 16 episodes:

* Just as the shocking deaths of Dale and Shane rattled viewers in the last few weeks, some of the characters in Rick’s band won’t see Season Four.

“No character is safe, we have examined at different [times] killing every character,” Mazzara told reporters in a conference call Friday. “No one is safe on this show.”

* Well, no one except maybe Rick…

“I’m very interested in focusing on Rick for the time being,” says Mazzara, who adds that he likes focusing on the character’s growth as a leader who has to make tough choices — like killing his best friend.

* Comic book geeks are buzzing over the introduction of two new characters – Michonne, who is briefly glimpsed saving Andrea (Laurie Holden) by slicing a zombie’s head off with a katana samurai sword, and [highlight for spoilers] the nefarious Governor.

AMC announced Monday that producers had cast “Treme” actress Danai Gurira to play Michonne, who knows how to make an entrance during her cameo, toting two armless zombies with her on chains.

British veteran David Morrissey has been tapped to play [Highlight the blank part for spoilers] The Governor, the merciless ruler of a commune in Woodbury, Ga. How did Morrissey land the part of one of the most intimidating villains in recent pop culture history?

“He had to have already killed someone prior to the audition,” Kirkman told the News recently. “The Governor is a very nuanced character, on one hand, he is a violent madman, on the other hand he is a silver tongued devil who is wooing you or and lulling you into a false sense of security and then cuts your head off, so we really wanted somebody who had tremendous range.”

[From The NY Daily News]

I would like to talk about last week’s episode a little, particularly when Carl shot zombie Shane. In the comics, Carl shoots living Shane when Shane is a threat to his dad. The Carl shooting zombie Shane plot change seemed like a bit of a cop out so as not to have a kid kill someone. Also, in the comics we got to see Dale survive for a while and go on to have a romance with Andrea. I was sad to see him killed off last episode as I liked his character and was hoping to see a Dale/Andrea romance, as ill-matched as they seem.

As the NY Daily News article mentions, there are about to be some new characters that will be game changers. The one who wasn’t introduced last night is one scary mofo, and I’ll leave it at that. Walking Dead will be returning with the third season this fall. Maybe we’ll get some solid shows without as much filler as we had to endure this season. There was a lot of down time at the ‘ol farm.