The Walking Dead Season 4 Finale: 8 Ways It Can Avoid Sucking

3. Bring All The Characters Back Together

This is not necessarily a requirement per se, but it is one thing that would make a taut, effective finale much easier to achieve. The rules of drama state that when characters are brought together, their dramatic goals conflict or complement each other, breeding untold amounts of drama and tension €“ not to mention huge opportunities for catharsis in both reunion and despair. The penultimate episode did a bang-up job of bringing most of the cast back together, but there are a number of outliers who need to be accounted for €“ Daryl, Rick, Carl, Michonne, especially. One wonders if the plot with the rednecks tracking down Rick will intersect with the Terminus cast, or if they will just remain apart. We hope for the former, for it makes things simpler and more climactic. If Rick doesn't have a bigger role to play in the next episode, he may effectively loose his defacto role as the series protagonist.