After another big season, Walking Dead fans are left to wonder all summer about what will happen to their favorite characters. The show introduced multiple new characters this season, but only four are left. This season was all about finding a stable place to stay.

The season started off with our main characters welcoming everyone who came to the prison from Waterbury. Rick stepped back from his usual role as leader, as a new prison council of Glenn, Daryl, Carol and Herschel was  made. The group farmed vegetables and made new relationships with each other.

The group experienced an outbreak of illness during the first few episodes, and one of their doctors, along with multiple group members, died. There was also an influx of walkers who was discovered inside the prison, which caused loss of lives and ammunition.

The biggest thing to happen during the first half of Season 4 was the resurgence of The Governor. He came back, got along with a band of survivors, and convinced them to attack the prison with tanks and big guns. They also executed Herschel publicly, and tore down the outer walls of the prison, allowing walkers to take over the previously safe area. Rick and The Governor had a huge fight, and The Governor almost suffocated Rick. Michonne stepped in, though, and stabbed The Governor, leaving him to be eaten by walkers. The first half of the season ended with the group being split up.

The second half of the season was mostly about the group fending for themselves. Glenn meets a group who is headed to Washington, D.C., and stays with them in hopes to find Maggie, his “wife”. Rick runs into a group of belligerents, who take the house that he and Carl are staying in. He strangled one of their group members before running to get Carl and Michonne.

Daryl and Beth found a funeral home to live in. The house was very clean and well stocked, seemingly untouched by the zombie apocalypse. Walkers got into the house, and while Daryl went to kill them, Beth was kidnapped.

All of the separate groups kept finding signs for Terminus, a safe zone for anyone. In the penultimate episode, Glenn’s group finally meets up at Terminus with Maggie and her group, and they are welcomed by one sole resident, Mary. When Rick’s group runs into the belligerent group that took his house, Rick realizes that they have Daryl. The leader of Daryl’s group wants to kill Rick for what he did to them. Daryl steps up to protect Rick, but the leader tells his other men to kill Daryl. One of the belligerents gets his hand on Carl, which turns Rick into an angry warrior.

Rick headbutts the leader of the belligerents, and then bites his neck, ripping his throat out and leaving him to die. He then repeatedly stabs Carl’s attacker. Daryl gets out alive, and he, Rick, Carl and Michonne head for Terminus. They find Terminus, but decide to sneak in the back way. They later meet Gareth and Alex, members of the gated community, who offer the group food. They willingly accept, but when Rick sees some others in Terminus wearing some of Glenn and Maggie’s clothes, Gareth tries to kill Rick. He shoots Alex, resulting in a shootout.

Rick, Daryl, Michonne and Carl attempt to run, but Gareth finds them and instructs them to go into a railcar marked “A”, where they meet up with Maggie, Glenn, Bob, Sasha, and their three new partners, Abraham, Eugene and Rosita. As the most of the main group is finally back together in a small space, Rick is angry to find that they’ve been caught by another psychopath. Rick ends season 4 with an iconic line: “They’re going to feel pretty stupid when they find out that they’re screwing with the wrong people.”

The season ends on a cliffhanger, and leaves fans to wonder what will happen come next fall. Robert Kirkman, executive producer of the show and writer of The Walking Dead comic books, had this to say about next season:” We’re going to be dealing with Terminus in a big way as soon as we come back. We’re also going to be dealing with a more capable and prepared Rick Grimes coming out of what he’s experienced in this episode. He’s going to go into another really awesome direction.”

Brandon West, a senior at Elder, is an avid fan of the show. He loved season four. “It basically developed character by the illness in the prison and how people handled that. It also dealt with how everything isn’t as safe as it seems. If you have something good, there’s always someone who wants to take it from you, and they will do that at any cost. The bonds of friendship are stronger than individual needs. It showed a new side of every individual character and gave them a deeper meaning,” he said.

This season was somewhat boring for me. Most of the episodes from this season didn’t really have a lot of action, but strengthened relationships in the group. Usually while watching the show, I have no idea what’s going to happen next. During this season, I could tell what was going to happen. The only episodes that shocked me were “Too Far Gone”(mid-season finale), “The Grove”, and “A”(the finale). Nevertheless, it was a great season, and I can’t wait for another one this fall.