In the wake of Daryl's attack on the Sanctuary, Negan again appeals to Eugene to help; Eugene suggests using their remaining ammunition to clear the walkers, promising to make more afterwards. The walkers are cleared and Negan begins to plot revenge towards Rick's allies at Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom. Rick is abandoned by Jadis and her Scavengers when they discover the aftermath of Daryl's attack and are fired on by Savior soldiers. Rick is rescued by Carol and Jerry. The three decide to split up to warn the allied communities. Meanwhile, Eugene helps the ill Gabriel and Dr. Harlan Carson escape towards the Hilltop, though Eugene fears Gabriel may not make it. Aaron and Enid decide to try to make up to 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 and Enid shoots his attacker, which turns out to be Natania, the leader of Oceanside. The two are surrounded by other Oceanside members, and Natania's granddaughter Cyndie mourns her loss. Simon and one group of Saviors capture Jerry en route to the Hilltop, and use him as a hostage to coerce Maggie and Jesus to turn a convoy of Hilltop soldiers around and return to Hilltop. Simon kills Neil as punishment after Maggie agrees. On return to the Hilltop, Maggie executes one of the Savior prisoners, Dean, in retribution, and orders the Hilltop to be fortified. Elsewhere, Gavin leads the Saviors to round up all the residents of the Kingdom, informing them they will be helping to rebuild Sanctuary while the Saviors will be living in the Kingdom until that is completed. Ezekiel, who had sneaked away, creates a distraction that allows the Kingdom residents to escape into the nearby woods. Carol encounters them, and tries to help Ezekiel, but he locks her out of the Kingdom to face the Saviors alone. Morgan observes this from a distance. Inside Alexandria, Carl writes a note to his father. He later prepares to take more food to Siddiq when suddenly Negan and many other Saviors seize Alexandria's front gate and assert Alexandria is now theirs. Carl talks to Negan over Alexandria's walls, offering his own life in exchange; however, this is a distraction to allow all the Alexandria residents to escape into the sewers, and to give time for Daryl, Michonne, Rosita, and Tara to form a small convoy to burst out of the community's back gates and through a roadblock of Savior vehicles, purposely arranged ineffectively by Dwight. The Saviors give chase, but this leads into an ambush set by Daryl. Dwight kills several Saviors in front of Laura, and she escapes to warn Negan of his treachery. Dwight joins Daryl and the others as they head to the sewers, though Michonne stays on the surface to look for Carl. Meanwhile, Negan and his Saviors launch fire bombs into community, destroying several buildings, and break open the front gate and pour into the community, while Carl provides cover through smoke bombs before he escapes to the sewer. Rick eventually arrives, and rushes to his house to look for Michonne, Carl, and Judith, only to find Negan waiting there. They get into a fight, but Rick, severely injured, manages to escape and meets with Michonne. She takes him to the sewer to find all the others waiting there. They find Carl there, who reveals an apparent walker bite on his abdomen. Devastated and stunned, Rick and Michonne comfort Carl as they take in the horror of what must come next.
Development
"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 said that of Carl's bite, it 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". 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. Chandler Riggs, who portrays Carl, explained that the decision to kill Carl off was not due his own personal life 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. Riggs himself only learned of the character's death during the filming of the sixth episode of the season.
Reception
Critical reception
"How It's Gotta Be" received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 63% with an average rating of 6.07 out of 10, based on 24 reviews.
Ratings
The mid-season finale drew a total viewership of 7.89 million with a 3.4 rating in adults aged 18–49. Compared to previous seasons, this was the lowest viewership for a mid-season finale since the season two episode "Pretty Much Dead Already", which drew a total audience of 6.62 million viewers.
