(CNN) The following contains spoilers about the "The Walking Dead" midseason finale.

"The Walking Dead" has described this season as "All Out War," but it has often felt immersed in tactics, as if several episodes were simply setting up pieces on a chessboard. The midseason finale was largely guilty of the same right up until the last minute, which planted the seeds for the death of a major character.

The final sequence featured Rick (Andrew Lincoln) coming upon his son Carl (Chandler Riggs), who reveals that he had suffered a bite from one of the "walkers" -- a wound that's invariably fatal. Lest there be any doubt, on companion show "The Talking Dead" showrunner Scott M. Gimple -- who has been coy about such matters at times -- confirmed that the character had been bitten, and that it would play out as zombie bites had in the past.

Riggs is one of the few remaining original characters, and has virtually grown up on the AMC series. Yet leaving his actual death until the show returns after its customary winter break -- it's slated to return in February -- feels like another ploy to lure viewers back, if a less irritating one than some of the previous cliffhangers. (Although he's been accepted to college, Riggs told The Hollywood Reporter that leaving the show "wasn't my decision," but rather is intended to serve to the larger story.)

Until those closing moments, the episode might as well have been subtitled "The Saviors Strike Back," as the brutal forces under the leadership of Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) outflanked Rick's allies on multiple fronts.

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