A

"A" is the sixteenth and final episode of Season 4 of AMC's The Walking Dead. It aired on March 30, 2014 at 9/8c on AMC, and will air on March 31, 2014 at 9pm on Fox.

Plot Synopsis
Rick has a flashback about Hershel and a much happier time back at the Prison. In a flashforward right afterwards, Rick is seen sitting outside by a car, his face and hands bloody and trembling.

Rick, Carl and Michonne are camping out in the woods, sitting by a fire before going to check their snare trap for animals. Carl hears a cry for help and takes off further into the woods with Rick and Michonne giving chase. They find a man struggling to fend off a herd of walkers. Carl raises his gun, but Rick stops, seeing as they are outnumbered and it's too late for the man as the walkers cave in, devouring him. A few walkers notice them as they escape. Rick, Carl and Michonne then pass a railway crossing and fight a few walkers in the way before continuing their retreat. The group eventually finds a car and camp for the night.

Rick and Michonne are talking with Carl in the car. All of a sudden, Joe and his group ambush Rick, Michonne. Meanwhile, Carl is ambushed by Dan at the car. Tony recognizes Rick and the group realizes he killed Lou. After a tense countdown, Daryl appears and tries to put an end to the scene. Daryl says that they are good people but Joe responds by telling Daryl that Rick killed their friend. Joe calls Daryl a liar and calls for the group to beat him. Joe informs Rick that they are going to rape Carl, then Michonne, then beat Daryl to death, and then finally kill Rick.

While Dan tries to rape Carl, Rick heatbutts Joe, who was pointing the gun on him. Joe fires on reflex (and misses). Rick manages to punch Joe but Joe counters with his own punch knocking Rick to the ground. As Rick gets up, Joe locks Rick in place by grabbing Rick, pinning his arms and holding him still. Joe then asks, "what the hell you gonna do now, sport?" Rick answers by biting his neck open, eventually killing him. Everyone pauses in shock and look over to Rick. Michonne and Daryl take advantage of the situation to kill the remaining group members minus Dan. Dan holding Carl tells them to stay back or he'll kill Carl. Rick, with his face splattered in blood, marches over to Dan and says, "he's mine." Dan releases Carl and tries to run away in terror but is stabbed to death by Rick, while Carl watches in Michonne's embrace.

Catching up with the flashforward, Daryl hands Rick a rag and washes it in water for Rick to clean himself up with as the four of them head towards Terminus. They decide to split up and sneak inside, just in case Terminus isn't a sanctuary as believe. Carl and Michonne head off together, where they have a bonding moment, with Carl saying that Rick is proud of him, but feels that because of the thoughts in his head, he doesn't deserve it and he's just a "little monster". The four sneak inside of the fence, into a room where a bunch of people are, including Gareth, Alex and a woman repeating the "sanctuary for all" line into a PA system. Gareth has them put down their weapons and frisks them, welcoming them to Terminus and warning them not to try anything stupid as Alex shows them around.

While meeting Mary and being offered food, Rick takes notice of items in the Terminus survivor's possession such as Glenn's riot gear, Daryl's poncho that Maggie was wearing, Bob's khaki cargo pants, the Hitchhiker's orange backpack (that Glenn took from the Prison) and Hershel's pocketwatch. Realizing something is up, he takes Alex at gunpoint, demanding to know where their people are and why their group has the pocketwatch, riot gear and poncho.

After Mary shoots and kills Alex, a shootout ensues with Rick, Michonne, Carl and Daryl fleeing. They make it to the back entrance of Terminus, but are outnumbered as Terminus residents line up the fences, guns aimed at them. Gareth orders the four of them to lower their weapons. After this, Gareth calls them by specific codenames to walk towards the boxcar: Rick (Ringleader), Daryl (Archer), Michonne (Samurai) and Carl (Kid) in that order. Inside, they find Bob, Maggie, Sasha, Glenn, Tara, Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene. Abraham remarks that they won't be there for long, which Rick remarks no and says that the Terminus group is stupid. Abraham asks why Rick thinks they are stupid and Rick responds with the final line of the season: "They're gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out...they're screwing with the wrong people."

Co-Stars

 * Keith Brooks as Dan.
 * JD Evermore as Harley.
 * Davi Jay as Tony.
 * Eric Mendenhall as Billy.
 * Irene Ziegler as Broadcasting Woman.

Uncredited

 * Darien Johnson as Walker.
 * Unknown as Judith Grimes

Deaths

 * Unnamed Man
 * Joe
 * Tony
 * Dan
 * Harley
 * Billy
 * Alex

Trivia

 * First appearance of Gareth.
 * First appearance of Albert.
 * First (and last) appearance of Alex.
 * Last appearance of Joe.
 * Last appearance of Tony.
 * Last appearance of Harley.
 * Last appearance of Billy.
 * Last appearance of Dan.
 * Last appearance of Hershel Greene. (Flashback).
 * Last appearance of Patrick. (Flashback).
 * Last appearance of Henry. (Flashback).
 * Last appearance of Chloe. (Flashback).
 * Last appearance of Zach. (Flashback).
 * This is the first episode of the second half of season 4 where all of the credited main cast appear.
 * Scott Wilson (Hershel Greene) is listed in the opening sequence for the first time since "After." He returned to the set to film.
 * This is the first time that a main cast member has been removed from the opening credits and re-added in the same season.
 * When Carl attempts to save the unnamed man from getting eaten alive was almost identical to a scene taken from Issue 51 of the comics.
 * One exception is that it was just Rick and Carl witnessed it, while Michonne also witnessed it in the episode.
 * The scene where Rick, Daryl, Michonne and Carl fight off Joe's gang was very similar to the fight against The Marauders in Issue 57 of the Comic series.
 * One difference is that there were five members in Joe's group, while there were only three marauders in the comics.
 * Another difference is that it was Rick, Carl, and Abraham that fought off the marauders in the comic series, while in this episode it was Rick, Carl, Michonne, and Daryl.
 * Rick and Daryl also talk about the events of the previous night after Joe's gang is killed, similar to Rick and Abraham's conversation in Issue 57
 * This episode has the shortest title in the series, simply being the letter "A".
 * The letter "A" is seen everywhere in Terminus, and is painted along doorways and on canisters found throughout the location.
 * The ringing in Rick's ear and his zoning out after forcing Joe to fire his gun near Rick's ear is similar to him doing the same thing in "Days Gone Bye" after shooting a walker in the tank at close range.
 * The group is officially reunited as of this episode with the exception of Tyreese, Carol, Beth and Judith.
 * They all only appear via flashback in this episode.
 * This is the second season finale with a cliffhanger ending, the other being Season 2.
 * The scene where Rick teaches Carl about the rabbit snare shares similarities to Terminus. Rick explains that the snare is set among a frequently used path (Railroad Tracks) and when the rabbit follows the path (the shoot out that forced Rick's group through a certain path through Terminus), then the snare captures the rabbit (The Box Car).