*Spoiler warning for the latest episode of The Walking Dead, titled "Some Guy," as well as for past moments in the comic book series. *
Over the years, AMC and The Walking Dead have adamantly tried to stop show spoilers from reaching the eyes and ears of the rabid fanbase, although sometimes, it's the show itself (and comic creator Robert Kirkman) that intentionally throw major death spoilers out there. That's seemingly the case with one moment from the deadly episode "Some Guy," which dropped an insanely on-the-nose reference to how Ezekiel died in the comic books. But what does that mean for the character's live-action future?
As fans will no doubt recall, Ezekiel spent part of the episode as a captive of a bespectacled Savior that shared more than a passing resemblance with Jeffrey Dahmer and Dwight Schrute. And just before Jerry showed up to save the day by chopping that evil sumbitch in half, the Savior made a very specific threat for how Ezekiel's body would be handled after his death.
Negan was hoping to have your ass chained to the sanctuary fence. You, the Widow, Rick. But your head on a pike will do just fine. Maybe break it up a little. Avoid the obvious symmetry.
Comic book fans' ears likely perked up in a big way when that was said. (I admittedly missed it when I first watched the scene.) At a point in the comics much further down the timeline than where the TV show is, Ezekiel indeed ended up with his head on the end of a pike, possibly making the dialogue above some of the weirdest foreshadowing The Walking Dead has delivered yet. This is definitely on par with the big lead-up to Glenn's death-by-Lucille, which featured not only that notorious death fakeout, but also a blatant moment where Glenn was nearly killed by another character with a baseball bat.
The timing of the line here is the most interesting point, especially when coupled with Ezekiel's battlefield injuries already having us worried he might get killed off soon. In the comics, Ezekiel survives the All Out War and was still kicking after the big time jump whenever the freaky villains The Whisperers arrived. He led a group out on a mission that got compromised, so to speak, and resulted in the Whisperer leader Alpha decapitating everyone and impaling all their heads on a line of pike in such a way that their brains were not affected, thus resulting in the most ghastly array of lawn decorations imaginable.
Even the way the Savior specifically says, "Avoid the obvious symmetry," seems to be in reference to Ezekiel's comic death. The line of snarling heads may not have been exceptionally beautiful or welcoming, but there was obvious symmetry there, since the pikes were meant to resemble a fence of sorts, keeping Team Family off of The Whisperers' claimed land. And it could have simply been a way of saying to comic fans, "We're not matching up with the comics on this one."
Since that line was purposefully written into the show, does that mean we won't actually get to see Ezekiel's disembodied head one day being used as a cautionary tale about trespassing? Or will The Walking Dead still make that happen down the road, using this line in a quick flashback moment? Can I get a theory started about how that asshole Savior was actually Alpha's son, and that she secretly watched him die, and later ends up cutting Jerry's head off in retaliation? That would be even more depressing, since Jerry should be the last survivor, but nobody would have a cooler head on a stick than Jerry, that's for damned sure.
What do you guys think The Walking Dead was up to when adding the "head on a pike" line into one of Ezekiel's big scenes? Find out where the show will take things every Sunday night on AMC at 9:00 p.m. ET. If you're needing to see all the new shows yet to premiere in 2017, head to our fall TV premiere schedule, and then hit up our cancelled show rundown to see everything that went off the air this year.
