The Walking Dead: Is Ron Going To Shoot Carl?

Stuff and things are heating up on The Walking Dead. Be warned, spoilers follow for tonight's "Heads Up" (607) episode of The Walking Dead.

Remember a few months ago when Rick executed Pete Anderson in front of the whole town? Well, his son certainly does.

Rick has been naive enough to give Ron a gun, wrongly assuming that the clumsy Olivia could actually keep guard of the armory. Ron not only has a gun because of this but also bullets. And he's been trained.

It seems as if Ron's target isn't so much his father's murderer but instead, the son of his father's slayer, Carl. He stalked him down the street with the intention of drawing his gun but didn't actually make the move.

Fans of The Walking Dead comics know that Carl is due for a bit of facelift. All of the elements are in place for it to happen, too. Rick has hooked up with Jessie. Carl has his hat on. The walls have now fallen. The TV show is all set to follow its comic book roots in the midseason finale with one alteration - rather than Douglas Monroe shooting Carl, it will be Ron.

Let's run through the theory.

In the comics, Rick, Jessie, and some others cover themselves in zombie guts in an effort to escape the herd which has overrun Alexandria. Jessie's son, however, gets scared and makes a noise, ultimately attracting a group of walkers to devour him. Jessie tries to save him against Rick's advice and finds herself getting eaten, as well. In an effort to pull herself from the awful demise, she latches on to Carl's hand but is pulling him into danger more than she is pulling herself out. Rick quickly cuts her hand off, leaving her behind and freeing Carl. Shortly thereafter, Douglas Monroe goes down in a blaze of randomly aimed fire as he is swarmed to death but one of his bullets strikes Carl in the eye.

If it goes down like that in TV Alexandria, Sam will probably be the one to be eaten first and when Jessie tries to save him, Rick will make his choice to leave her behind and save his son. If Ron sees this, that will be the last straw. Surely, he'll open fire on the Grimes family and replace Douglas Monroe's role from the comics, which on TV, would've been passed on to Deanna. Has she ever even been seen holding a gun on television?

I think we've found our midseason cliffhanger.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 PM ET on AMC.