The Walking Dead’s seventh season ended with a surprising twist and the start of an all-out war. Some touching moments that flashback to the other two major characters we lost earlier in the season premiere were included in the finale as well.

Similar to how the season premiere started off, the season finale is taking the same route of switching from the past to present, centering around Sasha this time. Sasha is stuck in a casket listening to music, having dreams about Abraham from the day that he died. The audience is then swept back into a scene from earlier that day with Negan and The Saviors giving her breakfast and preparing to take her back to Alexandria.

During the episode, The Scavengers, a group introduced earlier this season that agreed to help Alexandria take down The Saviors, back-stab Rick and company, but the shocking twist had yet to come when Negan opened up Sasha’s casket to reveal that she had taken a poisonous pill, died and reanimated into a walker that proceeded to attack him.

As much as Sasha will be missed on the show, she was given an excellent closing episode. She had moments to remember her loved ones before she died and had a satisfying closure to her story. Her death very much resembled the death of her brother, Tyreese, back in season five when he had hallucinations about the people he recently lost and also had a heartbreakingly sound closure.

An all out war breaks out after Sasha’s distraction, and Alexandria fends off against The Scavengers and The Saviors. Near the end of the episode, Negan is about to kill Carl in front of Rick, similar to what he did to Glenn and Abraham in the season premiere, but he’s interrupted when some allies come to the rescue.

The Kingdom, a group commanded by King Ezekiel that was introduced in episode two of this season, and The Hilltop, a group introduced back in season six that Maggie is currently in charge of, come to aid Alexandria in the war. By the end of the fight, both of the enemy groups flee from Alexandria and give Rick and company time to recover for the upcoming war next season.

The Walking Dead proves yet again that it is not afraid to shy away from plot twists and betrayals. Many fans were angered and disappointed with the plot twist in the season premiere where Negan killed two fan favorites instead of only one, but the despite the loss of viewers the show writers are still not ready to stop with the risk taking. In fact, several of the risks they took in the finale made it one of the best episodes of the season.

Eugene is a prime example of one of these risks. In the mid-season finale of the show, Eugene was taken back to Negan’s base as a form of punishment for Rick’s group. Fans speculated that Eugene would not give in to Negan and thought he would be the one to die in the season finale, but fans were proven wrong when Eugene took a liking to the fancy treatment and tons of supplies. He even ended the episode by confirming, “I am Negan,” and repeated that phrase again to Rick during the season finale.

Besides the twist with Sasha, The Scavengers back-stabbing Rick were another one of the twists explored in the finale. This group survived the apocalypse by living in a large trash heap and made a deal with Rick’s group earlier in the season. Jadis, the leader of the group, promised they would help Rick fight Negan in return for guns and other weapons, but in the season finale, they secretly made an even better deal with The Saviors.

Season eight has several expectations, including more character development, the start of the war and the list of casualties fans will be suspecting.

Some fans are wondering how Rosita will handle the aftermath of Sasha’s death and Eugene’s betrayal during season eight. Rosita acted recklessly throughout season seven by being too determined to kill Negan. She not only caused Eugene to be taken away from the group but also was the result of Sasha storming into Negan’s base by herself.

Another topic that fans speculate about is how violent the first few episodes of season eight will be. The Walking Dead co-creator Scott Gimple mentioned on The Talking Dead that the first four episodes “will melt the audience’s brains.” Even if season eight is going to be tragic, fans are still looking forward to the action.

The season finale was probably the best episode of this season. It was full of action with thrilling effects, had a few twists that many fans never saw coming and a sentimental conclusion with Maggie stepping up as the leader.

The Walking Dead returns with season eight in October, starting off with its 100th episode.