We’re STILL kind of sad about this one. (OK, me, of the two of us at Horror Boom, I’m the Walking Dead fan, the other one got his shoulder cried on by me). I’m not sure Chris Hardwick has ever been as close to starting to weep on any episode of The Talking Dead before (and he knew it was going to happen). We also read a news item that Andrew Lincoln said the first two episodes of the second half of the season would be “really brutal”, (oh goodie, next week should be cheerful too) but we thought he we talking about violence. Not …this.

(SKIP TO AFTER THE PHOTO IF YOU HAVE NOT GOTTEN TO THE PRISON ARC IN THE COMICS YET AND PLAN TO)

One good thing: the character got a more peaceful send-off than he did in the comics. In the comics, he got Herschel’s death, but it was even uglier and seemed to take more hacks. If my recollection was correct, he was still conscious until the last hack. He wasn’t sitting there smiling serenely like Herschel’s …who also was not exactly cut down in the prime of his life, and had recently given wise life advice to the people I loved the most (and who needed it). I would prefer being painfully bitten (horrible as a couple of the bleeding-out hallucinations were), even twice, if it was followed by my friends saving me, cutting off my arm (by which time I was pretty worn out and not in pain so much as really, really worn out, carrying me (albeit not altogether smoothly), holding on to me, and then seeing a group of people I cared deeply about who had died recently smiling, comforting me, singing to me, and telling me it was okay to let go, in fact things would be better) in the minutes before I let go. So hey, that last part was peaceful.

Anyway, this is well worth a read if you are a fan of (SPOILER ALERT!)

Chad Coleman (already one of our favorite actors from The Wire), because it reminds you yes, it’s just a TV series, and also, no matter how big-hearted and cool of a guy you thought he was before, he’s even cooler (and very zen about the whole end of the character).
Click “View original” in the lower left to see the whole exclusive interview on TVline.com!