'Walking Dead' Spoils Its Own Cliffhanger

This week's episode of The Walking Dead set up a minor cliffhanger, but fans don't have to wait until next week to find out how it turns out. They just have to check out the promotional photos released this week by AMC. If the series' producers wanted to generate suspense leading up to the next episode, the network took the air out of their plans.

At the end of last week's episode, Sasha charged into the Saviors' compound, ready to take on the whole facility by herself. It seemed like a suicide mission, and the way the episode ended, we were apparently meant to doubt whether she'd survive the attack.

But then AMC released photos of Sasha in what appears to be a cell. The pics suggest that Sasha did, indeed, survive her unwise assault but ended up being captured by the Saviors. That's a bad situation, but at least we know she's still alive, at least for awhile.

In the end, it's probably better that AMC decided to defuse the cliffhanger suspense. TWD has gotten itself into hot water with fans frequently by dangling cliffhangers in front of them only to backpedal on the tension once the cliffhanger is resolved. If fans had spent a week nervously wondering is Sasha was dead, only to find out that, nope, she's fine, just like always, they'd likely have been irritated.

And TWD can't afford to irritate any more fans. Ratings for the series have dropped this season to levels not seen since season 3 back in 2012, and the producers should be doing everything in its power not to alienate the core fans who are still hanging around.