I feel like this show started off slow then became more enjoyable once the main characters went from surviving due to luck to surviving due to skill.
Watching characters stumble around and get lucky gets boring, but watching characters efficiently dispatch zombies and enemies is fun. So while I don't enjoy seeing Rick and the survivor's get owned like they did by the Saviors, I don't mind a new big challenge arising for them to deal with.
So what now, Rick and his crew become slaves? And then they try an uprising and all die?
I think next season will start out as them going back to Alexandria then giving half of their stuff to the Saviors. While they seem to be compliant, I think they will align themselves with the dudes with body armor and eventually either escape the Saviors or defeat them.
As to who is dead, I think it will be Glenn, Daryl, Abraham or Maggie. 3 of those characters are dead by that point in the comic and Daryl never existed in the comics.