The Walking Dead Season Finale S5E16: Conquer

The Walking Dead S5E16: Conquer

Original Airdate: March 29, 2015

Recap by Sarabeth Pollock

 

It’s the last episode of Season 5, fellow Walkers!  Who will live, and who will die tonight?

Morgan wakes up in the back of a burned out car in the woods.  He smiles when he sees the rabbit’s foot dangling from the rear-view mirror.  He makes breakfast.  Suddenly a man pops out of the woods with a gun pointed at Morgan and he sits on a rock.  Morgan asks what the W on the man’s forehead is for.  The man says that the original settlement of native people wore wolf heads until they defeated the invaders.  Morgan laughs and says that all will return to normal.  The W man laughs and says it’s nice to talk.  His group invades camps and takes over other groups.  He misses movies.  He tells Morgan to put his coffee cup down because he wants it, and he wants Morgan, too, but Morgan won’t be alive.  Morgan smiles at him and says that he won’t allow the man to take him away.  He won’t allow it.  Suddenly another man jumps out of the bushes and Morgan takes him out with a stick.  Morgan tells them to go, but they keep coming at him so he takes them out with a stick.  The gun, evidently, was empty.  Morgan puts the men in the back of the car and honks the horn.  He grabs the rabbit’s foot and takes off.

Yay, Morgan is back!!

Daryl flies down the road on his motorcycle.  Aaron follows behind him.  They stop off the road and head into the woods.

Rick wakes up.  His face has been tended to and he’s in a room on a mattress on the ground.  Michonne asks why he’s laughing.  He says that it’s like the train car, that after the whole situation he is still there.  Michonne explains that Deanna wanted him to be there.  Rosita cleaned him up, and Carl visited.  She asks him what he’s doing.  He stays silent.  She says that they have Pete in another house.  Rick says that he had to act quickly, and that he didn’t tell her about the gun because she wanted to be there.  “Well, we’re here,” he says.  Glenn and Carol arrive with Abraham.  They want to know where he got the gun.  Carol says it was stupid and wants to know why he did it.  Glenn says that Deanna is having a meeting about his fate.  Carol tells Rick to tell them a story about taking the gun to make sure Jesse was ok.  Carol says they’re children and they like stories.  Rick has a plan to take out the group if things go south at the meeting.  Glenn wants to know if Rick wanted to be there, and he confesses that he didn’t.  He tells them to leave so he can sleep.

Maggie goes to meet with Deanna to find out what is going on at the meeting.  She says that Rick was invited in with everyone else.  Deanna says that Rick had a gun and he pointed it at them, and even though Michonne stopped him, they don’t know what he would have done.  Deanna says that she will do what’s necessary.  Maggie leaves, and Reg goes after her and tells her that the cavemen were a tribe and they came together when they stopped casting people out.  He’s going to talk to Deanna and explain that to her.

Sasha patrols the wall and carries bodies away from the fence.  She has a huge grave for the bodies and she’s keeping house.  She stumbles into the grave and ends up lying down with the corpses, closing her eyes.

Daryl says that someone came through the path earlier.  Daryl wants to know about the people who had been sent away from Alexandria before.  Davidson was their leader, two men and a woman.  He brought them in and eventually had to cast them out with a day’s worth of food.  Aaron can’t make that mistake again.

Carol wakes Rick up and tells him that it’s good what happened.  She thinks that he did a good job of making a scene.  She hands him a gun and says that she didn’t tell Glenn and Michonne about the extra guns.  When Rick says he doesn’t want to lie anymore, and he doesn’t want to take the place, she shakes her head at him.  “Sunshine, you don’t get both.”

Carol has gotten really dark lately, hasn’t she?

Daryl and Aaron watch a man in a red coat as he walks through a field.

Rick goes outside and walks past three men who greet him.  He passes Deanna’s house and gives her a look.

Glenn is sitting on the porch when Maggie arrives.  Nicholas is watching them from around the corner.  She tells Glenn that she talked to Deanna and she’s going to talk to people to get them to see the truth.  Glenn tells her that he loves her, and she reassures him that they will work everything out.  Glenn looks up to see Nicholas scaling the wall.

Gabriel is off for a walk outside the walls.  He has God to protect him and he doesn’t need a gun.

Rick returns to his house and sees Carl.  Carl wants to know if this is home, and Rick says it is, but he doesn’t want Carl there because he might have to kill someone.  Carl says he has to make these people hear what Rick has to say.  He has to make them listen.

Aaron and Daryl scout the town and don’t find the man in red.  They find a group of Walkers in a fence.  Aaron says they’re fifty miles from home and there are bad people out.  Daryl says that’s all the more reason to find the good ones.  Aaron agrees but says they will need help and they’ll need food to feed the newcomers.  They kill the Walkers in the fenced-in area and approach the warehouse.  Aaron pries an Alaska license plate from a truck and says that the man in got away, but finding the cans was a good thing.  Suddenly the trucks open up and they’re full of Walkers with Ws carved into their foreheads.  Daryl and Aaron are quickly surrounded by Walkers, and they flee to a nearby car, where they are engulfed by Walkers.

Who put the Walkers in the truck!?

Daryl and Aaron are stuck in the car.  Aaron finds a note: “Trap.  Bad people are coming.  Stay away.”  Aw, crap.

There’s a knock at the door and Pete answers it.  It’s Carol.  She says that he needs to check on Tara, and he tells her to get out.  Carol pulls out a knife and says she could kill him and she could tell people he tried to hurt her.  Everyone would believe it.  “Come at me,” she taunts.  He holds his ground.  She says he has a chance.  He’s here, his wife is ok.  “You’re a small, weak nothing.”  She says that he might not have to die.  She hands him a dish of food and she tells him that she wants her dish back clean when he’s done.  She leaves, and he drops the dish and yells that it isn’t his house.

Glenn follows Nicholas into the woods.  As he’s looking around, he’s shot in the shoulder.  Nicholas runs out and looks around to see that no one followed him.

Rick goes to Jesse’s house.  He sees her black eye and she assures him that he didn’t do it.  Jesse says that people shouldn’t see them talking, but she does tell him that he was right.  Across the way, Pete watches furiously from his prison house.

The van is still surrounded and Daryl laughs to himself.  He says he came out because he felt closed up back in Alexandria and now he’s stuck in a car.  Aaron says he was trying to fit in.  Aaron had been watching Daryl and how he led the group to safety.   That’s how he knew that the group needed to come with him.  Daryl says he’s going to make a break for it and lead them away from the van.  He lights a cigarette.  Aaron says that they will fight together.  They have to.  They’re about to go when one of the Walkers is stabbed.  Aaron and Daryl jump out to find Morgan outside.  Once they’re safely on the other side of the gate, Aaron tells Morgan that they have a compound and he’d be welcome there.  They need to leave because that was a trap and the others will no doubt be on the way. Daryl asks why he saved them and Morgan says all life is precious.  Morgan says he’s on his way somewhere but he’s lost.  He hands Daryl a map—and it’s the one from the church.  Daryl sees Abraham’s message to Rick and stares at Morgan in awe.

Gabriel walks down the road, whistling.  He finds a Walker and says he’s ready….  Gabriel holds out his hands as the Walker approaches.  He decapitates the Walker with the noose around its neck and smashes its head.  He then kills the Walker on the ground nearby.  He breaks down into tears and cries on the ground.

Abraham arrives at the infirmary and Rosita says that Eugene is asleep at Tara’s bedside.  He creeps to the bed and she knocks over a pan to wake up Eugene, who looks at Abraham and says “good afternoon.”  Eugene looks at Tara and says that she saved his life.  She also got him thinking about how Eugene’s lie spurred Abraham into action and put his talent into motion.  That’s what saved them.  He thanks Abraham for saving them.  Abraham apologizes for almost killing him.  “Yes, there’s that.”

Spencer welcomes Gabriel back and asks him if he can talk to him later.  He needs to talk about Aidan’s death.  He needs to rush off to the meeting, and he asks Gabriel to close the gate.  Gabriel nods and shuts it carelessly, leaving it open.

In the woods, Nicholas kills a Walker and then Glenn jumps him.  They fight, and then two Walkers rush up and it looks like they are on top of Glenn.

Michonne asks Rick if he’s ready for the meeting.  He tells her that he, Carol and Daryl have guns from the armory.  They lied to her because they didn’t know how she’d take it.  Michonne says she hit him for his own good, not theirs.  She says they don’t need weapons there, and that they can find a way there, and if they don’t, she’s still with them.  She knows that something is about to happen, but Rick shouldn’t make something happen.  She leaves Rick and he grabs a knife and his gun and hears voices in his head about how nightmares end.  Rick looks out the window to see that the gate has been left open.  He hurries outside and sees that there is fresh blood on the gate, with a trail of blood leading inside.

Rick runs along the wall.

Gabriel walks into the church and finds Sasha inside.  She says she doesn’t know what to do.  She doesn’t know what’s in her head and she asks for his help.  “No,” he says.

The townspeople gather at the meeting.  Deanna wants to start even though Maggie points out that Rick and Glenn aren’t there.  Deanna wants to talk about how he has a gun he stole and pointed at people.  Carol says she’s sure they can work this all out.

Nicholas is wandering in the woods.

Rick is out running between the houses.

Sasha says that she wants to die.  Gabriel says she doesn’t deserve to live after what she did.  He says that Bob was mutilated because of her sins.  Tyreese died because of his sins.  She screams and lunges at him.

Rick finds Walkers in the streets.

Michonne tells the group that they will learn to be like Rick if they’re lucky.

Sasha and Gabriel fight.  The gun goes off.

Glenn tackles Nicholas and knocks him out.

Carol says that people like her are alive because of people like Rick and that although it was scary last night, they need him.

Rick kills the Walker with his bare hands.

Abraham gets up and says that Rick knows everything about the shit that’s out there, and then some.  Deanna’s people don’t know anything.

The men who attacked Morgan bring the man in the red coat to the gates of their trap.  They slit his throat and then watch as the Walkers line up at the fence.

Maggie tells the group about her father and how he respected Rick.  Rick knows what he has to do.  They’re all family now, and Rick was the one who started it.  She tells the group that they will want to be a part of it, too.  Deanna says that she would like to share something in the spirit of transparency.  She says that Gabriel told her that the new group was dangerous and a day later the shit hits the fan.  Jesse says that Gabriel isn’t there, and she asks if Deanna taped it.  She says that Rick isn’t there either.

The two men use music to lure the Walkers back into the van.

Rick drops a Walker at Deanna’s feet.  The group stares at him.

Glenn decides not to kill Nicholas.

Maggie finds Sasha with a gun pointed at Gabriel.  He says his people died because of him.

Rick says that there were no guards at the gate.  Spencer says he asked Gabriel to close it.  Deanna sends him off to watch it.  He tells everyone that the Dead and the Living will always try to get in because they’re inside.  Rick says he isn’t going to kill anyone to save their lives.  The people inside the walls need to change.  They aren’t ready, and they have to be. Luck will run out.  Pete runs in and screams that he isn’t one of them.  He has a knife, and he slices Reg’s throat open.  Abraham tackles him.  Reg dies in Deanna’s arms.  She looks at Rick and says “do it.”  Rick shoots Pete without hesitation.

Of course, Rick looks up to see Morgan standing there with Daryl and Aaron.  Morgan stares at Rick as Rick stares at Morgan in shock.

Michonne sheaths her sword.

The man in the red coat is now a Walker, and he’s wandering inside the trap.  On the van is a message: “Wolves no fear.”

And that’s it, ladies and gentlemen.  Tune in this summer for full Walking Dead coverage from San Diego Comic Con!  See you in October!

The Walking Dead Recap S5E15: Try

The Walking Dead S5E15: Try

Original Airdate: March 21, 2015

Recap by Sarabeth Pollock

 

We’re down to the last two episodes of Season 5.  Can you believe that?  It’s almost like we’re back at Season 1, what with Rick’s freshly-shorn baby face….

A Walker comes through the woods and steps on a photo.  In a dark room, Deanna, Reg and Spencer play Aidan’s “run mix.”  They’re in shock.  The music is hard, pounding.  Perfect for running.  Or frustrated people.

Carol is busy cooking.  Her kitchen is immaculate.  Judith can be seen napping on the baby monitor.  Carol writes out a note, but then Sam taps on the window.

Sasha is out hunting Walkers.

Reg sobs, Deanna hugs a pillow, and Spencer turns off the music.  There’s a knock at the door.  Deanna sees the casserole dish that Carol left with a note: “We’re truly sorry for your loss.”  She leaves the dish outside and takes the note.  She burns it and drops it onto a plate.  This, of course, doesn’t bode well for Rick’s group.

A Walker approached the fence.  Sasha takes it out.

In a field, Daryl takes out another Walker.  Aaron says that more walkers are around than before.  Daryl points at a light in the distance.  Someone is out there in a cabin in the woods.  Aaron and Daryl stare at it.  (Is it Morgan?!)

Deana rewinds the tape where Nicolas tells the story of Aidan’s death.  He says that Aidan was trying to save the group but Glenn distracted him.  Deanna asks about Tara, and Nicolas was going to save her but the group was going to leave her behind.

Glenn tells the real story to Rick.  “I watched him die,” Glenn says.

Deanna asks Nicolas why they came back together.  Spencer interrupts them and she says that they shouldn’t do this right now, but Deanna says that she has to do it.  Nicolas doesn’t think Deanna understands what he’s saying; he thinks that Rick’s group is evil and needs to leave.  Deanna watches the recording on her laptop.  She says she sees more than people realize.

Glenn tells Rick that he was trying to save Noah but he couldn’t.  These people don’t know how to survive.  Rick tells Glenn that they don’t have to live by their rules, but Glenn says that they are all one and the same now.  Noah believed in that place.  They have to make it work.

Carol watches Sam from a distance.  Carol tells Rick that she sent Deanna a casserole.  She tells Rick that Sam told her that Jesse put a bolt on the inside of his closet and she sends him inside when things go bad.  Last month Sam found his mother unconscious while Pete sat on the porch.  Rick asks why Carol cares, and she gives him a look.

Rick sees a boat in the pond with a balloon tied to it.  (Where did they find helium?)  He’s about to shoot it when Pete comes up.  He’s drunk and stumbling.  “Keep walking,” Rick growls.  Pete is confused at first, but he complies.  Rick is intimidating!

Michonne wakes up.  She’s in a bed, but she’s fully dressed in case she needs to make a quick move.  She contemplates her sheriff’s uniform when Rosita knocks on her door. Tara is stable, but Sasha spent the night in the tower. The women go out into the woods to find her.  (Michonne isn’t in her uniform)  It’s their first time outside since their arrival and Michonne feels the difference already.  She points out that Noah is dead and she feels like she was asleep inside the walls.  Rosita points out that she didn’t bring her sword.

Deanna stares at the graves.  Rick walks up and apologizes for what happened.  She’s not holding up well.  Rick says they have a problem with Pete.  Deanna says that she’d hoped it would get better.  She knew about the abuse, but he’s a talented surgeon.  Rick says they can separate them, and if he refuses they will kill him.  Rick says that exiling him won’t work, because he’ll come back.  She says that this language is not to be tolerated inside.  She says if it came down to it, she’d send him away, too.

Michonne and Rosita find Walkers with wounds in the back of their heads.  “She’s hunting them,” Michonne observes.

Enid calls out when she hears Carl approach.  She wants him to leave, but he says that two people just died and they shouldn’t be out on their own.  He asks what she does out there, and she runs off.  He chases her, smiling for the first time in a long time.  Eventually they come across Walkers in the woods.  Enid starts a kitchen timer and throws it.  When it goes off, the Walker is distracted.  They run off.

Glenn finds Nicolas cleaning the van.  He tells him that the four people’s deaths are on him, as is Noah’s death.  He says he was lucky to find this place when the walls went up, but he’s not fit for going outside.  In fact, it won’t happen anymore.  Nicolas thinks it’s a threat, but Glenn says he’s saving him.

Enid says they’re supposed to be outside, that they shouldn’t forget what it’s like.  Carl admits that he dreams about it.  Carl asks if Ron knows that she comes out there, but she says he wouldn’t understand.  Carl wants to know why he scares her.  He just does.  He compliments her knife, which belonged to her mom.  He wants to know what happened to her, but before she can answer, they hear Walkers so they climb into a hollowed out tree.  “It’s their worlds.  We’re just living in it,” she breathes.  He moves to touch her hand, and she notes that he’s afraid of her, too.  One of the Walkers bears a W on his forehead.

Nicolas goes out to the woods and finds the gun that Rick had hidden before they arrived in Alexandria.  So.  He’s the one who took it.

Sasha takes out several Walkers.  Michonne and Rosita find her and she says she’s sick of playing offense.  She starts shooting as a huge herd approaches, and while she shoots them, Michonne has a flashback to the woman she was.  We see her in her hood with her pets and her sword.  Rosita goes into action with her knife, and then Sasha’s gun jams.  She falls to the ground and drops her knife, but Michonne shoots the Walker.  Sasha says she had it under control.  She doesn’t need their help.  Sasha wants them to leave.  Michonne can’t help her.  Sasha breaks down and says that she told Noah he wouldn’t make it.  She walks off and Rosita follows, but Michonne looks at the gun in her hand.

Daryl and Aaron wait til the next day to explore the field and the house.  They find more Walkers who have been chopped into pieces.  They’re fresh, too.  Aaron follows behind Daryl, gun drawn, as they search.  They come upon a woman who has been tied to a tree and flayed alive by Walkers.  There’s a W on her forehead as well.  She’s newly dead, too, because she is in the process of turning.  Daryl puts her out of her misery.

Rick finds Jesse smoking in her garage.  Rick gets to the point and says that he knows Pete is hitting her and that it has to stop.  She says it will and blames things in the past.  It was going on before and he stopped.  He’ll do it again.  She doesn’t think Rick can help, because throwing him in jail will make things worse.  Jesse wants to know why Rick cares.  He has everything he needs now, why is he bothering.  She says she’s married and she can take care of it.  They all have to take care of themselves.

Rick leaves and watches the town with a new focus.  He sees the elderly couple on their porch, and a woman reading, and a boy with a balloon.  He turns and goes back to Jesse’s house and tells her that Sam asked for a gun to protect her.  Rick says that it’s the same out there as it is in there: if you don’t fight, you die, and he doesn’t want that to happen.  He can keep her and her boys safe.  All she has to do is say yes.  Jesse asks him if he’d do this for anyone else, and he says no.  “Leave us,” she says.  Pete walks in and asks what Rick is doing there.  He tells Rick to leave and Jesse intervenes.  “Excuse me?” he slurs.  “You need to leave,” she tells him.  He can’t believe this.  He rushes Rick and the men fight.  Jesse screams.

Sasha watches as people inside the walls start running.  Inside, Rick and Pete have taken the fight to the street and everyone in town is watching.  Someone calls for Deanna.  Pete is on top of Rick and Jesse tries to pry him off, but he punches her.  Sam runs to Carol.  Rick gets on top and Carl tries to grab his dad, but that only distracts Rick long enough for Pete to land another punch.    Deanna arrives and tells them to stop.  Rick gets up and points a gun at them all.  Sasha is in her tower shooting the Walkers at the wall.  Rick tells them all that their way of doing things is wrong.  Deanna says that is very clear to her.  Rick says that he isn’t going to stand by and let it happen.

Michonne steps up and knocks him out.

Well, that was intense.  What can possibly happen next?

The Walking Dead Recap S5E14: Spend

The Walking Dead S5E14: Spend

Original Airdate: March 15, 2015

Recap by Sarabeth Pollock

 

Tonight’s episode starts out with Gabriel and a Bible.  He’s in his priest’s uniform again, but he’s agitated.  Gabriel walks into the church while the town is quiet.  He goes to the makeshift pulpit and sees that someone brought him a bowl of strawberries.  His Bible is ripped so he prepares to fix it, and then he stops.  He tears a page from the Bible, and then he tears another and another until he finally rips a whole section out, then he slams the book closed and fights his tears.

Daryl is back on a motorcycle, and he rides out the gate, followed by a car.

Reggie apologizes to Noah for being late to their early morning meeting.  The power is out.  Noah wants to start meeting in the mornings so that Reggie can teach him.  He doesn’t want to just be an architect; he wants to make sure the walls stay up.  He’s afraid that they’ll fall in someday.  Noah wants to learn how to keep houses functioning, and how to build buildings.  Reggie pulls out a notebook that he uses to document things that are noteworthy.  He pulls out a few pages, and then he hands it to Noah and says he should start doing the same, because there will be a new start and it should be recorded.  That, and he needs to write down all that Reggie will teach him.

Abraham looks at his reflection in the mirror.  He’s pensive this morning.

Noah hands Eugene a gun, but Eugene doesn’t want to take it.  He tells him that the items he needs are the same everywhere, and he’ll install them and get the power grid operational again.  Noah makes him take the gun.  Evidently he’s not exempt from this little trip.  Aidan says goodbye to his parents, who clearly love him despite his cockiness.  Maggie gives Glenn a goodbye kiss.  Deanna thanks Glenn for everything he’s doing to keep her son in line.   Tara wants to know the story with the girl that Noah was talking to.  Just then, Aidan starts the van and a techno beat fills the cab.  Even Glenn has to laugh.

Rick finds Jesse cleaning up her sculpture in the garage.  Evidently someone destroyed her owl.  Rick promises to keep an eye out for her.  He tells her about the “broken window theory” that keeps society in check.

The team arrives at the warehouse.  Glenn proposes that they scout the perimeter just in case.  A Walker approaches and Noah efficiently shoots it.  Nicholas scoffs, but Aidan agrees with Glenn.  Eugene and Tara walk around the building and Eugene says that he got them to Alexandria, that without him and “his vision” they never would have gone there.  Tara calls him a coward, which he agrees with.

Glenn praises Noah’s aim.  They come across a huge herd of Walkers in the front of the building, so the front exit is not an option.

The group reconvenes and enters the warehouse.  Glenn and Aidan lead the way.  They can hear Walkers in the distance, and Glenn surmises that they’re being blocked by something.  They find the Walkers behind a chain-link fence.  Other than that, the warehouse is full of supplies.  Eugene and Tara find what they’re looking for.  Aidan is off on his own when an armor-wearing Walker approaches.  Aidan shoots at him until he falls down, but he fails to notice the grenades on its suit.  Glenn shouts out a warning but it too late.  The place blows up.

Glenn gets to his feet.  He finds Aidan impaled on the shelf.  Noah finds Glenn, and Eugene cries out for them.  He’s with Tara, but she’s horribly wounded.  A Walker approaches Eugene but he’s too afraid to shoot it.  He gets an assist from Noah and Glenn, and then they rush off to help Tara before the escaping Walkers can get to them.

Carol finds Sam rifling through the pantry looking for cookies.  His power is out and someone destroyed his owl statue, so he came to Carol’s.  He’s proud that he hasn’t told anyone about the guns.  Carol shakes him and says that none of these are actual problems.  She doesn’t want to make cookies for him, so he asks if she’ll teach him how to do it himself.    This catches her off guard, so she tells him to steal the chocolate from Olivia as a start.  What is her game?

Eugene says that Tara is losing a lot of blood.  They need to get her back to Alexandria.  That’s when they hear the cries, and it turns out that Aidan is alive.  He’s impaled, but he’s alive.  Eugene tells the three men to go save him, because that’s what Tara would do.  They leave, and Eugene stays to protect her.

Abraham and some townsfolk go out to get supplies to make the walls stronger.  There is a whole construction site for their use.  Abraham is struggling with his demons and he takes a moment to collect himself before helping out.  One of the townsfolk runs back, trailed by dozens of Walkers.  In the melee, Francine, who had been up in a forklift as a lookout, falls from her perch when someone lets go of the lever.  She falls into the herd, and everyone is about to abandon her when Abraham rushes in to save her.  They’re surrounded, so he puts her in the cab of one of the big machines and then faces the Walkers.  “Mother dick,” he says.

Abraham leads the Walkers under the tractor and shoots them, then he grabs a hammer and starts swinging.  Francine helps shoot Walkers as well.  The townsfolk are amazed that Abraham is still alive, and one of them hurries to help even though his other neighbors don’t.

Rick gets a visit from the good doctor, who brings beer as a thank you for helping Jesse earlier.  Pete’s already drunk and teases Rick for always being on duty, though he saw Rick drinking at the party.  Pete’s not upset about the owl, and he transitions from the owl to Rick losing his wife.  Pete says that they have lost things as well, even if Rick’s group doesn’t see that.  Then he tells Rick to bring the kids in for a check-up.  And then he wants to be friends with Rick.  And then…Pete has left the building.  Rick watches him leave.  He’s suspicious.

Eugene tells the unconscious Tara that he told them what he was, but no one listened.  The lights go out, so Eugene picks her up and runs.

Glenn and company reach Aidan and try to pry him from the bars.  He screams.  He’s impaled in two spots and it’s impossible to free him.  Nicholas says something in Aidan’s ear before running off, then Aidan grabs Glenn and tells him that there were people there before, but then they did it.  It was a very important message, but it was jumbled given Aidan’s blood loss.  He tells Glenn to go, and then Aidan is eaten by Walkers.  It’s an incredibly prolonged death scene, where we see Aidan’s agony as his innards are liberated from his stomach cavity.

Abraham has beef with the guy who was going to leave them behind.  He punches him, as does Francine.  Abraham takes over the job site, and the people jump to attention.

Nicholas runs for the front door, but we already know that the front door isn’t an option.  Glenn and Noah are close behind but Glenn is out of ammo, so they barricade themselves in the revolving door.  Walkers surround them on both sides.

Deanna and Reggie listen to the defunct job site leader who says that Abraham’s actions saved Francine, and that he’s a better leader than he is.  Maggie looks on with a hint of pride in her eyes.  Deanna listens and decides that she’ll approach Abraham about being in charge.  The man knows she won’t regret it.  Deanna reflects that she has put another one of Rick’s group in a position of power, and Maggie says that’s why she brought them there.

Sam returns with the two chocolate bars.  She says that she won’t do this for him again.  He wants to know if she was always a good cook, but she says they aren’t talking.  He says they don’t have to be friends, but it doesn’t have to be quiet.  Carol reveals that cooking helped her forget bad things.  Sam says that he breaks things when he’s sad.  Carol asks if he broke his owl, and he did.  He asks why she stole the guns, and she says it was to protect herself.  Sam wants a gun, which makes Carol stop when she sees the haunted look on his face.  She wants to know who the gun is for, but he runs off before he tells her.

Glenn and company are stuck.  Miraculously, Eugene pulls up and distracts them with the music from the van.  Glenn tells Nicholas that he’s going to break the glass.  Nicholas has his own plans and runs from the revolving door, allowing Noah to be grabbed by the Walkers on the other side.  “Don’t let go!” Noah screams, but Glenn can’t hold on.  Noah is thrust against the door and he stares at Glenn as he’s eaten alive.

Eugene stops when Nicholas runs up to the van.  He says they’re leaving, but Eugene refuses to get out.  Nicholas pulls him out and tries to start the van, and Glenn arrives and pulls him out and punches him several times.  Eugene asks about Noah, but Glenn shakes his head and says that they need to get Nicholas in the van.

Carol knocks on Pete and Jesse’s door.  Pete answers and is acting very suspiciously.  Jesse is in the background, telling him “don’t.”  Carol knows what’s happening.

Glenn drives the van while Eugene rides shotgun and keeps his attention on the back of the van, on injured Tara and unconscious Nicholas.  He has his gun drawn.

Deanna answers her door.  It’s Gabriel.  He comes inside and tells Deanna that Satan disguises himself as angels of light.  He tells Deanna that Rick’s group is evil, and that they’ve done bad things to get where they are.  Deanna says that they’re survivors, and that they had to do things to survive.  Gabriel doesn’t relent, and though she tries to get him out, he keeps talking about Satan.  Maggie has come upstairs and hears the whole conversation.  Deanna closes the door, looking lost in thought.

Carol goes to Rick’s house and tells him that Pete is hitting Jesse.  Rick wants to know how she knows, but Sam didn’t have to tell her.  She can see it.  She says that there’s only one way this can go down—Rick has to kill him.  Okay…

Clearly, Gabriel is losing his mind.  If only Deanna knew what Gabriel did to his parishioners.

Well, we have two weeks left, which is plenty of time for things to go south in Alexandria….

 

The Walking Dead Recap S5E13: Forget

The Walking Dead S5E13: Forget

Original Airdate: March 8, 2015

Recap by Sarabeth Pollock

 

Sasha lies awake staring at pictures on the walls.  She’ sleeping on the floor, but she can’t sleep.  The next morning she goes into town and Olivia allows her to take a gun to go outside of the fence.  Olivia has a request: a boar’s leg, for prosciutto.  She loves curing meats.  Sasha looks stunned at her request.  As it turns out, Sasha’s intention is to do some target practice.  She uses the aforementioned pictures as targets, but she keeps hearing noises all around her.  She continues to shoot, but the noises get louder.  Her aim is impeccable, but she was only imagining the noises.  Clearly she’s staying sharp in case things go south.  “Come and get me,” she says to the empty forest.

Two Walkers are dead on the ground.  Rick, Carol and Daryl are scouting the house outside of Alexandria, planning to stash some guns at the house in case things go awry.  Carol can leave the window open so they can grab some.  Rick says that the town is lucky that they came along to protect them.  Right now things are good because the town doesn’t suspect them of doing any planning, but they are.  So they have to be careful about their secret meetings.  A Walker approaches and Carol, dressed in a pretty flower sweater, shoots it.  Daryl notices a W carved into the dead Walker’s forehead.  He isn’t amused.

Michonne tries on her new police jacket.  She has made some alterations, including a lace-up back.  She still has her sword, though. Rick walks in and says that he doesn’t know why they are so quick to give authority to strangers.  Michonne believes that Deanna is smart and has a plan, for the future and for now.

Daryl is still out in the woods when he comes across Aaron in the woods.  He claims to be hunting rabbits, and he’s surprised that Daryl knows the difference between humans and Walkers.

Deanna explains that Rick and Michonne need to play the role and keep the peace.  Her people will believe in it.  She says that one day there will be a government in Alexandria some day, with industry and commerce.  They need a police force, and she wants Maggie to help with planning.  Rick pulls Deanna outside and says that they need to patrol the walls to make sure people stay out.  Sasha walks up and volunteers to be a look-out.  Deanna admits that there aren’t any look-outs.  This is unacceptable.  Deanna says she’ll put Spencer up top first, then Sasha can take over.  She wants something in return, though.  She wants them to go to her party later that evening.

Carol is getting recipe tips from neighbors when Rick comes up and they agree that they will try to take some weapons that night.  They can’t use Daryl because he stands out like a sore thumb.  Carol smiles.  She’ll do it.  The best thing about Alexandria is the ability to stay invisible again.

Daryl and Aaron encounter a horse in a meadow.  Aaron has been trying to catch him for months.  His name is Buttons.  Daryl takes a rope and tells Aaron that his group has wrangled a horse before.  He approaches quietly but the horse has attracted Walkers.  Buttons takes off running while Aaron and Daryl take them out.

Carol and Olivia talk cookies.  Carol shares her special recipe while Olivia tells her that the storage room is hers.  Two men enter to do a project for Deanna.  One man, Tobin, asks Carol if she has ever used a gun before.  She plays coy with him as he offers to teach her a few things.  She manages to open the latch to the window without anyone noticing.

Aaron and Daryl have a heart to heart about being outsiders.  He and Eric have heard plenty of hateful things just because they’re gay.  He tells Daryl to let the people get to know him so that they’ll build trust.  Daryl doesn’t want to go to the party.  He’s not afraid of anything.

Deanna welcomes Rick, Carl and Judith.  Deanna envies Judith, who will grow up in their brave new world in Alexandria.  Abraham and Rosita look on at the party.  Abraham doesn’t like the scene, but Rosita points out that there is plenty of beer.  He’s in.  Deanna introduces Rick to her husband Reggie (the architect).  Reg has been watching the interviews and thinks Rick is remarkable.  Everyone in the group had so many nice things to say about him.  Rick is equally impressed with the wall Reg designed, but Reg plays it off.  It’s just a wall.  Rick has him beat.  Deanna diplomatically calls it a tie between them.  Reg tells Rick to get a drink, but Rick finds it hard to relax.  He eventually relents and grabs a drink.  Jesse arrives with her family.

Daryl and Aaron are still looking for Buttons when they are ambushed by Walkers.  Daryl pulls them away from Aaron while Aaron takes a shot at one (which, incidentally, leaves blood splattered all over the camera lens).  Meanwhile, Buttons lets out a cry.  The Walkers have got him.

Geez…first the dogs and now a horse!?  A horse named Buttons!?

Daryl and Aaron kill the Walkers that killed Buttons.  Buttons is still alive, so Aaron puts him out of his misery.  He’s stunned at killing the horse.  “He always ran,” he says.  Daryl says he didn’t run because this time we were trying to help him.

Glenn and Maggie find Noah at the party.  Noah doesn’t like scene and wants to bail, but Maggie says he’s there with family.

Aaron finds Daryl on the way to the party.  Aaron is ditching to care for Eric.  Daryl was going to try to go to the party (he even got dressed) but Aaron persuades him to come over for dinner.  He makes a mean spaghetti.

Jesse introduces Rick to her husband Pete.  Pete wants to thank Rick for taking over the constable position.  He offers to take a look at Rick next week, and then awkwardly explains that he’s a doctor.  Pete goes to refill their drinks while Jesse makes small talk with Rick.  She admires the view and comments that things are normal in their little world.  She says a lot of bull shit went away with their old lives.  Things are different now.  They all lost things and now they have something back, which is better than nothing.  Rick sees Carl interacting with Jesse’s boys and smiles.  Jesse’s youngest son complains that the cookies are gone, so Rick bends down and says that he knows the cookie maker, who can make more.  Sam puts a stamp on Rick’s hand—a big letter A—and declares him an official resident.

Sasha arrives and greets Spencer, Deanna’s son.  He tries to make her more comfortable by offering to stick with her through the party, but instead he makes things awkward.  Apparently Mrs. Niedemeyer wants a pasta maker in case Sasha ever sees one while she’s out on a run.  She leaves quickly as he watches with a strange expression on his face.

Aaron and Eric smile at each other while Daryl inhales (and slurps) his spaghetti.  They wipe their mouths with napkins while Daryl uses his sleeve.  Eric mentions the pasta maker for Mrs. Niedemeyer, which elicits a very strange look from Daryl as Eric continues that they have tons of dry pasta.  Eric gets a look from Aaron, who thought there was something already done.  Aaron shows Daryl the garage full of motorcycle parts and says he needs a bike.  He had asked Deanna not to give Daryl a job so that Daryl could be the other recruiter.  Aaron doesn’t want to risk Eric, and he admires that Daryl knows the difference between a good person and a bad person.  Daryl agrees.

Abraham pokes fun at Michonne, who is outside on the porch gazing at a plastic cocktail sword.  “You live by it, you die by it, you poke potato puffs by it,” he laughs.  He’s hoping they don’t have to use weapons any more, but he prays they don’t fall out of practice, either.  She asks him how much he’s had to drink.  He laughs and says he’s a big guy who had enough beer.  Things have worked out well for him.  Michonne says she put on the dress.  “Try again,” he says.

Carol goes into the storage locker and starts to load guns into a bag.  Little Sam followed her hoping that she was going to make cookies for him.  She offers to make him a batch of cookies if he doesn’t tell anyone.  He says he has to tell his mom because he tells his mom everything.  Carol backs him toward a wall and says that if he tells, he will wake up outside of the wall tied to a tree and the Walkers will eat him alive while he feels everything.  Or, he can not tell anyone and he’ll get cookies.  Holy crap.  Carol is scary.

Jesse is holding Judith.  It’s been a while since she held a baby.  Rick says that Judith and Carl are why he’s still going.  He says that Jesse is right, that “here isn’t that bad.”  Jesse hands the baby back to Rick and their close proximity give them both pause.

Deanna goes to Sasha and invites her to join in the conversation.  She looks around and listens to the residents talking about their trifling issues.  She flashes to images of Bob and Tyreese as they lie dead.  One of the residents offers to make Sasha her favorite food.  She’s doing it for all of the newcomers.  She is worried about being able to get the recipes just right.  “That’s what you’re worried about!?” Sasha shouts.

The next day Deanna meets Sasha at the gate.  Deanna has a gun.  She says she’s trying to figure out what it is, exactly.  Sasha says that none of this is real.  Deanna takes offense, saying that while she’s been through a lot, “that’s bull shit.”  She hands her a box of ammo and Sasha leaves.

Daryl, Carol and Rick are back at the house.  Daryl questions whether or not they need the extra guns.  He points out that Rick wanted him to try, and so he’s going to try.

Michonne puts some nails in the wall above the mantle.  She hangs up her sword and then stares at it in reflection.

Rick, Carol and Daryl return to the town and go off in separate directions.  Jesse and Pete greet Rick as they pass, but Rick notices the way Pete scoots her along.  He puts his hand on his gun.  Once they’re one, Rick goes to the wall and hears the Walker on the other side.  He puts his hand on the wall and sees the red A on his hand.  He stands there and reflects.

With three episodes to go, what will happen now that the group seems to be “nesting” in the strange town of Alexandria?

The Walking Dead Recap S5E12: Remember

The Walking Dead S5E12: Remember

Original Airdate: March 1, 2015

Recap by Sarabeth Pollock

 

We’re finally inside the fence!

Aaron and Eric lead the group into the camp.  There’s a double-steel gate that they must pass through, but Rick and Company are reluctant.  A trash can moves and an opossum rushes out.  Daryl shoots it.  “We brought dinner,” he says.

They move inside and are asked to drop their weapons.  That’s part of the deal.  Aaron suggests that they will be more trusting if they can speak to Deanna, the leader.  Beyond the gates, a Walker approaches.  Rick motions to Sasha, who turns and shoots it in the head with deadly precision.  “Good thing we’re here,” Rick mutters.

Rick waits for Deanna in a beautiful living room filled with every luxury imaginable.  When Deanna appears, she asks Rick if she can film their meeting for posterity.  This is a new beginning, after all.  Rick agrees.  Deanna is a middle-aged woman who ended up in Alexandria after she was stopped by the military on her way back to Ohio to help her district deal with the crisis.  She’s a legislator.  The neighborhood they live in now was being touted as the most modern development available with solar power, its own water tanks…all for the low $800,000s.  Her husband is a professor of architecture and he helped design and build the walls, which were made from the construction materials at a job site for a new box store.  They have never dealt with what’s going on outside the walls.  They need people who have lived it, which is why they’re so interested in Rick’s group.  He tells her that he didn’t know the people in his group before the change.  But they’re his family now.  Deanna reveals that she exiled three men who didn’t work out.  That’s like killing them.  She wants Rick to help her group survive.  She can read people…if she didn’t win reelection she would have played poker.  She offers Rick a chance for his family to grow up in a safe place.  Deanna tells Rick that it’s 3:37pm so he winds his watch.  Rick reveals that he was a sheriff, which makes perfect sense to her.

The group relinquishes its weapons.  Deanna says that the guns can be checked out when they go outside of the walls, but they can’t be present while inside.  Carol unloads her impressive arsenal.  She smiles at Rick.

Aaron offers Rick two houses for his group.  He says that Deanna has ordered the community to give Rick and his company space as they adjust.  He lives four houses away.

Inside the house with better curb appeal, Rick and Carl see the furnishings that have been provided.  Everything is modern, along with running water.  Rick takes a shower for the first time in who knows how long.  He sees his appearance and grabs some scissors.  Pretty soon Rick is back to being the clean-shaven guy from the first season.

There’s a knock at the door and a woman from the pantry has brought food.  Her name is Jesse.  She offers to cut Rick’s hair.  “You don’t even know me,” he says.  She laughs.  As she cuts, she reveals that she has two boys, and one is Carl’s age.  He can’t believe how nice it is to have a shower.  She can sense how emotional he is and jokes that haircuts were never going away.  She gives him a mirror and he sees himself the way he was before.

It’s Daryl’s turn to meet Deanna.  She asks if he wants to be there.  He says that Carl and Judith deserve a roof over their heads.

Outside the house, Daryl guts the opossum while Carl and Carol watch Rick carry Judith.  Everyone is clean and…clean.  Carl can’t believe the mansions they’re being offered.  Carol remarks that they’re just giving them away.  After Daryl and Rick scout the perimeter of the two houses, they agree that everyone should share a house for the night.

Carl goes upstairs and pulls his knife when he sees a closed door.  Inside is an unfinished room full of tools and books.  Someone has been camping there.

Later that night, the group gets ready for bed.  Judith has a crib for once.  Michonne emerges from the bathroom after brushing her teeth for twenty minutes.  She has never seen what’s under his beard.  There’s a knock on the door.  It’s Deanna, come to see how they’re doing.  She laughs when she sees that they’re all in the living room together, but she says they’re playing it safe.  It amazes her how so many people from so many backgrounds can come together and coexist as a family.  She has jobs for everyone, but she hasn’t revealed them to Rick or Michonne.  She’s close to finding something for Sasha and she’s still trying to figure Daryl out.  (He’s sitting at Judith’s crib with a knife in his hand)   Deanna bids them goodnight.

As everyone sleeps, Rick lays awake toying with his wedding ring.  He hears a noise and grabs a knife from the kitchen.

Michonne reveals in her interview that the group is ready for “this.”  They’re not all there yet, but they’re close.

Rick tells Daryl that they should explore.  Daryl wants to stay behind.  Rick remarks that he and Lori used to drive through neighborhoods like this and think of the future.  Rick loses sight of Carl and takes off running.  He knocks over something and Jesse hurries out to see him.  She assures him that Carl is fine.  He’s with an elderly couple who are fawning over Judith, since they had a dozen grandchildren.  She asks if Carl can come over so her son Ron can meet him.

Ron tells Carl that they go to school, only it’s held in a garage.  He introduces Carl to Mikey and Enid.  Carl shows them they comics he found and they reveal that they go to that house to listen to music.  The boys are much more boisterous than Enid, who is content to read sullenly on the bed.  They apologize to Carl for coming on so strong about playing pool and hanging out, but Carl snaps out of it and says they can play video games.

In Carl’s interview, he tells the camera that he didn’t lose his mother.  He killed her.  And he had to be the one to do it.

Rick goes into Carl’s room to find out how it went at Ron’s house.  Carl is lying on the bed staring at the ceiling.  Carl asks his dad what he thinks about this place.  Rick thinks it’s nice.  Carl likes it here and he likes the people, but they’re weak, and he’s afraid that they’ll lose their strength by being there.

That night Michonne finds Rick staring out the window.  She tells Rick that Deanna hasn’t given her a job yet.  He knows that by signing the papers they are giving in.  Rick leaves to take a walk.

Outside Rick finds a man who knows who he is.  It’s Jesse’s husband.  “Welcome to Alexandria,” the man says from his porch.

Rick awakens suddenly from his sleep.  Was that interaction a dream?

Carol talks about her family life in her interview.  She misses her stupid, wonderful man.  (Oddly enough)  She sees herself as a den mother to the group.  Deanna wants to know where Carol sees herself, and she sees herself with a Junior League of some kind.  Later she emerges from the house in a smart outfit.  She tells Daryl that she’s off to cook for the elderly and to meet people.  She tells Daryl that he needs to shower or she’ll hose him down in his sleep.  They need to keep up appearances.

Glen says that they need Alexandria to work.  He says they were almost out there too long.

The gates pull back and Rick steps outside.  He has his gun again and he walks the perimeter of the fence.

Carl watches as Enid sneaks through the field to the fence.  She climbs the fence with a backpack on.  Clearly she has done this before.

Aidan, Deanna’s son, meets Glen, Tara and Noah.  He was ROTC before all of this happened.  He knows that Glen is an expert at supply runs.  They want to do a dry run to show the group the terrain.  They proudly hand off some “sweet ass” guns.  Glen and Company aren’t impressed.

Carl tracks Enid through the woods.  He loses sight of her.

Rick comes upon a Walker but doesn’t kill him.  He continues off to the shed where he hid the weapons, only to find that his cache is gone.  So who took them?  He notes that there are more Walkers approaching.  He drops his bag and grabs a knife, then he spots Carl.  Together, father and son tackle them together.  When a Walker grabs Rick’s leg from under a pile of rubbish, Rick takes a metal rod and starts to impale him, but Carl asks to do the honors.

Aidan leads Glen, Noah and Tara out into the field and explain that they lost four people the month before because they didn’t follow orders.  Aidan knows that he’s a douchebag.  But his orders reign supreme.  They caught the Walker who killed their friends and strung him up as a reminder.  Glen is appalled.  Aidan flips out when he sees that the Walker is gone from its chains, so they start calling for it.  Soon the Walker appears and Aidan tries to chain it up but he loses control and it comes after Tara.  Glen and Tara manage to kill it, which enrages Aidan for disobeying his orders.  They stalk back to the camp and Aidan gets into Glen’s face when Glen says that it’s not his group that isn’t ready for runs—it’s Aidan’s group.  Aidan pushes Glen and tries to antagonize Glen into getting physical.  By now a whole group of people has gathered, including members of both sides.  As Aidan takes a swing at Glen, Glen ducks and punches Aidan.  Daryl tackles the other guy and Rick arrives in time to pull Daryl off.  Carl notes that Enid is back, too.  Deanna arrives and tells Aidan to back down.  He’s in trouble.  She names Rick and Michonne as the town’s constables and she tells everyone that Rick’s group is equal to everyone else now.  She thanks Glen for knocking her son on the ass.

Rick comes down the stairs in a sheriff’s uniform.  His household smiles at him.  Outside, Daryl asks if this means they’re staying.  Rick says that they’re trying it out for now.  Carol comes out and says that while she likes the place, she’s concerned about becoming weak, echoing Carl’s fears.  Rick says that they are never going to become weak.  If anything, they will remain strong and if the others are too weak to survive, then they will take the place over.

Ah…so that’s his plan….

The Walking Dead Recap S5E11: The Distance

The Walking Dead S5E11: The Distance

Original Airdate: February 22, 2015

Recap by Sarabeth Pollock

 

After last week’s episode in which we see how low our group has gotten, this week it’s time to pick things back up.

Remember that water from a friend?  Now we know who the “friend” is.  It’s Aaron.

The group is still in the barn.  It’s very quiet.  When Maggie cautiously walks in with Aaron, everyone is alert.  Maggie says he’s by himself, but that doesn’t mean anything.  (Don’t you love seeing Rick holding Judith and a gun?)  Aaron says it’s nice to meet everyone.  Rick is surprised by the tine gun Aaron has with him.  The girls explain that Aaron wants the group to audition for membership.  Aaron says that the choice isn’t his to make; his job is to get the group to come back to the camp to see if they should be allowed to stay in the camp.  He doesn’t blame the group for not trusting him.  Aaron wouldn’t trust a guy like himself either.

Sasha hands Aaron’s backpack to Rick and Aaron tells Rick to take out an envelope full of pictures.  The first picture is of a huge steel wall that is impenetrable.  The only thing that Aaron’s community is lacking  is people like the ones in Rick’s group to make it stronger.  As Aaron explains the second picture, Rick walks up and knocks him out cold.

With their new hostage, the group needs to figure out how to prepare for the arrival of the rest of his group.  Carl empties out the pack and finds a flare gun to alert the rest of the group.  Michonne wants to know Rick’s plan since Rick didn’t give a “let’s knock him out” look.

When Aaron wakes up, Rick wants to know how many people are out there.  Aaron seems unfazed that Rick knocked him out.  He knows that it doesn’t matter what number he tells Rick.  Rick will never trust him.  Aaron reminds him about the bottles of the water.  Daryl wants to know how long they have been following the group.  Aaron says they were impressed that they had Walkers on their trail but never panicked, and they never turned on each other.  Aaron says he has one person with him, and he’s prepared to drive the whole group to the camp by lunchtime.  If they’d wanted Rick’s group dead, they would have set the barn on fire.  Michonne wants to check out the cars because she’s not sure of anything.  She doesn’t think it’s safe passing up a place where Judith can live.  Glenn volunteers to go with her.  Rick asks Abraham and Rosita to go with the search party.  Rick says is the group isn’t back in sixty minutes they will come after them.  They leave Aaron in the barn with Rick while the remaining people find a place to hide outside the barn.

Rick stays inside with Aaron, who explains that he once worked for an NGO where he constantly had guns pointed at him.  He knows Rick’s people aren’t bad people.  Rick nods, but he insists that if Michonne’s group isn’t back in sixty minutes, Aaron will have a knife in the base of his skull.

Michonne’s group walks down a road.  Glenn issues safety orders, telling everyone to keep their weapons up. Michonne challenges Glenn’s idea of shooting people without knowing what they want.  Glenn doesn’t understand why Aaron’s people would want to welcome them anyway.  Michonne points out that they have saved many people along their way, including a priest, one of the Governor’s people, and a “crazy lady with a sword.”  In the distance, someone watches the group walk down the road.

Rick tries to make food for Judith by mashing up acorns with the butt of his gun.  Aaron reminds Rick of the jar of applesauce in his bag.  If Judith cries, she’ll attract Walkers, which would not be in their best interest.  Rick takes the jar and feeds a spoonful to Aaron, who is shocked at the thought that Rick thinks that Aaron would want to poison his baby.  Aaron says that he hates applesauce because his mother made him eat it, but Rick insists and holds the spoon to the stranger’s mouth.  After Aaron takes a taste, Rick does as well.  Aaron has 43 minutes.

The street gang finds a car and a motor home where Aaron said they would be.  Two Walkers leave the bushes and Abraham and Rosita kill them.  They go into the motor home and make sure it’s empty.  Not only is it empty, but it’s full of food.  Abraham asks Rosita if she thought Abraham was going to hurt her back at the fire truck.  No, she didn’t.

The road crew takes the vehicles back to the barn and take stock of their new food supply.  Rick tells Aaron that the food is theirs now, whether or not they go to the camp.  Michonne leads the charge and says that they’re going to the camp.  Daryl agrees, saying the barn smells like horse shit.  Aaron says that he usually drives the recruits back.  Michonne says this isn’t negotiable.  Aaron wants to take a certain road, but Rick doesn’t want to do it if Aaron won’t give them directions in advance.  Aaron won’t budge, so Rick proclaims that they will take his road and they’ll leave at sundown.

Michonne follows Rick outside.  Rick thinks that he, Michonne and Aaron should take the car and everyone else can go in the motor home.  Michonne wants to be sure that Rick is going to go to the camp.  He reminds her that she didn’t hear anything outside Woodbury or Terminus.  He’s taking his family there, and while he doesn’t think anything could convince him to go inside, he’s going to give it a shot.

As night falls, Rick looks in the glove box and finds license plates.  Aaron explains that he wants to collect all fifty states for his house.  He shows Michonne a picture of his house.  Michonne goes through the pictures and notes that there are no pictures of people.  He says he got the exposure wrong, but now she suspects that something is wrong with him.  She asks Rick if he asked Aaron the questions.  When she asks him about how many Walkers he killed, he pauses long enough to espouse concern from Glenn, who is at the wheel.  He killed a lot of Walkers and two people who tried to kill him.  That’s when Rick finds a listening device in the car.  If Aaron had one, the others would as well and they know the plan.  Suddenly they run into a herd of Walkers.  Literally.  The road is full of them and the car plows them down.  When they get to the end of the herd, the group realizes that the motor home is gone.  The car won’t start so Michonne starts pulling body parts from the car’s grill.  A flare lights up the night, which sends Aaron into a panic.  He kicks open the door and runs off.  Michonne points out that chasing him will lead them to the motor home so they go off in pursuit.  They’re surrounded by Walkers and they get separated.  Glenn almost gets bitten but he manages to smash his Walker’s head into a rock.  Glenn finds Aaron fighting off a Walker.  He kills the Walker and frees Aaron, telling him that he can run if he wants.  Aaron says that they can make it together, but only together.  He was indeed listening to Glenn’s conversation with the group.

Rick is out of ammo and he shoots the flare into a Walker’s head.  Michonne starts hacking away, but soon Glenn and Aaron show up again, taking out the rest of the Walkers.  Aaron holds up his hands and says he can be tied up again, but Rick isn’t interested.  They reach the road and run off toward the water tower.  Daryl is standing guard outside and he alerts the group that the others are home.  Aaron runs inside and finds Eric on the couch with a broken ankle.  He says that he really likes Maggie.  Aaron kisses Eric and says that they’ll go to the infirmary when they get back.  They share a very passionate kiss.  They’re lovers.  Eric shows Aaron the license plate he found for him, and Aaron sheepishly admits he lost the car.  They laugh.  Rick walks in and interrupts their reunion.

Outside, Aaron thanks the group and says his debt to them will be paid in full in Alexandria.  He wants to sleep with Eric but Rick wants to keep them apart.  Glenn suggests that Rick allows this to happen now that they know where they’re going.  He relents.

The next day the cars speed down the road.  Aaron watches his lover sleep when Noah comes in to say that it’s time for more medicine.  Aaron notices Noah’s leg and says there’s a talented surgeon in Alexandria.  Inside the cabin, Eugene plays cards with the group while Abraham drives.  Rosita points out the city ahead of them.  Alexandria is in the distance.  Abraham sees that the battery is running low but thinks they can make it.  A short while later the motor home dies and he curses their luck.  Where on earth will they find another battery?  Glenn smiles and shows him a spare.  When he asks Glenn how he knew that, Glenn’s smile gets bigger as he remembers Dale.  Rick looks down the road and Michonne tells him that the war is over now.  He has to let everything go.  Rick remembers that Bob said he needed to pick his moments.  The motor home’s engine roars to life, but Rick has a task.  He has to bury the gun, just in case.

When they approach the gates, Rick’s eyes grow large as he hears children playing.  Michonne grabs his hand.  “Ready?” he asks.  The group gets out and Rick grabs Judith.  Carol tells him that even though he was wrong, he’s still right.

The team has arrived at Alexandria.  But is it going to be the safe haven they want it to be?  Tune in next week!

The Walking Dead Recap S5E9: What Happened and What’s Going On

The Walking Dead S5E9: What Happened and What’s Going On

Original Airdate: February 8, 2015

Recap by Sarabeth Pollock

 

Welcome back, Walkers! It’s time to get this season started again!

We begin as a shovel sifts through the earth.  A picture is on a desk.  Maggie and Noah sob.  Father Gabriel offers a blessing as we have flashbacks of the prison, and where everyone has been.  Noah tells Rick that Beth was going to Virginia with him.  Rick tells the rest of the group that Noah says there was a safe space there.  If it doesn’t work out, then they keep going.  (Oh, and it looks like Eugene is alive)  The flashbacks keep coming, including seeing Mica and Lizzie.  Lizzie even has a hole in her head.  They look at the picture in the frame; it’s a house.  “It’s better now,” Mica says, smiling.  Blood pools on the picture.

Ok, so we’re off to a creepy start….

The car speeds down the road.  Noah is guiding Tyreese, Glenn, Michonne and Rick toward this sanctuary.  Rick checks in via radio with Carol to make sure the radios still work.  Noah tells them that the trade was the right move.  It just went wrong.  Tyreese recalls his father telling him that he needed to pay attention to what was going on around them when he was little.  “Paying a high cost of living,” his father called it. (Tyreese should be watching the road more carefully, by the way)  Noah thinks his mother and twin brothers are still alive.  Rick wants to leave the road and walk the last mile or so, just in case.

They leave the car with some abandoned ones, and Noah leads the way.  There’s a fence up, and Noah tells Michonne that his people wanted to do it, so they must have gotten around to it at last.  Noah nicks his forehead crawling under the fence.  Glenn pokes his head out and sees a gate.  There aren’t any spotters out today, which seems strange, really.  There is a grandfather clock on the road leading to the gates.  The gates are locked so Glenn climbs over to see what’s going on.  He gives a little shake of his head.  Noah climbs over, followed by the rest of the group.  Everything has been burned to the ground.  Bodies are strewn everywhere.  Noah grabs his head and collapses, sobbing.  Graffiti lines the walls and the neighborhood is like a ghost town.  Tyreese tells Noah that he’s part of their group now. As Michonne goes to clear out a Walker, Rick gets on his knees and tells Noah he’s sorry.  He suggests that they make a sweep to find supplies.  Rick radios in to Carol and reports that the town is gone.

As they sweep the town, Rick tells Glenn that Dawn didn’t mean to kill Beth.  He wanted to kill her, but he didn’t.  He tells Glenn that Beth wanted to get Noah back home, so this trip was for him.  It could have been for them, too, but clearly it isn’t.

Noah sits and weeps in the street.  Tyreese watches over him and tells Noah that he wanted to die, but then he had to keep going for Judith.  She was his mission.  If he’d given up, that never would have happened.  He chose to live.  “This isn’t the end,” he tells Noah.  Noah gets up from the ground as Tyreese cheers him on.  He limps away toward an abandoned house.

Glenn tells Rick he was thinking about the guy in the storage container at Terminus and how he stopped before he died.  He got Maggie back.  Losing the hope in going to Washington, and losing Beth after finding out she was alive, that was hard.  He would have shot Dawn dead.  Michonne tells them to stop.  They could be out there too long.  Noah rushes down to his house and demands to go inside.  Tyreese wants to go in first.  The door’s open and there’s blood on the walls.  Noah follows closely.  Inside there is a woman on the ground with her head bashed in.  Noah covers her up.  He tells her that he tried to get back sooner.  Tyreese continues into the hallway and comes upon a door that is closed.  The sound of Walkers is behind it.  A dead boy is in the bedroom.  Tyreese pauses and sees pictures of the twins on the wall.  As he looks, the Walker twin sneaks up and bites him on the arm.  Noah rushes in and stabs his brother in the eye with a model plane.  Noah tells Tyreese to wait while he gets help.  Oh no, not Tyreese!

The picture is on the ground.  The radio in the boys’ room drones on with a report about attacks and military forces.  We see the prison tower.  Tyreese gets a visit from the man he didn’t kill back in the cabin.  The ghost ponders what would have happened if he hadn’t been allowed to live.  Bob shows up and says the ghost is full of bull shit, given that he’d been bitten at the food shed.  The Governor appears and says that Tyreese had promised to do what it took to earn his keep.  Mica and Lizzie say it’s better now.  It isn’t better now, the Governor growls.  He’s replaced by a Walker who charges at Tyreese in a rage.  Tyreese uses a geode to smash his brain in.  His arm is gushing blood.  The Walker leaks blood down onto the picture.

Michonne gathers supplies and tells Rick that they could reinforce it again.  He doesn’t like that it’s in a forest without sight lines.  Michonne says they could cut the trees to build walls.  She goes through the hole to make a point, but then she sees that the bodies have been mangled.  There’s something horribly wrong with the way things went down in this little town.  Glenn says that it didn’t matter who killed Dawn.  “Washington,” Michonne says.  She thinks Eugene knew there would be a chance in Washington.  There might be people there, and now that they’re less than a hundred miles away and right now they’re just “making it.”  It would be a better chance than anything.  “We should go to Washington,” Rick agrees.

They hear Noah screaming and find him under attack from a group of Walkers.  They clear them away and Noah tells them that Tyreese has been bitten.  The group runs off to help.

Beth is there, playing her guitar.  Mica and Lizzie tell Tyreese that things are better.  The Governor tells Tyreese that he didn’t adapt or change even though he tried to tell Tyreese that he needed to change.  Bob agrees that this is all there is.  Tyreese tells the Governor that he is dead and that he forgave Carol because it isn’t over yet.  He never turned away, he kept listening to the news and he kept going so he could do what he could do to help. Nobody has to die today, he says.  The Governor shoves him against the wall and says that he has to pay the bill.  The girls grab his hand and hold it as Tyreese fades away.

Back in reality, it’s Rick who is holding his hand, holding it tight so that Michonne can hack it off.  With one swipe, the arm is gone.  But is it too late?

We see Rick and company carrying Tyreese out, and now we see the dreamy sequence from the beginning of the episode once again.  This is what Tyreese is seeing.  Noah tries to keep Tyreese safe while the rest of the group takes out the Walkers who have gathered around the fence.  We get a nice slow-motion sequence showing Walkers being killed.  As they run out, the voices keep talking to him, telling him that it’s going the way it was supposed to.  Beth sings to him as the girls smile at him.  “I’m a struggling man and I’ve gotta move on,” she sings.

They get to the car and Rick tells Carol that they need to cauterize the wound, and that Sasha and Carl don’t need to see what happened.  The tires are stuck in mud and Rick hits the car in front of him.  The trunk is full of Walker heads.

Tyreese hears the radio reports of what was happening in the camps after the start of the virus.  He sees Noah, but then the vision shifts and Beth is driving.  She’s alive and happy.  The girls are beside him, smiling.  Bob looks back from the front seat.  The truck stops and the group takes Tyreese’s body out.

Now we see the dirt again, and the shovel.  Father Gabriel speaks.  Sasha scoops dirt onto a grave.  We hadn’t seen Beth’s burial.  It was Tyreese’s funeral.

Rick digs quickly.  We see a cross with Tyreese’s hat on it.

RIP, Tyreese.

(Ok, so there isn’t much to add to this fantastic episode…  Tyreese will be sorely missed.  But wasn’t it great to see Beth, Bob, the Governor, and the Girls?)

See you next week!

The Walking Dead’s Dawn and Machiavelli’s Prince

(Spoilers for The Walking Dead: Coda)

I majored in political science and history in college.  I sleep with a copy of Machiavelli’s Prince next to my bed.  I’ve learned a lot from that little tome of wisdom from the Renaissance.  And when I heard Dawn telling Beth about how you have to have respect in order to maintain control, I heard Machiavelli in her words.

Niccolo Machiavelli wrote The Prince during the Renaissance as a guidebook for the ruling Medici Family in a time when Florence needed strong leadership.  In the book, he describes different types of leaders and how they are either successful or failures, depending on how they choose to rule their realms.  For example, the nice Prince who lets his people do what they want will be perceived as weak,  but a iron-fisted Prince who establishes rules will be seen as strong, and should he bestow occasional rewards to his people, he will be respected and loved.

Dawn was in a precarious situation from the very first moment we met her.  She had assumed control of Grady Hospital after killing her friend and mentor, Hanson.  He cracked under pressure, and people died.  Dawn created a world within the walls of Grady where she was in control, and her control depended upon the relationship between her police and the wards.  After the midseason finale, we learned that she was well aware of the good cops and the bad cops.  She was paying attention.  But as she told Beth, she had to maintain their respect in order to maintain control.  You can’t allow the inmates to run the asylum, as they say.

Dawn’s fatal flaw was her request to Rick for Noah’s return.  She thought she had to make that request in front of her people.  She thought it would be best to show that she was in control of the situation, but making that request is what began the chain of events that led to Beth’s death, and ultimately her own.

I don’t think Dawn was a villain.  She was never as ruthless as The Governor, nor was she as frenetic and volatile as Gareth.  In her mind, she was doing the right thing in the only way she knew how.

The internet has been buzzing with speculation about whether or not Dawn killed Beth on purpose.  I’m of the opinion that she didn’t mean to pull the trigger.  (Unless, of course, she was looking for a way out)  The shocked look on Dawn’s face was enough to make me think that she had no intention of killing Beth.  Dawn respected Beth.  Beth’s death, and Dawn’s subsequent departure, were unintended consequences of an unintentional action. (Which is to say that Beth stabbed Dawn, Dawn’s finger slipped on the trigger, Beth died, and Daryl shot Dawn)  It would have been interesting to see what life in The Walking Dead world would have been like with Beth and Dawn in it.  At least, for a little while longer.

 

In sum, I believe that Machiavelli would approve of Dawn’s system at Grady. Dawn ruled with a heavy hand, but as we saw with Beth, she also knew how to  play nice when the time called for it.  Of course, everything Dawn did was incredibly calculated, so even when she was “nice” (as in giving Beth the key to the medicine cabinet) she had ulterior motives.  However, this is something that Machiavelli would see as a favorable trait in a leader.

 

 

The Walking Dead Recap S5E7: Crossed

The Walking Dead S5E7: Crossed

Original Airdate: November 23, 2014

Recap by Sarabeth Pollock

 

It’s that time of year, fellow Walkers. As we approach the midseason finale, the action is heating up.

Sasha is breaking pews in the church.  Tyreese is dismantling the organ, handing the pipes to Daryl.  Father Gabriel asks Daryl if they’re taking the cross as well.  Only if they need it, he replies.  Rick tells Michonne that Carl wants to go to Atlanta but he can’t.  She says that she’ll go so he can stay, where he belongs.  Rick holds Judith one last time before handing her back to Michonne, and then he hugs Carl.  The group leaves, with Michonne, Judith, Carl and Gabriel in the church.  Judith cries as the door closes.  Once it’s closed, Michonne and Carl board up the doors.  Gabriel stares at the dried blood on the floor from the Gareth Party Massacre.  He scratches at it, then scrubs with his hands. He’s sweaty.  I think he’s having a breakdown.

The truck barrels down the road. Tyreese and Sasha sit in the back talking.  He tells her he understands how she feels about Bob.  When he continues, she tells him to stop.  She doesn’t want to hear it.

In Atlanta, Beth does her chores but she takes a moment to check on Carol.  Dr. Edwards comes in to check on her progress.

We return to the road, where Abraham’s group ponders the sea of Walkers gathered on the farm.  Glen has his gun at the ready.  “Buckle up” the sign behind him advises.  Tara has used the last of the water.  She has dubbed the group “Greatm”, which represents their initials.  Eugene is still out cold. Glen ponders taking him back to the church.  Rosita offers water to Abraham, who refuses it and then slaps it away.  He’s in a daze.  He stands and stares at Rosita, and Maggie aims her gun at him.  She orders him to sit down or be put down.  Eventually he listens.

Rick wants to retain the upper hand in their siege upon the hospital.  Everything has to be quiet and fast.  No guns.  Rick divides the areas up.  He is going to take down Dawn.  Noah assures them that the wards will help them if it means they will be free.  Tyreese wants to know what happens if his plan doesn’t work.  He proposes keeping two of the cops as prisoners.  Daryl agrees that using the cops as leverage will be a good idea.  Everyone goes home.

At the church, Gabriel is still scrubbing. Carl tells him to choose a weapon.  He needs to learn to defend himself.  Gabriel doesn’t think he deserves to be protected. Carl tells him that he’s lucky the church has lasted so long, and they can’t stay in one place anymore.  Gabriel chooses a machete, but he doesn’t hold it properly.  Carl tries to tell him how to do it, but Gabriel doesn’t want to learn. He needs to lie down.

Beth scrubs the floor while Dawn talks to an officer, who is arguing that they’re wasting resources on Carol.  Beth interrupts, telling them that the officer is wasting their electricity charging his DVD player every day.  Dawn tells her to switch off the life support, and the officer leaves, satisfied.  Dawn tells Beth that they have a fragile balance at the hospital, and that she just killed the patient.  However, Dawn gives Beth the key to the drug locker and tells her that she will be able to save her.  She doesn’t trust anyone with the key, not even Edwards.  A call comes in on the radio about a gunshot about a mile from the hospital.  She dispatches some officers.  Beth wants to know why she is doing this.  Dawn says she thought Beth was weak, but Beth proved her wrong.

Glen says they will need more water before moving.  Maggie volunteers to stay behind while Glen, Tara and Rosita go to the creek.  Tara cracks jokes about their situation, but she misses Eugene.  She doesn’t blame him for using his intelligence to save his life.  Back at the truck, Maggie grabs a ladder while Abraham stares in the distance.  She uses it to form a little shade tent for Eugene.  She goes to Abraham and says that he needs to get over himself.  He isn’t the only one who lost something, and things aren’t going to get any better.

Beth knocks on Edwards’ door.  She asks to come inside.  She wants to know what medicine to give Carol.  Edwards says that if Dawn gave her the key then she did it for a reason.  He says he had been trying to save his life before, but he isn’t sure that he was better off staying alive.  He tells Beth to use epinephrine, and that she’ll wake up after a while.  He wishes her luck.

The creek is muddy.  Tara wonders if they should go upstream, but Rosita has a solution.  She built a water filter with a water bottle, and while it’s slow, they can boil it.  Tara asks if Rosita was with Abraham before.  She had been in Dallas, and then Abraham pulled up in his big truck with Eugene.  He saw her skills and asked her to help.  But now she wonders if he was lying too.

The cops drive into a cluster of buildings.  They find Noah limping away, and they catch him.  He goes quietly, which eventually leads one of the officers to wonder what he was shooting at.  Behind them, Rick and his gang are there waiting for them.  Rick takes over, telling them to put their guns down.  Rick says they need to talk.  He offers them water and food.  Officer Lanson wonders if Rick is a cop too.  Noah says he was one of the only good cops.  But before they can talk, the blue car returns and rescues the officers, but not before Sasha shoots out the tire.  The officers scatter in a burned out courtyard filled with badly burned Walkers.  Rick gives chase.  One of the officers tackles Daryl, and Daryl uses the head of one of the Walkers to get the officer off of him.  Rick shows up and aims the gun at the officer’s head, but Daryl reminds him that three hostages are better than one.

The group leads their hostages into the warehouse.  The female officer says that they can help them make the plan work.  They have wanted to get rid of Dawn for a while now and if they are released they can take care of her and free their friends.  Lanson tells her to be quiet, realizing that Sasha, Daryl and Tyreese are listening to them, as in actually listening to them.  And Lanson isn’t interested in anything other than peaceful resolution.  He wants to help them.

The Walking Dead Recap S5E6: Consumed

The Walking Dead S5E6: Consumed

Original Airdate: November 16, 2014

Recap by Sarabeth Pollock

 

It’s hard to believe that after tonight we’re only two episodes away from the midseason finale.  Crazy.

And of course it will be another week before we learn whether or not Eugene is still alive….

But for now, we start out tonight with a return to when Rick left Carol in the little neighborhood.  She drives for a while, but then she breaks down in tears down the road as the reality sets in.  Walkers surround the car, but she doesn’t care.  “Go away!” she screams before driving off again.  She arrives in a town and finds a law office that seems to be untouched.  She shakes a pencil holder to see if the noise draws anyone out.  It seems to be empty, so she gets comfortable, though she sleeps with her hand on her gun.  The next day she awakens to see fire rising from the prison.  She drives like mad and arrives to see that the whole place is on fire.

We return to the night that Daryl and Carol drive off after Beth.  Daryl is explaining how he and Beth were together.  (As they drive and converse, they run over a Walker)  Their car is about to run out of gas.  They plan to surprise whoever has taken Beth, with the plan to do whatever is necessary to get Beth back.  They follow the car into Atlanta and it stops.  Daryl stops and sees that there are two people in the car.  One is a cop.  He clears the road so that they can drive through.  Walkers surround their car.  The car carrying Beth drives away.

Daryl can’t start their car so Carol tells him that she knows a place they can hide.  They run off into the night and find themselves in an office building.  Daryl asks if Carol used to “work here or something,” to which Carol replies “or something.”  The building is quiet and they have a set of keys courtesy of the dead guard.  Carol says that it’s temporary housing for abused women and children.  Carol says they didn’t stay long.  There are bunk beds and Carol tells Daryl to take the bottom bunk while she takes first watch, even though they are pretty secure.  She asks him about being able to start over.  He says he’s trying to.  He encourages her to say what’s on her mind.  She doesn’t think they can save people anymore.  I suppose that’s a double entendre.  “Then why are you here?” Daryl asks.  She lies down on the bed with him.  He asks what would have happened if he hadn’t shown up when she was at the car.  She isn’t sure.  There is a banging noise, so they go to investigate.  Inside one of the rooms is a pair of doors made of frosted glass.  There is a woman and her child, both of them Walkers.  He tells her she doesn’t have to do anything, but she feels she must.

The next day, Carol awakens to find that Daryl is outside on the roof.  A fire is burning and he’s carrying the body of the child, draped in a white sheet.  She joins him, and she thanks him after the body is in the fire.  Smoke billows up into the air.

We return to the cabin as Tyreese and Carol bury Lizzie and Mika.  She has the same vacant expression on her face.

Back in the present, they pack up and get ready to scout the city on foot in search of Beth.  Daryl lights a fire to distract the roaming Walkers, and he and Carol make their way to the inside of a parking garage.  They’re an office, and a man is watching.  Inside one of the corridors, there are a dozen Walkers in sleeping bags and tents.  The duo quickly kills the sleeping bag Walkers and sneak inside the hospital proper.  They find a well-appointed office with a view of the burned out city.  Carol wonders how they got there.  She tells Daryl that he still hasn’t asked about when she was with Tyreese and the girls.  He said he knows they aren’t here, and she says it was worse than that.  Daryl spots one of the vans with the crosses on it like the one that took Beth.  Carol fills their water bottles while Daryl admires the expensive art that some asshole probably paid a lot of money for.  They leave, but the man who had been watching them confiscates their weapons.  He cuts open the tents full of Walkers and takes off before Carol and Daryl can stop him.  Now they have no weapons, and Daryl tells her that she has to be in the moment.  She doesn’t want anyone to die, but she’s not sure she believes in God anymore.  She drops her bag, and Daryl sees the book about helping people deal with abuse.

Carol flashes back to when she set Karen and David on fire at the prison.

Now she and Daryl are walking around in Atlanta.  They find the van on a highway bridge, dangling off the edge.  The city is eerie and quiet.  And empty.  Daryl jumps into the van, even though Carol is lighter.  Walkers approach the teetering van.  Inside they find papers and a little statue of Mary.  The gurney says Grady Memorial Hospital.  Before they can do anything with that information, the van is surrounded by Walkers.  They climb in and drive the off the bridge.  (They’re holding hands)  The van lands on its wheels and Walkers soon start plopping and splatting on top of them.  They get out and start walking again.

Later, Daryl asks Carol to prove she’s fine.  She’s in bad shape, but she says she’s “had worse,” referring to a nasty bruise on her collarbone.  They figure they are three blocks from the hospital.  Daryl wants to scout it out to see what they can find.  They go inside a nearby building and they camp out with a perfect view of the hospital.  While they wait, Daryl asks what she meant when she said he isn’t the way he was before.  She says before he was like a little kid, and now he’s a man.  She tells him that she and Sophia were in the shelter for almost two days before they went back to her husband.  Carol thinks that she got to be the person she was meant to be when they were at the prison.  But now everything “consumes you.”  Down the hall, a Walker is pinned to the wall with an arrow.  They hear gunshots and Carol and Daryl race to see what’s happening.  That’s when they see the man with their weapons, but they’re intercepted by Walkers.  Carol is attacked but she can’t fight, so Daryl saves her.  He finds the man who took their weapons and he pins him to the ground with a bookcase while Walkers try to burst in the door.  Now we can see that it’s Noah, the kid that Beth saved from the hospital.  Daryl seems content to leave him there.  He lights a cigarette and tells him that he tried to save him once but he isn’t going to do it again.  Carol begs him to save the boy as the Walker bursts in.  Daryl shoots the Walker with an arrow and gives Carol a long look.

Carol flashes back to the battle at Terminus when she was covered in Walker blood and gore.   Gunshots ring out as the battle rages on and the fires burn.

Carol helps to free Noah from the bookshelf.  He races to the window to see what’s happening.  He says they probably heard the gunshots and will come after them.  Daryl demands to know who he’s talking about.  Noah says it’s the people at the hospital, and Daryl asks if he saw a blonde girl.  “Beth?” Noah asks.  Noah explains that she saved him and he’s trying to save her.  Now that they know they’re on the same side, they move along together.  They go downstairs because Noah says there is a safe building across the street.  He stumbles and falls, so Daryl helps him while Carol steps outside.  As she crosses the street, she’s run down by the medics, who load her up on a stretcher.  Noah holds Daryl back, telling him that they can help her at the hospital but they’re going to need a lot of help getting her out.  They have guns and people.  “So do we,” Daryl says.  They work to escape the throngs of Walkers and take a van so that they can flee the city.  They drive along in silence.

Well, now we know who is with Daryl back at the church.  This was definitely a slower-paced episode, but it gives us some background on what Carol had been doing up until she reunited with Tyreese.  Are the flashbacks a sign of strength, or madness?  Will she be able to move forward after this?

What did you think of the episode?  Leave your comments below!