60 Second Recap:
We start season five right where we left off: with everyone stuck in a train car in Terminus. Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Bob are taken by Gareth and his crew to the slaughterhouse. Tyreese and Carol come across a Terminus member, Martin, outside the fence and hold him hostage. After he threatens to kill baby Judith, Tyreese goes on a rampage and kills him. Carol goes undercover to investigate Terminus and covers herself in walker blood. She blows up a propane tank, making Terminus more vulnerable to the oncoming herd of walkers. Rick and the others use the explosion as a distraction to escape and free the rest of their group. They escape into the woods after killing as many walkers and Terminus members as they can. Carol kills Mary in the weird candle room. She later finds Rick and the group and is welcomed back with open arms. Afterwards they are all reunited with Tyreese and Judith.
Character Development:
Rick:
So it looks like Rick has finally reached a kind of peace with his humanity and his brutality. He's comfortable being the guy who will rip your throat out if you threaten Carl but will also risk his life to save you if you're trapped in a train car. He has become the man Shane said he never could be.
Before you judge Rick too harshly for wanting to go back and kill everyone in Terminus, you have to consider what just happened to him less than a month ago. That psycho he didn't kill the first time (the Governor) found him again, blew up his home and killed Herschel. Can you really blame Rick for not wanting something like that to happen again? And lets be honest here, the people in Terminus are a special breed of evil. The Governor was cruel but at least he didn't eat children.
Wow. Talk about a character arc. If she's not your new favorite character, I don't know what more she'd have to do to earn the honor. She has consistently shown intelligence, patience and calmness under pressure. She'll do the dirty work no one else wants to but still hasn't lost her ability to love and nurture. Some of her decisions may fall on the gray side of the black and white spectrum but at the end of the day, she does what she has to do to protect her family. She took her old label as "victim" and learned from it. She's determined not to let anyone else become a victim as well (i.e. teaching the kids how to use knives). This kind of philosophy is valuable in a post apocalyptic world (how will she ever get along with super dud, Eugene?). It will be interesting to see how she interacts in a social setting again now that she's reunited with Daryl and the gang. Will the group be ok with her occasional brutality or will she be ostracized? Judging by their emotional hug, it doesn't look like Rick will be having any problems with Carol's dark side. The real question will be if the two of them are able to work together as a team. Will Rick be ok conceding some of his leadership responsibilities to Carol if she decides she wants them?
Tyreese:
Tyreese is easily one of the most complex characters of the group. Not unlike the Hulk, Tyrese is locked in a never ending battle between his extreme rage and his extreme gentleness. Its easy to forget with our six month hiatus that in the Walking Dead universe, Tyreese just watched his adopted daughter kill her sister and learned that Carol killed his girlfriend. He's still processing all this information and is understandably a bit traumatized from it. At his core, Tyreese is good. He is kind. Now, those may not be especially valuable qualities to have in an apocalyptic setting, but he's slowly learning how to be different. Tyreese is lucky that he's so physically intimidating and strong because its what has kept him alive so far. He hasn't had to deal with as much carnage as Rick or Carol, so he's not as emotionally hardened as they are. Tyreese will have a strong ally in Sasha now that they're reunited. They will work through their difficulties together and keep each other in check.
The rest of the group:
Glenn sure did have some close calls this week! It's nice to see him take on Herschel's role as moral compass of the group. Hopefully he won't suffer the same fate as its previous inhabitants (R.I.P. Herschel and Dale).
Sasha, as always, is quick to pick up on something when it smells fishy. She's weary of Eugene and his vague sounding plan for a "cure". Hopefully the rest of the group will explore Sasha's reservations more before they decide to head up to D.C. and "save the world".
 |
| Michonne is having none of Eugene's shit either. |
The unsung acting hero of the episode: baby Judith.
 |
| "Oh shit. There's a knife. I better quiet down." |
 |
| "I'm sorry but who the hell are you?" |
Hopefully everyone watched the show past the credits because we were treated to quite the bonus scene:
MORGAN IS BACK!!!
His return raises a whole slew of new questions. Is he evil or is he good? Who made those markings on the trees in the woods? Will he ever find Rick again?
The Terminus guys:
The Walking Dead does a pretty good job of showing that no matter how wretched or anti-social a character may be, everyone has a story. Everyone has a past that made them the way they are today. We saw that with the Governor and to a certain extent we've seen that with closed off characters like Daryl and Michonne (and even Carol). It looks like the group at Terminus used to do exactly what they advertised: create a sanctuary for people. But as we've learned before, when its a matter of survival, all bets are off and the living become more dangerous than the dead. Some unknown group of people came in and took over Terminus, raping and killing as they pleased. The surviving members of Terminus (they included Gareth, his brother and their mom) then took back their home and vowed never to be fooled again. Their story is sad, of course but it still doesn't justify becoming cannibals.
Sadly, we didn't see Gareth die (or technically his mother for that matter) so he's bound to return at some point. Hopefully he won't wreak too much havoc before he's killed off for good.
And now, lets talk about that reunion:
Fans of The Walking Dead are often asked, why keep watching a show that has so much gore, death and hopelessness? It's true, there are moments where it gets so dark that you have to step away from the screen for a while (two words: Lizzie and Mika). Those are the kinds of moments that give this show the weight it needs to surpass its campy premise (i.e. zombie show). But where there is darkness, there is always light. Its the little things: a drunk hang out with friends (season 1 eating around the campfire), an exchange of flowers (season 2, Daryl and Carol) or even a giant can of pudding (season 4, Carl). These are the moments that define what it means to be a human.
Notice how few words were even exchanged during this week's reunion scene. There was no need for them, not when you have beautifully acted moments like these:
And this:
OR THIS:
 |
| THE. NUZZLING. (credit MissGreene) |
Dialogue isn't one of The Walking Dead's strong suits and it looks like they're finally starting to embrace it. When you take into consideration everything we know about a character like Daryl Dixon (reserved, quick to anger, loner) and then watch him do something like this, it adds so many unspoken layers of emotion to the scene. It's not just a hug, its a physical representation of Daryl's growth as a character. He openly acknowledges that he cares about someone other than himself, that he's vulnerable and that he needs people. That's character development that packs a punch.
And let us not forget:
 |
| The bro-mantical shoulder grab heard 'round the world. |
Watch the full reunion scene here
Overall:
Well, that was one hell of a way to silence all the naysayers. Quick paced, thrilling and equal parts heart pounding/warming, "No Sanctuary" is sure to go down as one of The Walking Dead's greatest episodes ever. It was nice having a faster resolution to a major plot line than we're used to seeing. The only negative feedback the episode is receiving is the fact that none of the major characters died in their escape from Terminus. Personally, I'm still recovering from last season's deaths so I'm perfectly fine with some much needed happiness.
Walker kill of the week:
Tyreese's cabin rampage. Ah, the power of the imagination. We experienced this scene through Martin's terrified perspective and it made it that much more amazing. The eerie silence following all the ruckus outside was a nice touch. One look at the aftermath and you know Tyreese went full Hulk:
 |
| Seriously though, don't mess with Tyreese. |
Best quotes:
1."That's what I'm going to use to kill you."--Resident Sassy Pants, Rick Grimes
2. "I don't have any friends. I mean, I know people but they're just assholes I stay alive with."--Martin, the prisoner
3. "We gotta let those people out. That's still who we are, its gotta be."--New Resident Moral Compass of the Group, Glenn Rhee
4. "I'm not fleet of foot, sure as hell can't take a dead one down with some sharpened buttons and hella confidence"--Resident Weirdo, Eugene
5. "I'm gonna kill people."--Resident Badass, Carol Peletier
6. Favorite exchange:
"We got a place where everyone's welcome"--Martin
"Shut up man."--Tyreese
"Ok."-Martin
Side note:
I only figured these things out after watching Sunday night's episode of "Talking Dead":
1. Thought this guy looked familiar?
Well there's a reason for that, he's Sam, one of the hippies Carol and Rick bumped into last season when they went on a supply run during the plague at the prison. Rick gave him his watch so that he'd know what time to meet up with them at. (Also, the actor, Robin Lord Taylor, plays Oswald Cobblepot on Fox's Gotham)
2. "Terminus Mary" was Gareth's mother and the guy slumped against the carving station in the slaughterhouse was Gareth's brother Alex (who was killed last season in the confrontation with Rick's group). And yes, that means that the Terminus folks were going to eat one of their own.
3. The crazy tattooed guy Rick and Glenn rescued from the train car was supposed to be the same guy that terrorized Gareth and his mother in the final "THEN" flashback scene at the end of the episode:
Technical stuff:
How impressive were these shots?
Say what?!
Who knew fireworks were so easy to aim at very specific targets? Also, as adorable as those little booties were, Judith is cleaner than most babies not living during the apocalypse.
Episode grade: A+
BONUS: to lighten the mood a little bit, I put together a couple hilarious Walking Dead memes on my humor blog
Trailer for next week's episode:
No comments:
Post a Comment