We've reached the 90 minute finale for Season 5 of The Walking Dead and things have gotten to a breaking point in Alexandria. Our heroes have lost Bob, Beth, Tyreese and Noah in a very short amount of time in their world, and their new home is currently being jeopardized by "W" Walkers, lazy security, an abusive husband, and crazy ass Rick Grimes. Can the gang hold on to hope for success in this community? Here's where we are with "Conquer."
Worn Out Places, Worn Out Faces
The episode opens with Morgan asleep in the back seat of a broken down car. He looks up to see a rabbit's foot hanging from the rear view mirror, smiles, then builds a fire outside to start breakfast. Just another morning I guess. Morgan looks healthy, happy (all things considered), and in total control of his life these days. Of course I spoke too soon. A man with a gun approaches him. He's got a sunken in dirty face and a "W" on his forehead, making him the first living person we've seen with that mark. He tells Morgan, "You know, the first settlers here put bounties on wolves' heads, brought the natives into it, made them hunt them. Didn't take them too long to kill them all. They're back now." This makes zero sense to me and I'm not sure that Morgan completely understands either. But I will say I'm intrigued.
The Wolves dude makes small talk about how he misses movies and then informs Morgan that he wants everything Morgan has...he also mentions that Morgan won't be alive much longer. Morgan says that he'll give up all of his supplies but cannot be taken away from the area. Another guy jumps out from the bushes but Morgan has a nifty walking stick that he uses to beat the shit out of these assholes. He puts them in the back of the car he slept in, honks the horn, takes the rabbits foot and leaves the two thieves in the car.
Bright And Early For The Daily Races
Daryl and Aaron continue their quest to find more people to bring home to Alexandria. They are on the trail of what they think is a nearby group when Daryl asks about the people Deanna has sent away in the past. Aaron says it was early on in their community life and it was a group of three: two men and one woman. They were driven far from Alexandria, given a day's worth of food, and left to fend for themselves without weapons.
Daryl sees a guy in a red poncho walking nearby. Red Riding Hood alert! They follow him but somehow lose him in the woods. How do you lose a guy in a red poncho? I thought Daryl had crazy good tracking skills. Anyway, they come upon what looks like a canned goods warehouse and decide it's better to at least go home with food at this point. Unfortunately the food trucks only have Walkers in them (it's a trap!) and Daryl has to do some Indiana Jones shit with a chain to get them to safety...kinda. They end up in a car in the parking lot but the Walkers surround them completely. Inside the car Aaron finds a note that says "Trap. Bad people coming. Don't stay." Looks like that last part was written in blood.
Daryl and Aaron don't have many options at this point. Daryl pulls out a cigarette and says he's going to get out of the car and draw the Walkers away after he finishes his smoke. He tells Aaron to run for the fence when he distracts them. Daryl, I love you, but there are SO many Walkers. I'm not even sure how you'll open your door without getting eaten. Aaron must feel the same way because he tells Daryl they are going to go together. Before they can embark on this suicide mission, Morgan is there! He's got his badass walking stick and he saves the day! Aaron tells Morgan about their community but Morgan says he's already on his way somewhere. He pulls out the map that Abraham had left behind for Rick when the groups parted ways back the the church...the one that says "Sorry I was an asshole. Come to Washington. The new world's gonna need Rick Grimes."
The Wolves are revealed as the group who set the trap, and they eventually return to find all of the Walkers roaming the warehouse area. They have red poncho guy in their possession and they slit his throat...so there will be one less Alexandria recruit for Aaron and Daryl if they return to look for him.
Hide My Head, I Want To Drown My Sorrow
Rick wakes up from Michonne's awesome blow to the head and finds himself bandaged up and receiving the look of death from his fellow constable (though I'm assuming he's fired). Michonne tells Rick they moved Pete to another house and asks why Rick kept his gun from her. Carol walks in right on time and asks Rick if he stole the gun from the armory, telling him it was a stupid thing to do. Nice, Carol. CYA. Rick plays along but he's bummed to learn that Deanna is holding a meeting that night to discuss kicking him out of the community. Carol says Rick needs to tell them what they want to hear, but Rick is still in defensive mode and talks about threatening to kill Deanna, Reg, and Spencer if they try to throw him out.
Maggie approaches Deanna to defend Rick, and Reg is in Maggie's corner which is a nice change of
pace for these Alexandria idiots. She reports back to Glenn, who seems very worried about how the meeting will go. Carol, doing the 180 that she's gotten so good at, visits Rick again by herself and says what happened with Pete was ultimately a good thing. She then hands him another gun. Rick says he doesn't want to lie anymore and Carol give us the first great lines of the episode: "You said you don't want to take this place...and you don't want to lie? Oh sunshine, you don't get both." Ha!
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| "No cookies for you." |
Pete, meanwhile, is sitting all by his lonesome in a different house with the curtains closed. Carol shows up with yet another casserole and Pete tells her to leave right away. She pulls out a knife and says she could kill him, and who would believe she did it for any other reason besides him attacking her? "Come at me. No? Yeah? No." So awesome. Carol then says, "You're a small, weak nothing. Play your cards right...maybe you don't have to die. I want my dish back clean when you're done." She leaves, he wastes a perfectly good meal by dropping the casserole, and he cries "this isn't my house!"
Pete's actual house is in disarray as Jessie is managing the broken window and most likely her broken heart. Rick shows up to not really apologize because he thinks he did what was best, and she doesn't freak out the way I thought the might. She says people shouldn't see them talking right now but tells him he was right. Pete sees this from his window. Soooo the farthest they could separate him from his wife was putting him within eyesight of the porch? Good grief.
I Find It Hard To Take
Not sure if I've mentioned how angry Gabriel makes me. At least not today? He's no longer donning his priest garb and he asks to be let out of the gates for a quick walk. Spencer asks if he wants to take a gun with him and Gabriel replies "The word of God is the only protection I need." Gabriel whistles as he approaches a Walker. Is he trying to die? Oh pleeeeease tell me he's trying to die. He walks forward with his arms out and says "I'm ready." Yes! Oh my god! I'm clapping and yelling from my couch! Ultimately though Gabriel kills the Walker. The zombie has a noose around his neck that Gabriel uses to decapitate him. Then, of course, Gabriel cries. Color me pisssssssed. Gabriel walks back through the gates and Spencer is eager to get to Deanna's meeting. He asks Garbiel to close the gate behind him and of course the gate doesn't close all the way. Jackass.
When Gabriel returns to his church Sasha is waiting for him. She's still on her downward spiral and she's looking for some help. Gabriel says he can't help her because she doesn't deserve to be here. "Bob was mutilated, consumed, destroyed because of your sins. Your brother felt like he was apart from it and a was a part of it. He deserved to be here. You don't!" Ummm again, YOU LET THE PEOPLE OF YOUR CHURCH GET MASSACRED! Sasha attacks him and I think for sure this is it for Gabriel. Nope. Maggie arrives and talks Sasha out of killing him. The three of them then sit and pray together. Maggie, I want everything to work out too, but this guy has been a liability since day one.
Speaking of people who suck, Glenn is tracking Nicholas in the woods...or at least he thinks he is. Nicholas shoots him in the way only Nicholas can. He leaves a minor wound on Glenn's shoulder because again, he sucks at everything he does. They end up in a game of cat and mouse throughout the day and then have an encore of the Pete/Rick fight from last week. Glenn could kill him. Almost everyone else in the Grimes group would kill him. But Glenn spares Nicholas again because he's just not that far over the edge. Yet. He and Nicholas help each other back to the gate and here's hoping Nicholas is done being a douchebag.
Sit And Listen, Sit And Listen
Tara is on the mend. Abraham visits her and Eugene is sleeping by her bedside. Awwww. Smokin Hot Rosita deliberately wakes Eugene up so he and Abraham have to hash out whatever issues they have left. Eugene thanks Abraham for all he's done and sincerely apologizes for his lie. Abraham apologizes for almost killing Eugene, and it looks like these two are going to be able to move forward as bros.
Rick and Michonne also have a score to settle. He's sitting in his room looking thoughtful when Michonne arrives to see if he's ready to go to the meeting. He comes clean about the guns and the plan he, Carol and Daryl made in case things didn't work out in the community. Michonne says they don't need guns and she doesn't need her sword. She tells Rick they can find a way. "And if we don't, I'm still with you." I love her so much. She heads out to the meeting and leaves Rick to go back to all of his thinking. He looks out the window and sees the open gate (because Gabriel sucks). Rick finds a trail of blood and knows he has to go hunting. Sure enough, there are Walkers making their way through the streets and he takes care of them.
It's A Very, Very Mad World
Rick is missing from the meeting and Deanna doesn't care. She starts the meeting anyway. Michonne, Carol, Abraham and Maggie speak on Rick's behalf. While the ladies are very heartfelt, Abraham delivers the next awesome lines of the night. "There is a vast ocean of shit that you people don't know shit about. Rick knows every fine grain of said shit and then some." Deanna then shares the nonsense Gabriel told her and Jessie speaks up. Yes! She points out that Gabriel isn't there but Deanna immediately reminds everyone that Rick isn't there either. Wellllll, just as the next person starts to speak, Rick arrives covered in guts and carrying a Walker body.
Rick tells everyone there wasn't a guard at the gate and the gate was open. Spencer pipes in "I asked Gabriel to close it." Dude! Gabriel sucks! Deanna yells at her son to go to the gate and Rick says the dead and the living are always going to find a way in. He promises to show the people in the community how to protect themselves, but they have to agree to change their ways. "Luck runs out."
Pete stumbles into the meeting then yelling "you're not one of us!" and Reg tries to hold him back. Pete has Michonne's sword though and he's waving it around recklessly. He slits Reg's throat and Abraham pins Pete to the ground. Deanna sobs and holds her dying husband. She looks up at Rick and says "Rick, do it." Rick does without hesitation....just as Morgan, Daryl and Aaron walk in.
The episode ends with Michonne considering placing her sword back on the mount over the fireplace, but she wears it instead. Yup, you're going to have to cling to your old self a little more than you thought you would. Elsewhere the Wolves are resetting their trap and looking through Aaron's backpack. Could they be the two guys Deanna exiled? They see the pictures Aaron keeps of Alexandria and as the camera pans out, the Walker red poncho guy slinks past a sign that says "Wolves Not Far." Nope, they sure aren't.
Whew. That's quite an end to one hell of a season. We had a lot of close calls in this episode but no major deaths. I do feel a little bad about Reg. Not sure whose going to take notes now, but Pete had to kill recklessly for Deanna to understand that she's not protecting her community the way she thought she was. With Morgan in the picture now, Glenn and Maggie succeeding in their "one love" mission, and the people of Alexandria most likely ready to get behind Rick and his promises, I'm glad there's still hope for this group and their ability to expand their family. They'll need to band together while they can...because something terrible is on it's way. Having not read the comics, I'm not 100% sure what to expect with the Wolves, but anyone who carves Ws into the heads of the living and then kills them is not anyone who could be reasoned with in my mind. Really though, this was a great season with what looks like a great story on the horizon. We have quite a wait to find out what happens next, but in the meantime we'll have Fear The Walking Dead kicking off this summer. I will be recapping that as well and hoping it's an awesome way to spend TWD break. Til then.
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