The new season of The Walking Dead kicked off with a bang (literally) and we saw some serious close calls tonight. When we last left the group, Tyreese was continuing the journey with Carol and baby Judith, Beth was nowhere to be found, and everyone else who was still alive was locked in a train car at Terminus...which, by the way, was not a safe haven for all. Several mysteries from last season's finale were solved, but the road ahead continues to be treacherous for our beloved characters. Here's where we are after the premiere:
Terminus Then
We see a flashback of Gareth and other cannibals Terminus inhabitants locked away in a train car, much like our favorites were locked in at the end of season 4. Screams of terror are heard outside and we jump to the "now."
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Runaway Train
Rick and company are using all of their resources to make weapons and defenses - belts, zippers, pieces of wood from the train car, and so on. They are ready to fight the Terminus douchebags approaching the cars, but the douchebags are smarter than we thought. They drop a can of tear gas into the car from above and then storm in to grab Rick, Daryl, Glenn, Bob, and four other poor suckers out of a nearby car. These captives are dragged to a room and bent over a trough while the most recent victim is being butchered on a table close by. This is not good. Two of the butchers suit up and make their way to the end of the trough where the 4 other dudes are waiting (seriously, when it's 4 favorite characters and 4 extras, you know who's dying first). One butcher clobbers dude #1 over the head and the other slits his throat and dumps him forward. The other 3 extras meet their end that way as well. By the time the killers approach Glenn, there is a ton of blood gathering in front of him.
Gareth enters and Bob tries to reason with him. He says they can work through this (this totally reminds me of Rick's conversation with The Governor at the prison), but Gareth is only interested in the bag Rick buried in the woods. He holds a knife tip to Bob's face and I'm starting to really hate him. Rick names all of the weapons hidden in that bag, including a machete, and says "that's what I'm gonna use to kill you."
The conversation is interrupted by the sound of an explosion. Gareth goes off to investigate and tells the butchers to stay back with the fresh meat. Rick, who has been using a sharp sliver of the train car to undo the ties on his wrists, takes the opportunity to stab the shit out of the 2 butchers. He then frees Glenn, Bob, and Daryl as well as the captives still in the train car. YES!!!
Outside, Mary the bbq queen is having an "oh shit" moment as she realizes the defenses are down and the explosion allowed an army of Walkers into the compound. It's feeding time, flames be damned, and they are chewing the hell out of everybody. Rick's entire group makes it out of the compound safely, and they retreat to the woods to recover the bag of weapons.
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All Roads Lead To Terminus
Carol, Tyreese and Baby Judith continue to make their way to what they hope will be a sanctuary, but Carol informs Tyreese that she plans to only drop him and the baby off. She's not going to stay. A Walker approaches then and Tyreese chickens out of killing it. Carol doesn't have a ton of time to scold him because a whole hoard is on its way, drawn to the sound of gunfire or something like it nearby.
The trio takes another route and comes upon a Terminus douchebag near a cabin. He's preparing to set off fireworks (to draw the Walkers away from the compound) and talking shit about Michonne and Carl on a walkie talkie. Carol puts a gun on him, confiscates the walkie talkie, and ties him up in the cabin. She leaves "I don't want to kill nobody" Tyreese with the hostage and baby to go be a badass and approach Terminus.
Tyreese lays Judith down in an empty cooler and chats with the hostage. The douchebag tells calls Tyreese one of the good guys, saying "saving a baby is like saving an anchor when you're without a boat in the middle of the ocean." He then says that the good guys will be the ones that die today. He encourages Tyreese to take the baby, take his car, and get the hell out of there. Tyreese gets distracted by noises from the compound and approaching Walkers and completely misses the hostage grabbing Judith. Really Tyreese? The douchebag threatens to break Judith's neck and tells Tyreese to go outside, which he does. The hostage hears the sounds of the Walkers suddenly stop, approaches the door, and gets pummeled by Tyreese. Dude is dead pretty quickly.
Meanwhile Carol uses the ole zombie blood and guts bath to travel with the Walkers unnoticed. She reaches the fence, sees Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Bob being dragged into the butcher's warehouse, and she knows she has to act. With countless Walkers ready to invade, Carol shoots and blows up a massive gas tank which takes out the Terminus fences and allows the Walkers to overrun the compound. Carol is one bad bitch. And I love her. Love. Her.
Carol is still donning the zombie guts poncho and makes her way into Terminus around the same time Rick and company are executing their escape. She finds a room of weapons and teddy bears and also comes across that creepy room with candles and the names and belongings of people we assume have been barbecued at some point. We're reminded that the walls are painted with words like "NEVER AGAIN. NEVER TRUST. WE FIRST." The moment of observation is interrupted by bbq Mary, who makes a failed attempt to disarm Carol. Mary explains that Terminus was once a true survivor sanctuary before a group of bad people invaded and took it over (hence the flashback we got at the beginning of the episode). "They raped and they killed and they laughed over weeks, but we got out, and we fought and we heard the message: You're the butcher or you're the cattle." Carol doesn't care. She asks where her friends are...and shoots bbq Mary in the leg when she doesn't respond. Mary reiterates that Terminus now is what Terminus had to become, and proudly says "and we're still here." Carol responds "You're not here and neither am I." She then promptly lets the Walkers in the room and continues her journey to find the group.
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For Real. Carol Is Awesome.
Rick starts doling out the weapons and wants the group to go back into Terminus and take out any survivors. No one is on board with this plan and luckily Carol shows up as the perfect distraction. Daryl's reaction to seeing her is priceless. So emotional. Rick realizes Carol single-handedly saved their asses and before he can really thank her, she leads him and the rest of the group to the cabin....where they are reunited with Tyreese and Judith! I just about ugly cried. Tyreese tells Carol that he had to kill the hostage (I guess we're all supposed to be proud of him?) and the group collectively decides they need to head to Washington D.C. to get Eugene where he needs to be.
The group passes a Terminus sign and Rick marks it to read "no sanctuary." The episode ends with a mysterious figure approaching the same sign...and it's MORGAN! Holy shit!
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That was a pretty jam-packed hour but after an entire season of wondering what the hell Terminus was, we got the full answer and watched the entire place burn down in the new season's premiere. That's a payoff I'm very excited about. What happened to the Terminus folks who made it out alive though? Will we see them again soon? Will the newly reunited Grimes group catch a break for an episode or two? What will Morgan's role be? And WHERE THE HELL IS BETH? Anyone remember Beth? Here's hoping we see her soon, and here's hoping she's not super pissed that she's been an afterthought for a while now. Regardless, this was an amazing episode and it's going to be a long 7 days until the next one.
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