The Walking Dead: Season 5, Episode 14

The Walking Dead

Episode Title: “Spend”

Channel: AMC

Director: Jennifer Lynch

Writer: Matthew Negrete

Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller

Runtime: 44 min

Rated: TV-MA

Original Air Date: March 15, 2015

“Spend” got the audience caught up with that happenings for the rest of Rick's group. We're now up to date on what just about everyone is supposed to be doing in their new community, aside from Rosita, I'm still not sure what she's going to end up doing.

Abraham's new role is being part of the construction team tasked with extending Alexandria's walls. Before he heads out he had a rather ambiguous moment looking at himself in the bathroom mirror, with Rosita in the background. I'm not sure exactly what the audience was supposed to take from that scene. Is his relationship in jeopardy, does he feel out of place in their new home, or is he questioning a return to a relatively normal life? It was hard to tell from that brief moment. When he and the crew get out to the supplies things inevitably go sideways. After a brief fight with walkers the Alexandrians fall back leaving one of their own behind. Abraham rescues her virtually single-handedly and the construction foreman meets with Deanna and resigns his position of authority, putting another of Rick's people into a position of power.

Which is a nice segue into something that occurred near the end of the episode. Gabriel meets with Deanna to discuss his misgivings concerning her acceptance of Rick's group. He convinced that their more dangerous than helpful and plants some seeds of distrust in her mind. The entire exchange was overheard by Maggie. One would think there might be some serious repercussions for his actions, but it will be difficult for Rick and Co. to do much about it without proving him right

Glenn, Tara, Noah, and Eugene teamed up with Aidan and Nick to make a trip to some sort of warehouse in order to acquire that parts needed to keep Alexandria's solar power up and running. Aidan actually acquiesced to Glenn's suggestions upon arriving at the warehouse and after finding the parts they needed I was actually starting to warm up to the guy. Unfortunately for the entire group he inadvertently triggered an explosion that changed the complexion of their mission dramatically. With Tara injured and Aidan on death's door the group tried to make their way to safety. Eugene finally did something to overcome his cowardice and carry Tara to safety while Glenn, Noah, and Nick saw to Aidan. This began a serious of gruesome deaths that pushed the limits of what we've seen on the show before. With Aidan a lost cause Nick ran away. Glenn and Noah were hot on his heels and they manage to get trapped in a revolving door with walkers on both sides. This was a great scene, full of tension and suspense. Due to Nick's panic Noah was eventually mauled by walkers, with Glenn watching helplessly. Eugene swooped in for the rescue, drawing the walkers away, but it was too late.

Back in Alexandria Carol's spending time with the boy she threatened last week, Sam. Through some of the back and forth Carol comes to the realization that Pete, Sam's father and Jessie's husband, is at least hitting his wife and possibly his son as well. This goes over about the way you'd expect it to with Carol, who goes to their house to confront the man. After being stymied at the door she reported back to Rick about what's going on, urging him to kill the guy.

With all of this going on at the same time it's clear that things are about to come to a head in Alexandria. The struggle between the more established inhabitants and the newcomers is going to really heat up. When Glenn and his group return they'll be doing so with one injured group member, Deanna's son left behind dead, and a man that tried to run away when his companions needed him. Rick and Carol will be plotting the death of the local wife-beater and Abraham will have usurped a local man's title. It seems impossible for Deanna to ignore Gabriel's warning in the face of all of that.

Conclusion: Poor Noah makes an exit just as he was trying to find a less dangerous way to contribute to their new home. Shocking deaths and gore were the name of the game this week, along with a showdown brewing that is going to end in fireworks. “Spend” had everything that a really good episode of The Walking Dead needs.

Rating: 8.25/10