The Walking Dead
Episode Title: “Conquer”
Channel: AMC
Director: Greg
Nicotero
Writers: Scott
M. Gimple and Seth Hoffman
Genre: Drama,
Horror, Thriller
Runtime: 90
min
Rated: TV-MA
Original Air Date: March 29,
2015
“Conquer” was the finale of season
five of The Walking Dead,
spoilers ahead!
I
have, for the most part, enjoyed this season of The Walking
Dead. Sure it slowed down a
little bit during the fiasco with the folks at the hospital, but
overall things have been going well on the show. There were a lot of
characters that needed to come to grips with their new found safety,
the things they did to get there, or what parts of them they need to
leave behind to assimilate themselves into Alexandra. There were too
many threads that needed tying off, so I am glad they decided to go
with a longer than usual episode.
To
start things off, Morgan's back. The episode opened with an
interesting little back and forth between Morgan and a mystery man
with a 'W' on his forehead. We've been waiting since the mid-season
finale for Morgan to pop back up, and personally I thought it was
worth the wait. He effortlessly dispatched his assailants with his
staff and went on with his business. Through that conversation the
audience was given more information on the group of survivors that
will be serving as the antagonists in season six.
Meanwhile,
Sasha and Father Gabriel are both in a serious downward spiral.
Sasha has taken to lying in a mass grave of walkers and Gabriel is
venturing beyond the wall unarmed. Gabriel thinks he's ready to die,
but when it came down to it he wasn't. Dropping two walkers, quite
possibly the first one's he's confronted, didn't change his outlook
on life, as he continued to sulk. Near the end of the episode Sasha
went to Gabriel for help, which he claimed he couldn't give and they
got into a fight, with Sasha nearly shooting him before Maggie came
in. The end of their little arc featured the three of them in a
prayer circle. Here's to hoping that this brings an end to their
respective death wishes
Rick
awoke to find himself bandaged up following his tussle with Pete.
Michonne has been keeping watch over him and when Glenn, Carol, and
Abraham show up it's revealed that there is to be a meeting to
discuss Rick's future in the community. Rick hatches a plan to take
over if things go badly, although Glen seems reluctant to initiate
violence against the inhabitants of Alexandria. Speaking of Glenn;
he watched Nick hop the fence and decided to follow him. To the
audience it was pretty clearly a trap. Nick shot Glenn and they
fought through the woods. After a harrowing moment with some walkers
attacking Glenn he eventually caught up to the fleeing Nick and beat
him up pretty badly. He had a change of heart before the pulled the
trigger though, and instead helped Nick back home. It was good to
see that despite some of the things he's said this season Glenn is
still a good guy deep down.
Daryl
and Aaron are still out recruiting. After they lose track of a man
they've been following they decided to make a food run at a grocery
store. They wound up springing a trap, tractor trailers full of
walkers, and were forced to seek refuge in an abandoned vehicle.
Daryl does a better job than any of Rick's survivors thus far of
explaining the way they're reacting to their apparent safety.
Basically he believes that he's not really meant for society, but
Aaron points out that he's helped his friends when he could have
easily left them behind. Their plan to make a break for safety was
interrupted when Morgan happened by and started laying waste to the
walkers. Following their escape Morgan revealed that he's still
trying to catch up with Rick, using a map Rick had left behind for
him.
Finally
the meeting takes place, missing some key components, namely Rick and
Glenn. Glen was busy trying to drag Nick back to town and Rick had
noticed a problem at the gate. Gabriel had been asked to shut the
gate, and instead he left it open, allowing several walkers to make
their way inside the walls. Rick tracked them down and took them out
after a couple of very tense minutes. He arrived at the meeting with
one of the walkers draped over his shoulder and calmly explained to
the less experienced citizens of Alexandria that they need him and
his people. In the process he said some scary things about how many
of them he'd have to kill to save the rest. Out of no where Pete
showed up with a machete but was stopped from attacking Rick by
Deanna's husband, Reg. He accidentally gets his throat slit in the
process. Abraham restrained Pete, and while she's watching her
husband die, Deanna gave the order and Rick executed him. Aaron and
Daryl arrived at that moment, and Morgan looked shocked to see Rick
do something so cold blooded.
Overall,
nearly everyone gained some measure of closure. Michonne is still
with Rick, despite how badly she needs to settle down. Abraham has
mended fences with Eugene and Sasha and Gabriel may be on the road to
recovery. Glenn managed to prove to himself that people still
matter, even the bad ones. In complete honesty, I'm actually glad
that none of the major characters bought the farm in this episode.
Instead of another shocking death, which seem to get less shocking
every time they happen, all of the main characters made it through
the finale relatively unscathed. Breaking from the formula should
make the next deaths more meaningful, something more than fulfilling
the expectation brought about due to where an episode falls in the
season.
Conclusion:
“Conquer” didn't contain the tragic losses that I had been
expecting from this episode, but it did seem to wrap up the “getting
used to safety” story arcs for most of the characters. Instead of
using character deaths to spice things up the writers used “Conquer”
to set up the next season.
Rating:
7.75/10
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