Walking Dead - What's Happening And What's Going On Recap

If this premiere set the tone for the rest of the season, then count me all in.  Aside from setting up a new journey and possible new foe for our gang, this episode was a beautiful meditation on the ephemeral space between life and death.  It emphasized that the struggle for survival in the post-walker world is ever present, and the distance between holding on and letting go is minute.

IMHO, the death of a main character on Walking Dead has never been handled with such respect and reverence. Tyreese’s death marked a bastion of hope.  Yes he died, but he fought valiantly to hold on to his humanity despite the seemingly insurmountable and evil obstacles of the new world.  And in the end it was quite possibly one of the most poetic things I’ve ever seen on TV.

The episode opens on a vague seizure of imagery interspersed with dialogue.  We get flashes of a funeral, Maggie and Noah crying, a slow panning shot of the train tracks, and stills of Woodbury and the prison.  We’re lulled into a false sense of familiarity when BAM!  A bloody Lizzie and Mika pop up, telling us, “It’s better now.”  What?!  What’s with the sudden Shining vibe?!  Come play with us…forever…and ever….

During the creepy dead kid montage, Rick agrees to take the group to Noah’s community, right outside Richmond, VA.  OMG, are we finally going to get out of Georgia?  Yep.

Our gang travels to Virginia pretty quickly because the next time we see them a small scouting crew comprised of Glenn, Tyreese, Rick, Michonne and Noah is approaching the gates of the community.  Noah says it’s not far, five more miles to go.  Rick radios Carol who makes a point of mentioning that they’ve made it a total of five hundred miles.  Cue. The. Music.

“Aaaannnnd we would walk five hundred miles, and we would walk five hundred morrrre just to be the gang who’d walk a thousand miles to live for one day more! Lah da dat dah!  Lah da dat dahhh!!!”

Five hundred miles is, like, really far guys!  Gold stars all around!  As the scouting crew travels the final five miles, Tyreese and Noah chat about their fathers.  Tyreese shares a little nugget that his dad told him that it was their “duty as citizens to keep up with the news.”  Noah doesn’t seem too psyched to accept Tyreese as his new father figure, but he politely nods along with the patter anyway.

As the crew approaches the community, Rick says they’ll stay off the road and go on foot.  Noah must have taken his stupid pills that morning, because he looks at Rick with actual confusion and says, “We don’t need to.”  Rick gives him the ole side-eye and says, “Just in case.” 

They park in the woods near a wrecked truck and station wagon, and peep through the trees at a sign for ‘Shireworth Estates’.  Um, I’m totally calling this place the Shire now.  Where’s Bilbo? Apparently not guarding the gates, because Glenn notes that there are no spotters at the entrance.  (Lesson One: Always have spotters.  Even Bilbo will do.)

They hike up to the gate, passing an old grandfather clock (OMG SOMEONE KILLED COGSWORTH!  NOOOOO!) and Noah runs up to bang on the front gate.  Glenn shimmies up the wall to get a better look, then looks down at Noah and gently shakes his head ‘no’. 

Noah catapults himself over the fence and then starts to break into a gimpy run.  A burned out shell of a barn can be seen in the background, bodies are strewn all over the ground, and a lone walker ambles down the main street.  In the background, a graffiti tag declaring ‘WOLVES NOT FAR’ can be seen emblazoned on a brick wall.

At a crossroads, Noah collapses on the ground, sobbing.  Tyreese and Rick both try to console him, but he’s curled up in a little ball like “lalala I can’t heaaar you!”  Rick goes into survival mode, saying they should do a sweep and then GTFO.  Tyreese offers to stay with Noah.  Tyreese is clearly most comfortable with babysitting.

IMHO A totally reasonable alternate episode title.
Photo Credit: wikipedia

Rick radios back to Carol.  ‘We made it.  It’s gone.” 

Glenn, Rick and Michonne poke around a garage. Rick and Glenn confess some humanity fails– Rick admits to wanting to kill Dawn even though he knows she didn’t mean to kill Beth.  Glenn admits that he wouldn’t stop to open the container at Terminus anymore, he’s lost hope, and yeah, he would’ve killed Dawn too if Daryl hadn’t done it. 

Rick is silent and seems to accept this information, but Michonne’s eyes widen.  “We need to stop.  We can be out here too long.”  She knows.  She’s seen what time on the road did to her, and how long it took to restore her humanity once she stopped.  Rick knows she knows, and gets a look of consideration and confusion on his face.

Meanwhile Tyreese takes the opportunity to give another fatherly speech to Noah.  He tells the tale of the time he stepped into the walker parade and fought his way out.  It was a good thing he did too, because he was around to save Judith later.  Noah starts to get to his feet, and Tyreese is all proud and stuff.  For like one millisecond, because Noah breaks into his gimpy run, leaving Tyreese in the dust.  Why can’t anyone catch this kid? Maybe he was jazzercycling with Dawn back in Slabtown.

Tyreese catches up with Noah on the lawn of his house.  They make their way in, and encounter a mutilated female figure on the floor of the living room.  Presumably this is Noah’s mom. Noah silently walks over to her, and kneels dutifully at her head, covering her with a blanket.  He starts to speak to her, and Tyreese walks down the hall to give him a little privacy.

A walker rattles around behind a door at the end of the hallway, but Tyreese does nothing about it.  He walks into a bedroom, and the small, prone body of one of Noah’s twin brothers lies on the bed.  Tyreese wanders further into the room and is captivated by pictures of Noah’s twin brothers hanging on the wall.  As he’s casually browsing the dead twin gallery, the other twin wanders in and takes a gigantic chomp out of Tyreese’s arm.

WHAT?!? NOOOOO!!!

Tyreese shouts in pain and falls to the ground.  Noah runs in, and acts on instinct, plucking a model airplane from the sky and piercing the walker in the eyeball before he even has time to realize that it was his brother.  Noah is horrified, but recovers quickly and runs to go get help.  Tyreese lies in a pool of blood, holding his mangled arm, sorrow on his face.

The flashing sequence from the start of the episode begins again, but a super horrifying radio broadcast now accompanies the images.  Perspective shifts to a framed picture of a house on the floor, and then pans up to reveal Martin.

No, not that Martin.
Photo Credit: here

It’s Termite Martin.  He’s chowin’ on his gum while he questions Tyreese’s decisions and derides his penchant for mercy.   Martin says that maybe Bob would still be alive if Tyreese had killed him back at Terminus.  Bob appears and reminds Tyreese that he got bit at the food bank, so his death wasn’t anyone’s fault. 

The Governor pops up, and the room starts to become a Who’s Who of Walking Dead ghosts.  The Governor starts yelling at Tyreese and suddenly morphs into a walker.  Tyreese battles the walker but is at a disadvantage when he fumbles his trusty hammer.  Gnashing, rotting teeth are inches away from his face when he makes the decision to shove his bitten arm into the walker’s mouth as a shield.  He screams and uses a giant geode to Tyreese Smash the walker’s skull in.   Smash complete, he returns to cower under the desk, sobbing to himself.  

This sequence featuring Tyreese in a mentally and physical fight for his life against his demons is a drastic departure from anything else we’ve seen on the show, and it was strikingly emotional.  Grappling with these issues alongside such a sympathetic but strong character lends perspective to the WD world, and what it takes to survive. It also raises the age-old question of the meaning of life in a very significant way on the show for the first time.

While we ponder the meaning of life, Michonne, Rick and Glenn are still heavy on gab, light on grab.  Michonne wants to stop, and she brings the guys out to the broken perimeter of the Shire, trying to prove that it can be rebuilt.  But, no, because limb graveyard.  Michonne is unshakeable.  Her brain wheels spin, and she suddenly declares that Washington is where they need to go.  She believes that Eugene was on to something.  “What if there are people there?  What if it’s somewhere we can be safe?”  Rick agrees with her, and her face immediately softens.  They’re totally the mom and dad of the group. 

Noah starts to yell for help from afar.  Damnit, Noah, you had ONE JOB!  The group sprints over to save him from a small group of walkers.  Michonne swings into a boss-level walker with a metal bar in its neck.  Denied!  Michonne wrestles with the walker, and Rick comes to her aid, wrenching out the bar and slamming it into the walker’s head.   Tag team, back again.  Mom and Dad doin’ it up right. 

Back at the house, Tyreese is in some sort of fevered limbo between life and death.  Static on the radio morphs into Beth singing a song.  Hi Beth!  You have such a sweet, pretty voice.  Her song is played over the montage of flashes – the prison, baby Judith, the twin boys, and the train tracks.  Beth, Lizzie and Mika smile at him, telling him it’s ok.  That he doesn’t have to be a part of it anymore.  Urging him to let go.

Martin begs to differ with the girls, saying, “You didn’t want to be a part of it, but being part of it is being now.” To punctuate this point, the Governor strides in and starts to lecture Tyreese, getting his ire up.  He chides him for forgiving Carol, and admonishes, “THIS IS ALL THERE IS.  THIS IS IT.”

Tyreese struggles to his feet to deliver a tirade against the Governor.  He confronts the demons of this new world, which are not so coincidentally the demons of his own lingering doubt.  He stands for the good in the world because he believes it’s not a losing battle. He’s fighting to live because it’s not over, and he wants to do his part.  As his father was before him, he’s a good civil servant.  He says, “I kept listening to the news so I could do what I could to help.  I’M NOT GIVING UP.  People like me, they can live.”  It’s a heartrending and hopeful monologue, and Chad Coleman nails every single word of it. 

Tyreese falls to the floor, bleeding out.  Lizzie and Mika gently take his blood-soaked hand, and BAM!  We’re abruptly jerked out of Tyreese’s fever dream into reality.  Rick yanks on Tyreese’s arm while Glenn holds him down.  Rick screams, “HOLD HIM! ONE HIT, CLEAN, GO!”  Michonne raises her katana and swings into Tyreese’s arm.  Clean sweep. 

Commercial Break.  Breathe In.  Breathe Out.  Contemplate morality and humanity and the afterlife. Maybe grab a snack.  Hug a loved one.  Replenish tissues. 

Back to the show.  Noah helps hold Tyreese while the rest of the crew takes on the walkers at the gate.  We see the melee from Tyreese’s POV, in soundless slow motion.  Rick takes out a walker, swirls of brain suspended in the air.  Glenn and Rick pick Tyreese up.

Flashbacks of violence and destruction from Tyreese’s POV- Martin telling Tyreese, “it’s definitely going to be you and the kid.” A vision of Carol in the field with Lizzie, a vision of Sasha murdering Martin, a vision of Rick pummeling him from above. 

The crew helps Tyreese through the woods as Beth’s song starts back up in the background.  Rick screams in Tyreese’s face to “HOLD ON!” as Beth’s melodic voice juxtaposes their flight through the forest.

The group loads him into the van, and Rick radios to Carol.  He starts up the van and Rick revs the engine, slamming into a wrecked pickup truck.  Dozens of torsos spill out onto the van, ‘W’s carved into the heads.  Um, what?  Time for that later, our focus is Tyreese here. 

The radio broadcast continues about "an endless war" as Tyreese stares out the window. He whispers, “turn it off.”  As the radio flips off, the passengers in the van change.  Beth is in the drivers seat, smiling back at him.  Bob, Lizzie and Mika smile as well, welcoming him into the afterlife.  Beth assures him, “It’s better now.”

Tyreese fades away.  We see the world from his perspective as the sun shines bright, and then cuts to black. 

The episode comes full circle as we return to the grave digging. It’s Tyreese’s funeral, not Beth’s.  Gabriel is useful for once in his life as he presides over the ritual, reminding us that life is eternal. 

Each person adds a scoop of dirt to the grave.  Sasha, still in Bob’s jacket, takes the shovel with a wobbly hand and dumps her contribution on top.  Rick finishes up and the camera lingers on a shot of Tyreese’s headstone, his trademark skullcap perched on top.

Side Notes:

- I’ve heard this episode described several times as a homage to the films of Terrence Malik.  I have a fleeting familiarity with Malik, having goggled in stoned wonderment at The Tree of Life when it was released a few years ago, but this episode has convinced me that I need more of his films in my life.

- Yes fans, that was Andrew Lincoln’s voice on the radio broadcast.  For curious minds, you can get the full transcript of the horrifying but totally relevant broadcast here. 

- And since I think we all need a bit of comic relief, I leave you with a hilariously cleansing photo recap of the episode.  Enjoy!

Walking Dead - Coda Recap

So, Beth died. 

Photo credit: twitter

Yes, Joey, Beth dies.  And I’m super torn up about it too.  If I could put my TV in the freezer, I totally would. 

I waited so long to write this recap because I was just feeling too many feels.  The episode thankfully spared Carol but we all knew someone had to go, and it ended up being poor, sweet Beth. 

The episode started with a pre-credits sequence that was possibly the most brutal and heartless cold open we’ve ever seen on the show. 

Rick chases after New Bob, hopping in a police cruiser and speeding through the alleyway.  He repeatedly commands Bob to “STOP” through the speaker system, but New Bob isn’t a good listener.  When he doesn’t stop, Rick stops him.  By bashing into him with the car.

But this is no hit and run. New Bob mewls on the ground, asking for help, and Rick saunters over to him.  We see Rick from New Bob’s perspective.  He’s just a tall, dark, foreboding silhouette. 

Rick says, “It didn’t have to be like this, you just had to stop.”  New Bob pleads with him, and Rick responds, “Can’t go back Bob.”  Eerie, considering these are the exact same words that Gareth said to Old Bob back in the premiere at Terminus.  In short order, Rick executes New Bob, shooting him squarely in his shiny bald forehead. 

DAYM RICK!  That’s cold.  Ice cold.  The new Grimes motto seems to be ‘Live Grimes, Or Die.’  I’m not exactly shocked, but this wasn’t a predictable turn of events either.  Gotta be honest though and say that I’m totally glad New Bob is gone.  That dude was kind of a drag.

Back at the school, Gabriel continues his pointless walkabout.  He’s just so useless.  He putters around, browsing the discarded Termite magazine selection.  His focus eventually shifts to the maggot infested Bob-B-Q.  Listen, I’m no cannibal, but that leg had some serious meat left on it.  Yeah, sure, I’m a terrible person.  While I’m thinking doggie bags, Gabriel is having a little freak out.  He causes such a racket that the walkers bust out of the church and start to pursue him.

Of course Gabriel runs away and leads the horde directly to the church.  Do not pass Go, Do not collect any common sense.  Instead of going in the way he left, he bangs on the door to be let in. Carl starts to immediately dismantle the door barricade showing that he has much more mercy than his father who, let’s be real, probably would’ve left the pitiful priest out there to rot.  Michonne apparently also shares Carl’s penchant for mercy, as she tells him to step aside.  She hacks the door open with an axe, and then proceeds to katana chop an entire parade of walkers.  All with Judith on her back.  Bad.  Ass.  Michonne proves time and time again that she is the momma lion that the Grimes kiddos need. 

The trio retreats to the rectory and Carl shimmies down the escape hatch. Gabriel steps crazily out of character and insists that Michonne go down first.  Gabriel lets go of the door, and as he starts to lower himself down the hole, a walker lunges face first into a strategically placed machete.  The walker’s skull splits open like a ripe cantaloupe, splattering a shocked Gabriel with braaaains. 

Back at the warehouse, Rick lets Daryl know that he killed New Bob using, “he wouldn’t stop” as the reason why.  This seems perfectly reasonable to Daryl, and they immediately start brainstorming a new plan.  Lady Cop overhears and takes the opportunity to contribute.  She deftly spins the story.  She comments on Lamson’s death, saying, “He was a good man.  Attacked by rotters.” She pleads with Rick to let them help.  Baldie cop seems to be cooperative, echoing Lady Cop’s story.  

Over in Slabtown Dawn is sweatin’ to the oldies while Beth putters around her office, cleaning.  They chat about Captain Hansen, Dawn’s predecessor, and Beth starts to ask the hard-hitting questions.  Dawn circumvents the answers, waxing poetic about her job and earning respect and blah blah blah.  It’s all just Charlie Brown ‘wah-wah’ noise from Dawn at this point.  We don’t care.  You’re a horrible person Dawn. Just get over yourself.

We feel your pain Charlie. #JeSuisBored
Photo Credit: dabble in travel

Back at the church, Carl and Michonne regroup outside of the church.  Michonne wanders over to Gabriel and confronts him in a very un-Rick way.  Her cool and collected demeanor is increasingly a counterpoint to Rick’s way of doing things.  She doesn’t get too many answers from Gabriel, but it doesn’t really matter, because what’s done is done.  The walkers start to bust out of the church when the cavalry arrives.

Yay!  The firetruck! Maggie jumps out and hugs Michonne as if she hasn’t seen her in years, even though…didn’t they only leave one day ago?

By way of hello, Glenn simply says, “Eugene lied.  He can’t stop it.  Where is everybody?”  Way to throw Eugene under that fire truck, buddy.

Michonne gets a huge grin on her face and turns to Maggie, saying, “Beth’s alive.”  Maggie responds, “Beth who?” Just kidding - she’s really happy and starts crying.  But honestly she hasn’t cared one iota about Beth since the prison, so I’m pretty surprised that she’s so emotional.

Speaking of Beth, she’s perched on top of the elevator shaft, peering thoughtfully into the darkness.  Of course her bestie Dawn finds her to gabble on some more about her demons.  Honestly, Beth should just tell Dawn to go find a therapist.  Instead, Beth slaps her in the face with a truth bomb.  She lays down the facts for Dawn, saying that the world is different now, and that she needs to accept things the way they are.

As the two women chat, one of the evil officers sidles through the door to confront Dawn.  He says that he thinks she’s cracking, just like Hansen.  Dawn says she’s nothing like Hansen, because she killed Hansen.  While we’re all mulling over how nonsensical this reasoning sounds, evil officer starts to sweet talk Dawn, reminding her of their past as coworkers and friends as he slinks his way closer to her.   Fwack!  He smacks the gun out of her hands, and it goes skittering down into the elevator shaft. 

A pretty awesome fistfight commences.  Most hilarious line of the episode goes to evil officer who tosses Beth off his back and screams, “Stay in your lane, bitch!”  What lane?  The metaphorical lane of wards versus officers I guess? This guy is funny.  Too bad he’s about to die.

Dawn karate chops evil officer in the throat, and he stumbles.  Beth assists and shoves the guy through the elevator shaft.  Evil officer falls through and the croak of walkers can be heard from below as Dawn thanks Beth.  The two women stand in the elevator door frame in silence. 

A bit later, Dawn seeks out Beth yet again, this time armed with a flask and two glasses. Beth is slumped against the wall in Carol’s room, clearly in no mood for company. Dawn pours some liquor into a glass for Beth and tells her it’s ok to cry.  Apparently big girls do cry, because Dawn admits to crying alone sometimes.  Dawn settles down onto Carol’s bed. Dear God, it would be amazing if Carol sprang to life and murdered Dawn right now, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards. 

Again, the two have what’s become a pretty standard yawnfest about Dawn’s intentions and Beth’s view of those intentions.  She offers for Beth to be “a part of this thing” because she’s touched by Beth’s sweet murdering skillz.  She says she will remember what Beth did.

Outside of the hospital, Tyreese and Sasha have a sibling bonding moment while on sniper patrol.  Tyreese confesses about Martin.  Sasha blinks hard and focuses on him.  Tyreese says that he’s relieved, because he thinks that his inability to kill Termite Martin and Sasha letting her guard down with New Bob are on par, proving that they’re both still tenaciously holding on to their old values.  Sasha disagrees.  She’s glad that Tyreese is still the same, but she thinks she needs to change.  She says this as she adjusts the scope on a high-powered semi-automatic weapon, blatantly underscoring that, yep, if you haven’t noticed, this world is very different than before and that change is probably a good idea.

Down on the ground, the show takes an amazeballs detour into action movie territory.  A cop car pulls up into an abandoned parking lot and two of the officers get out, guns drawn.  Rick holds his hands up.  He says, “I’m here to make a proposal.” 

Rick explains that they want to make an even trade.  They’ll exchange two of the cops in return for Carol and Beth.  A giant walker ambles toward the cop car as one of the officers asks where Rick’s people are.  Pop!  Sasha shoots the giant from her sniper perch, and Rick smirks in response saying, “They’re close.”  Cheeky Rick.   

Dawn accepts the terms, and our crew makes their way into the hospital.  Cut to a shot of Beth getting ready to leave, putting on the same disgusting clothing she came in with.  Like any diligent member of the Grimes gang, she smuggles her purloined scissors away in her cast for good measure. 

Carol is wheeled out in a wheelchair. Apparently even though the world has ended, arcane hospital regulations live on.   

The two groups meet in Western shootout style across a dimly lit hospital corridor.  The shot is at a tilted angle, keeping the viewer a bit off kilter.  Dawn asks, “Where’s Lamson?” The Lady Cop and baldie cop respond as planned:  “Rotters got him.” “We saw it go down.”

They start the exchange, first baldie for wheelchair Carol.  Then, Dawn brings over Beth in exchange for Lady Cop.  Rick encircles Beth with an arm, and gives her a fatherly nuzzle on the head as he guides her toward the door. 

Everything’s totally cool, when Dawn decides to be a total buzz kill and ruins everything.  She calls out, “Now I just need Noah, and then you can leave.”

Lady Cop tries to interject, but Dawn shuts her up.  Daryl and Rick step up and say no, that wasn’t part of the deal.  Noah starts to move back towards Dawn.  Rick argues for a moment, and then gives in when he sees that Noah is willing to go.  Noah makes his way down the hall when Beth yells, “Wait!”  She goes to hug Noah goodbye and Dawn ruins the moment once again by creepily whispering, “I knew you’d be back.”

Beth releases Noah, and turns to Dawn.  She says, “I get it now,” and suddenly stabs Dawn in the shoulder with her concealed scissors. 

BANG!  Dawn reflexively retaliates by shooting Beth DIRECTLY IN THE HEAD.  As Beth crumples to the ground, everyone freezes at this unexpected turn of events.  Everything starts to move in slo-mo.  Everyone’s eyes are wide, jaws slack.  Dawn’s eyes are full of panic and regret, but Daryl doesn’t care.  His face crumples into a sob, and he strides toward Dawn, not hesitating as he puts a cap into her forehead. 

Everyone readies their weapons, and a shootout seems imminent when Lady Cop shouts, “Stand down!  It’s over.  It was just about her.”

Both sides listen, lowering their weapons.  Our gang has teary eyes all around, immobilized with shock.  Lady Cop extends an invitation to stay, but our gang declines.  Rick steps up and offers to take anyone who wants to leave, but doesn’t appear to get any takers.  

As this tragic scene unfolds in the hospital, the fire truck rolls up to the front entrance, literally moments too late.  They clear a path to the front entrance, while Gabriel wanders behind them like a lost puppy.  

The fire truck crew reaches the front door as the rest of our gang exits the hospital with somber faces.  Maggie’s face lights up, but she quickly crumples to the ground when she sees the truth. 

In an iconic moment for the show, Daryl walks out of the hospital, Beth in his arms.  The final scene is a long shot of Daryl slowly carrying Beth towards her grieving sister, a broken Atlanta rising in the background.

Tears.  So many tears.

BUT WAIIIIIIT UP!!!

Following the credits, there’s a shot of one of those mysterious X men symbols in a tree.  The shot pans back to reveal a hooded figure.  IT’S MORGAAANNN!!!  I love the music that’s been accompanying his journey.  It’s peaceful, almost Enya-like.  It makes me feel good about the place that Morgan is in mentally.  He looks like a well-geared superhero as he surveys the damage at the schoolhouse.  The magazines that Gabriel had looked at earlier in the episode have aged, browning and curling at the corners. 

Morgan approaches the altar at the church and creates a small shrine with some curious items.  He carefully lines up a blue rabbits foot, a snack cake, and a single bullet.  He kneels for a moment then raises his head and chuckles to himself a bit.  As he starts to exit the church, he steps on something.  He lifts it up to examine it, and sees the note.  “The new world’s gonna need Rick Grimes.” YES!

SIDE NOTES:

- I cannot wait for Morgan to catch up with our gang, but if the aging of those magazines is any indication, it’s going to be awhile until they meet up.

- Why did Beth stab Dawn in the shoulder and not the neck?  She knows better than that.  I was pretty disappointed that Beth’s last moments on the show made her look incapable and stupid. 

- Dawn’s path is definitely serving as a cautionary tale for Rick – Rick is also a cop who killed his old partner when he became unstable.  Like Dawn, Rick is losing some of his humanity, but how much further will he go?  How much further can he go before he loses everything?

- Ummmm, WTF does Slabtown mean?  This was never explained on the show, but I decided to look it up, and it’s actually pretty interesting.  So, if you need a bit of reading material while you wait for tonight’s episode – here you go!

Walking Dead - Strangers Recap

The episode opens on a plume of black smoke.  Terminus still burns in the distance.

As our gang treks through the woods we check in with various pairs throughout the group.  Maggie and Glenn smooch.  Awwww.  Tara and Rick share a heart-warming moment as he welcomes her into the group, despite her involvement with the Governor.  They make it official when Tara reaches out her fist to Rick for a ‘pound’, and Rick returns it with a smile.  Awwww times two.

We catch up with Tyreese and Carol as they fill their water bottles at a stream.  Tyreese is adamant that the group accepts what Carol did to Karen and David back at the prison.  Carol isn’t too concerned about their acceptance.  Tyreese goes on to say that he doesn’t want to tell the rest of the group about Lizzie and Mika.  He says, “I need to forget it.”

The group approaches a walker.  Michonne says she’s got it, reflexively reaches for her sword and smiles when she realizes it isn’t there.  I’M NOT SMILING! TERMITES YOU HAVE COMMITTED A CRIME AGAINST WD HUMANITY!!! YOU HAVE STOLEN MICHONNE’S SWORD!  That sword was practically a character on the show, and now it’s gone.  Since Michonne is still badass Michonne, of course she’s able to handily dispatch the walker with the butt of some non-descript gun, but c’mon.  It’s not the same.  Dear WD writers – Please ‘find’ a katana for Michonne.  Soon.  With love and thanks, Rainey.

Here's one.  It looks sharp, and it will do the job.  Just give it to her already.
You're welcome.

It’s Carol and Rick’s turn to catch up.  They’re basically equals at this point, with Rick having committed some murder in the past few days away from the prison as well. In their time apart, Rick seems to have realized some things that Carol already knew.  Survival is paramount, and self-preservation is key.

Carol hands Rick his watch that she picked up for him at the Terminus Gift Shop.  Rick offers Carol her watch back, but she declines with a shake of her head.  That watch represented a life with her abusive husband Ed, and she is totally not that person anymore.  Rick seems incredibly remorseful and humble as he apologizes for sending Carol away.  He says, “I sent you away to this, and now we’re joining you.  Will you have us?”  Carol smiles and nods slightly.  Rick smiles back and says, “Thank you.”

That night, Carol and Daryl sit watch.  Daryl keeps stealing glances at Carol, like she’s some sort of exotic animal, when Carol finally says “I don’t want to talk about it...I just need to forget.”  Daryl asks why, but just then an inconvenient rustle in the woods interrupts their heart to heart.   Oh rustles in the woods, without you everything would be so straightforward in the WD world.

(Side note – What is it exactly that Carol needs to ‘forget’? Since most of our gang saw Carol last she killed Karen and David because they were sick in body, Lizzie because she was sick in the mind, and the Termites because they were just plain old sickos.  The group is grateful for her role as savior at Terminus, but can they forgive her actions at The Grove?  Tyreese is hell bent on giving himself a case of Lizzie amnesia, and Carol seems to be respecting his choice, so the rest of the gang may never find out. But they probably will.  Because, you know, drama.)

As the gang’s walkabout continues, Daryl reports back to Rick about someone watching them in the woods the previous night.  There were no tracks, but he felt a presence.  It could be ghosts Daryl, duh.  99% of the world’s population is dead.  Ghosts are totally in the realm of actual possibility.  Rick totally doesn’t think of my ghost theory, and immediately tells the rest of the group to tighten up their formation.  

We check in with Bob and Sasha as they engage in some adorable banter.  They’re playing a game where he turns every negative she can throw his way into a positive.  They smooch a few times, him saying “one more” after each peck.  Awwwww times three.

In the distance, the group hears a call for help.  Carl wants to go help, so they do.  A man who appears to be a priest is stuck at the top of a large rock outcropping, several walkers clawing at his legs.  Daryl, Carol and Michonne take out the offending walkers with expert precision.   The priest slinks down off the rock, wide eyed at the sight of our battle-ready gang in front of him.  He promptly vomits, composes himself, and then introduces himself as Gabriel. 

Rick starts in with the three questions.  Gabriel says he has killed no walkers and no people.  Why?  Because the Lord abhors violence.  Rick is dubious, and asks, “What have you done?”  Sensing the tense nature of the situation, and always the practical thinker, Michonne interrupts this line of questioning and says, “you said you had a church?”

The group follows Gabriel through the woods to his church.  Rick sends in a small team to case the joint, and each explorer encounters different religious iconography.  Daryl sees some sort of wooden tableau of the Last Supper, Carol lingers over a table full of Bibles, with one handwritten page open to THOU SHALL NOT KILL. 

Glenn searches an office, walls papered with children’s drawings of the ‘burning bush’.  The basic story of the Burning Bush can be found here and it’s deliberate inclusion in this episode cannot be ignored.  The long and short of the story is that the Lord spoke to Moses through the Burning Bush, asking him to shepherd the Israelites away from danger.  More on this later.

Once the recon team returns to the rest of the group outside, Abe approaches Rick, saying he wants to fix up a small bus out back so the group can head north in the next day or so.  Michonne and Rick say no - they want to rest and gather supplies.  Abe stands, slightly defeated at the entrance to the church, as the rest of the crew pass by him.  Starting with Glenn, the rest of the survivors pull a ‘Rudy’, throwing their proverbial jerseys in with Rick.  Each of them tells Abe in no uncertain terms that they go where Rick goes. 

And then this song plays in my head….Thank you Sister Act.

As they make camp in the church, the group asks Gabriel how he survived.  He explains that everything went down just at the end of the churches annual can drive.  Since he ran out he’s scavenged every place in the area except one because there are about a dozen walkers there.  Rick gets together a team, and Tyreese happily offers to stay back and watch the baby, making his role as Judith’s babysitter official. 

Before Rick leaves, he has his obligatory once-per-season discussion with Carl about the state of affairs.  Rick makes it very clear to Carl that they are not safe, ending his speech with, “Never let your guard down.”  As wise as those words may seem, Carl gently suggests to his father that their group is strong, and that they have the ability to help others.  It’s odd because Carl seemed to be going cold hearted after Lori died, but now after the fall of the prison and Terminus he is becoming one of the positive thinkers in the camp, playing the role of Rick’s remaining humanity and conscience.  And as annoyed as I generally am by Carl, this moment is truly touching and uplifting.

On the water run, Carol and Daryl chat.  He says, ok, maybe Carol doesn’t want to talk.  But is she ok?  She says, “gotta be.”  Daryl is clearly in awe of what Carol did, staring at her in that weird way again as he says, “you saved us, all by yourself.”  They approach a sedan, and Carol checks it.  A little too conveniently, the keys are still in the ignition and there’s a fully operational charger in the trunk.  Carol says they should leave it there in case “things go south at the church.” (Side note – Ok Carol, how do you propose to fit 14 people and one baby in that sedan, hmmmm?  WD clown car?)  Daryl says that Carol can start over, and she says she wants to.

On the ammo run, Tara and Maggie wait outside a gun store for Glenn.  There’s a commotion inside, and the two women raise their weapons and ask Glenn if it was a walker as he steps back outside.  Glenn says yes, but then sheepishly admits that he tripped over a mop.  Teehee.  However, he found three silencers tucked inside a mini fridge.  Glenn declares, “Rule Number One of Scavenging:  There’s nothing left in this world that isn’t hidden.” Upon hearing this, Tara gets a screwed up look on her face, probably remembering her own ‘hidden’ secret.  Both Glenn and Rick know, but they haven’t told Maggie….yet.

On the food run, the group enters the Food Pantry.  There’s a gaping hole in the floor, the hardwood rotted out due to a gaping hole in the ceiling.  The walkers wade around in a waist deep basement swimming pool.  Bob says that it smells like if “a sewer could puke”.  Ugh.  Grossest swimming pool ever.   Sasha quickly comes up with a solution to contain the walkers, by utilizing the metal shelves as a shield.  Rick agrees.  Yay Teamwork!

The group splashes down, and starts to take care of the walkers.  Even though Gabriel is in a sweet spot, protected by the Grimes gang, he panics and tries to flee when he spots a walking skeleton outfitted with glasses and a floral dress.  Gabriel becomes cornered against a concrete wall, golden sunlight streaming down on his face and torso, his arms spread in a ‘t’.  This continues the spate of blatant religious iconography in this episode, but Gabriel is certainly no martyr.  Rick comes to his rescue just in time, smashing the walker’s skull in. 

Once the coast appears to be clear, Bob wades over to a floating box.  Just then a genderless sponge of a walker roars out of the water.  Bob tussles with the form, bobbing underwater for a moment before he’s able to impale it on a pole.  Wide eyed, Sasha asks, “Bob, are you ok?!” He averts his gaze and responds, “I’m fine now.”  But Bob doesn’t look okay…

As they wheel their bounty away from the pantry, Michonne and Rick talk.  They chat about her sword. She says she, “found it in the beginning…it was just me and them out here all day every day.  I don’t know what that was, but it wasn’t life.”  She goes on to say that she misses Andrea, she misses Hershel, but not “what was before.  I don’t miss that sword.”  MICHONNE, I MISS YOUR SWORD!  PLEASE FIND ANOTHER ONE!!!

Upon returning to the church, Rick finds Carl.  While everyone was away, he did some exploring, as Carl is wont to do.  He found scratches at the windows of the church, and a carving on the back of the church that says, ‘YOULL BURN FOR THIS’.   Carl succinctly sums up the situation by saying, “It doesn’t mean Gabriel’s a bad guy for sure, but it means something.”

That evening, they all feast on canned goods and Communion wine.  Abe gives the speech he’s been itching to give for days.  “I see survivors.  Each and every one of you has earned that title.  Is that all you want to be?”  He lays out his pitch.  Help Eugene get to D.C., restart their lives.  Abe appeals to Rick’s sense of fatherhood, and the group’s sense of wanting a happy, normal future, saying they can rebuild for the little one.  Judith coos, and Rick says she’s in.  “She’s in.  And if she’s in, I’m in.  We’re in.  Lets do it.”

The mood turns a bit more celebratory.  Our gang now has a sense of direction and purpose.  In a way, Abe, with his fiery red hair is like the proverbial ‘Burning Bush’, appealing directly to ‘Moses’ Rick, encouraging him to get his disciples to safety.  Am I reaching?  Maybe, but the inclusion of the Burning Bush on the walls of the church in this episode is definitely saying something to this effect. 

Amidst the celebration, Sasha kisses Bob and gets up to hold Judith.  Bob says, “wait, one more”, and she leans back down to give him another smooch.  A morose Bob then wanders out the back of the church.

Tara goes to reveal her secret to Maggie.  She admits to Maggie that she was at the prison, and that she was with the Governor.  Throughout this exchange, Maggie’s eyes are thoughtful and teary.  She looks at Tara and says, “You’re with us now” and hugs her tightly.

Gabriel’s in the back, and Rick thanks him for his hospitality.  The mood quickly turns however when Rick gives him a stern warning.  “You’re hiding something…these people are my family.  And if what you’re hiding somehow hurts them in any way, I’ll kill you.”  Gabriel looks at him, eyes wide.  Did Rick just threaten to murder a priest?  The answer is  - Yup.  Sure did.

Looks like Bob isn’t the only one who’s snuck away, as Carol jumpstarts the sedan she and Daryl found earlier in the day. Daryl approaches, and asks what she’s doing.  Clearly trying to leave the group, but why, Carol?  Why??!?!  However, in the grand WD tradition of external sources interrupting character expository, a car whizzes by.  And lo and behold, it HAS A WHITE CROSS ON THE BACK!  Daryl uses five words to explain to Carol, “They got Beth!  Come on!”  This can only mean one thing.  Road trip! 

Back at the church, Bob stands in the woods and stares through a window at the merriment unfolding inside.  He begins to wander away into the thick of the woods and starts sobbing against a tree.  All of a sudden someone rudely interrupts his private moment by bashing him over the head. 

As Bob comes to, we see the world from his blurry POV.  He catches foggy glimpses of Rando (I knew that SOB was still alive!), a fire pit, and then Gareth’s smug and shiny face.  Bob is leaning against some sort of stake, and he is forced to listen as Gareth attempts to justify his actions.  His speech is juxtaposed over cuts of our gang happily feasting away on canned food and drinking holy wine. 

Gareth finally gets to the meat of his confession, literally and figuratively.  He says, “It didn’t start that way.  Eating people.  It evolved.  It had to.  Now we’ve devolved.  Into hunters.” He gives Bob the worst ‘I told you so’ in history, as he says that it’s cosmic justice that it’s Bob they got. The camera pans back to expose Bob's full body.  Well….not his entire body.  He's only got one leg.  The other….is on the BBQ.  As Bob starts to whimper, Gareth takes a juicy bite out of a hunk o’ Bob.  Ew.  Gross. 

And people everywhere who were still naïvely left wondering what exactly the Termites were doing with all that slaughterhouse equipment after the most recent episode all get their due.  The rest of us go….oh, yeah…..but can you really show that on television?!?!

Some thoughts before I go:

- It sort of makes sense that after the ungodly experience our survivors had at Terminus that this episode would center on reaffirming their faith in humanity, as well as add a dash of hope back into the equation.

- Bob totes magotes wasn’t going into the woods for a casual stroll.  He was sneaking away, possibly because of a bite from the swimming pool walker earlier in the episode.  But why wouldn’t he tell his new love Sasha?  And will eating the flesh of a person who has been bit turn the Termites into walkers?  Wow, that’s a sentence I thought I’d never write….

- Where is Morgan?  Damn you teaser trailer people, you set us up for a big ole disappointment last week.  

- Looks like Daryl and Carol are on a mission to find Beth, but in a world with no cell phones, will they be able to reconnect with the group once they find her?  P.S. - A world with no cell phones is totally horrifying to me. 

- What’s up with Gabriel?  Will he come clean about his secrets?  Will Rick have to kill him?