Walking Dead Season 5, Vol. 5: The End is Near {No comics spoilers}

[The Mance]

Well Glenn did kill a walker while tied to a chair in S3. Honestly, I don't think him surviving the zombie dogpile was a big deal, though they probably could have written a better way for whats-his-name to get away from Glenn in the first place.

I agree. We've seen characters escape dogpiles before. It could have gone either way, though, and with the rumours of significant deaths this week I was worried.

[Glaurung]

I'm not sure why people think the wolves are the exiles. At the end of the episode they showed one of the wolves looking at the photos. I think the point was the photos reveal Alexandria to the wolves. Why would an exile be so interested in the photos? An exile would already know about Alexandria.

Also, somebody above said that the wolves are like termites but they don't eat people....I wouldn't be so sure about that. When the lone wolf was talking to Morgan, he mentioned he would like every drop and that he'd be taking him with him, but not alive. I took it to mean he'd like every DROP of him...as in he's going to eat him.

[JamesD2020]

I was worried for Glenn too. What could have been more tragic is IF that the dog pile and Nicolas succeeded in killing off Glenn and for him to become reanimated walking towards Alexandria during the council meeting... That would have been some tough material to get through right there but with all the storylines that were twisted in I doubted they could fit that in without meaningful impact so maybe the writer's changed their minds and continued with the bad-a$$ Glenn montage.

[S John]

I was worried for Glenn too. What could have been more tragic is IF that the dog pile and Nicolas succeeded in killing off Glenn and for him to become reanimated walking towards Alexandria during the council meeting...

That is what I thought might happen with the gate left open. That a group of walkers would get in (which did happen) and that Glenn would be one of them.

Also, when Maggie interrupted Sasha and Gabriel I really thought that a high strung and startled Sasha was going to turn around and shoot Maggie.

I'm not so sure about the Wolves being the exiles either. Two men and a woman were exiled. We only see two men and the woman tied to a tree in the previous episode was not recognized by Aaron. Also there was a clip at the end (my friend who watched online claims that this was cut off for him) that shows the wolves looking through photos of Alexandria left behind by Aaron. I think this is to signify that the Wolves NOW know about Alexandria, but may not have before. The exiles wouldn't need to find photos of Alexandria to find out about it. Its still entirely possible for the exiles to come into play, but I don't think they are the Wolves. At least not the Wolves that we were shown.

Overall I thought the episode was OK. They surprised me both by not killing any major characters and by setting up redemption for a few characters namely - Sasha, Gabriel, and Nicholas. Eugene and Abraham seem reconciled. Conveniently, Pete is also out of the way. It also seems that Deanna has come over to Rick's way of thinking. All of these factors together means potential for unity in Alexandria to face a common enemy in the next season and my guess is that is what they wanted to accomplish with this episode.

No cliffhanger, other than what zen Morgan's reaction is going to be to seeing Rick execute someone in the first few minutes of his time in Alexandria. Last time Morgan saw Rick was before the group's final confrontation with the governor, the ordeal at Terminus, the hospital, and a lot of time spent on the road. Probably fair to say that the Rick that Morgan set out to find is not the Rick we have now. But, I don't expect this to become a major plot issue. Perhaps the new zen Morgan will help keep the latest iteration of the Ricktator under control, and he can obviously bash in some zombie heads too.

[The Mance]

So, thinking about the crazy wolf dude looking at the pictures of Alexandria, it occurred to me that it could be significant, not because he wasn't previously aware of the place, but because it identifies the people that sprung his trap and escaped. So now he knows that people from Alexandria know where he is, and they know about him and his crazy walker traps.

So if the wolves are the exiles, then where up until now they have been content to largely avoid the community that threw them out, now they know they are found out, and may feel like they need to preempt an attack. That, or Alexandrians showing up may feel like salt in their wounds and now that they've built up a good supply of walkers its finally time to seek revenge, or whatever.

Also, if the Wolves weren't previously aware of Alexandria, then just finding pictures doesn't necessarily represent a threat to Alexandria unless there is also a map that can lead them there. Whereas if the Wolves are aware of Alexandria, then the presence of the pictures does indeed represent a threat to Alexandria because of the threat that it also represents to the Wolves.

As far as Noah not recognizing the woman on the tree, I still don't think its too late for us to find out that he did recognize her and just didn't say anything at the time. If everyone at Alexandria starts comparing notes about Ws, and the torsos at Noah's community, and especially Morgan's encounter with the crazy wolf dudes, it may all start coming together. If Morgan describes the guys that jumped him and Deanna says 'that sounds like Tom an Harry, but what about Jane?' Aaron can pipe up with 'we saw Jane tied to a tree.'

[MisterOJ]

One thing that annoys me though, is that they promised a 90-minute finale. This was 60 minutes, it wasn't much longer than a regular episode.

A regular episode is 42-45 minutes, minus commercials. Last night's episode was 59 minutes, so the ratio of content to commercial was almost exactly the same.

[Free Northman Reborn]

Well what an underwhelming Season finale.

Everything worked out so neatly, everyone found their better selves, everyone learnt that if you are just nice to people their eyes will open up. Nicholas is now a good guy because of Glenn's mercy, Gabriel is now a good guy because of Maggie's compassion, Sasha is now a good person again, also because of Maggie's caring nature, and Morgan, by becoming one with the Light side of the Force, is now a Jedi Knight of Yoda-level enlightenment.

Everyone is happy and it is kumbaya time.

And, to please the small group of vocal social activists, they didn't have to kill any black guys (I really thought Sasha and Gabriel were goners), while adding Mace Windu to the mix on top of it all, no doubt as a permanent character who will get the development arc that the activists have been crying for. No major character deaths, no major threat to Alexandria, (other than a half dozen zombies), and Pete plays the bad guy role conveniently and perfectly at just the right moment to transform everything Deanna had ever believed in in the blink of an eye. Yeah sure.

In short, I reckon they ran out of budget and had to go for a low-on-special effects finale. So they went for a lot of soap opera drama instead.

Quite the anti-climax.

[Free Northman Reborn]

Regarding he exiles: They aren't important, people. I'm pretty sure Aaron said they didn't make it after they were left with a day's rations 50 miles away. So it seems they found them dead afterwards.

In any case, the Wolves clearly had no idea about Alexandria until the photos they found in Aaron's backpack at the end. At least, I think that's where they found them. Not sure why Aaron was carrying those pictures along with him on every run. That doesn't really make any sense.

[Ken Stone]

Well what an underwhelming Season finale.

Everything worked out so neatly, everyone found their better selves, everyone learnt that if you are just nice to people their eyes will open up. Nicholas is now a good guy because of Glenn's mercy, Gabriel is now a good guy because of Maggie's compassion, Sasha is now a good person again, also because of Maggie's caring nature, and Morgan, by becoming one with the Light side of the Force, is now a Jedi Knight of Yoda-level enlightenment.

Everyone is happy and it is kumbaya time.

Did you watch the same finale I did? Morgan's been tracking Rick for months. After telling Ricks friends "Every life is precious" they lead him to Rick who he witness's execute another man in cold blood. Deanna's husband is dead. Nicholas is helped back by Glenn but don't think there won't be repercussions. There is a group of psycos who now know where Alexandra is. Nothing is happy or kumbaya.

When Rick found the gate open it looked like it was jimmied so it wouldn't shut. Is there a traitor in Alexanderia?

[Free Northman Reborn]

Did you watch the same finale I did? Morgan's been tracking Rick for months. After telling Ricks friends "Every life is precious" they lead him to Rick who he witness's execute another man in cold blood. Deanna's husband is dead. Nicholas is helped back by Glenn but don't think there won't be repercussions. There is a group of psycos who now know where Alexandra is. Nothing is happy or kumbaya.

When Rick found the gate open it looked like it was jimmied so it wouldn't shut. Is there a traitor in Alexanderia?

Well, Rick has just got his entire gang singing his praises again. More so than ever before. Who cares what Morgan thinks. It is Morgan's mercy that allowed those two Wolves to kill that other innocent dude in the red jacket, so Morgan's way is the wrong way and he is just going to have to adapt or move along.

EDIT

In fact, Morgan's mercy allowed the Wolves to discover the backpack that will lead them to Alexandria. So much for being one with the Force and all.

[The Mance]

When Rick found the gate open it looked like it was jimmied so it wouldn't shut. Is there a traitor in Alexanderia?

Rick found a chunk of walker on the gate and some walker blood on the ground inside the gate. Its how he knew there were walkers inside the walls. And it didn't really even look like Gabriel meant for the gate to remain open. It just bounced open when he didn't bar it effectively.

[Howdyphillip]

I'll admit that I was expecting something more explosive, with more deaths. I thought Glenn would pull the trigger on Nicholas and Sasha would pull the trigger on Gabriel, but both resolutions were actually pretty... hopeful. Nicholas dserved to die. but I like that Glenn made this call. There were no major deaths but the plotlines came together nicely.

I never expected Deanna to convert to Rick's way after last episode. Rick takes Alexandria with his mouth instead of his gun (hence the episode title, I think). I don't think this is a bad call, because the setting of Alexandria has too much potential to do away.

The ending is actually kind of similar to the S3 finale: Rick in control of another group, holed up in a safe place.

And thank God there wasn't a big cliffhanger. Overall, I think S5 is one of the best yet.

One thing that annoys me though, is that they promised a 90-minute finale. This was 60 minutes, it wasn't much longer than a regular episode.

Same with me.

It was 63 min. A regular episode is 42 min long. The finale was half again as long as a regular episode, the exact same commercial breakdown

[l2 0 5 5]

The first 90 percent of the show was insane; my heart was racing the whole time. The last ten percent was good, but it didn't deliver the final punch I thought it would.

With that said, I think the show left off at a nice spot for an interesting season 6 plot.

I like that Deanna finally obliged Rick's advice, and decided to stop with the half measures. I said before that a guy like Pete doesn't deserve a second chance, and should have been dealt with in an absolute manner. Deanna lost her husband before she came around to that.

I wish Gabriel would have gotten offed. I just don't have any interest in his arc at all, and think he's dead weight. Oh, he talked Sasha out of dying by belittling her, and then a wrestling match? Cool. Guess he finally earned his spot in the group.

As for the wolves, I think we only saw a small pack of them this episode. They'll certainly be the season 6 antagonist. The question is, did we see the leader of their group in this episode? I'm gonna lean towards 'no'.

Finally Morgan finds Rick, and it'll be fun to see how he handles being inside a community with a great number of people after being on his own for practically the whole apocalypse.

Oh, and it looks like Rick doesn't come off so crazy and unlikable after all, huh? :cool4:

[dbunting]

Ok, I really liked the finale. People from the group don't have to die to make it a good show.

As for the Wolves, I don't think they are the exiles, but now they have Aarons back pack with pictures so likely they will be looking for them. In my opinion, if they were the exiles, and are now the Wolves who like to kill people, they would be spending every waking minute looking for the people who kicked them out. Question, when the wolf had his converation with Morgan, he said he wanted every drop of him...is this the Wolves thing, blood? It just seemed like a weird comment to make.

Morgan, I was really skeptical of how he could find the group. It was handled in a decent manner, being 50 miles out of the way helps me believe it a little more. He and Rick will be fine, if anything this kind of is like when Rick came upon Morgan. Morgan was out of it and Rick wasn't. Now Morgan is at peace and Rick looks unhinged.

For a minute I thought TWD was going to pull a Red Wedding shocker. When Rick was killing zombies alone and everyone was at the campfire talking about how he saved them...to me it sounded like a eulogy, I was excited as hell, not that I want Rick gone, but damn it would have been a hell of a finale!

From the comments that the director made about next season, maybe the next eight episodes focus more on people trying to live together instead of outside threats?

[MercenaryChef]

carol:

i am not the fan of her character that so many people are. when she threatened dr. pete the world was cheering for her. look at this formerly abused woman taking charge of the situation. look at her putting this piece of shit in his place. you go, girl. yay!

those sentiments are easy to understand. however, i thought a lot deeper into it. she is a master manipulator. she knew that she was harassing dr. pete and inciting him into something. she knew he would respond in some manner. carol was perfectly prepared to stab him to death if what was incited was an attack on her person.

i would guess she hoped he would go after rick...and well we see how that played out. rick saves the day. everyone realizes dr. pete is a cock, blah blah.

but, what if dr. pete had instead killed his wife or children? how about deanna's hubby being collateral damage to the thing she helped into motion? well that means nothing to her. what else means nothing to her is if tara dies by not having dr. pete around. this person she rolled with in the wild is on her own. also who doesn't matter is anyone else that dr. pete could possibly help as a doctor.

she is intensely selfish, manipulative and almost entirely without a conscience. she does in fact care for rick, carl, maggie, glen and darryl. but, the rest of the crew is too new to the scene. they are all expendable to her.

this is a women who decided she knew what was best regarding a flu outbreak at the prison and murdered innocent people in attempt to quell the disease. spoiler alert, people still got it and died.

she was also the one who shot and killed a child. sure, the kid was murderous, but she took on the whole thing a little too easily.

carol, was ready to kill noah when he robbed her and darryl. once more she was wiling to kill a kid.

let us not also forget her threats against the child in alexandria. she truly would have taken the boy into the woods and left him in the dead of night to keep her small circle of compatriots safe.

she is far more damaged by the apocalypse than rick ever could be. he is rash and violent, but in the end he is inclusive. between the end of civilization and being reborn in it without her own abusive husband she has become something that is not to be cheered for but to be feared. not only did the new world shape her, but the old. the combination has created someone i personally would not want to be near.

just my thoughts on the character.

[The BlackBear]

Are the Wolves only two people or is it a larger group?

This is partly based on a perhaps spoiler from the IGN review. But also partly what the Aaron said:

I think there is another guy Davidson, he's described as 'smart and strong' the strong probably means mentally but could mean physically as well. Neither of the two we meant seem all that smart. When the show want us to fear a group they don't get them beaten up during their first appearance. I'm sure there's another guy, add to that the review kind of hinted at a comic character and doubted we'd been shown him yet.

Although they're still assuming it's a guy. Apparently Deanna is a male in the comics, why could this character not be gender swapped too? If definitely male: They could have easily recruited another guy (who is one of those that jumped Morgan.

[The Mother of The Others]

I agree with the people on page 1: I can't wait for the finale and I hope Morgan shows up.

[The Anti-Targ]

I thought it was a really nice scene. I'd expect people without faith to have a hard time understanding it though. Years ago, before I rediscovered my faith, I would have thought that scene was silly too, but now that I'm older and wiser, I get how powerful something like that can be.

Yes, I think that is where the divide on opinions about that scene will be found, for the most part.

[The BlackBear]

On the faith scene. I have no problem with people rediscovering their faith. My issue is that Gabriel had gone so far from being the minister he's meant to have been, it seems incomprehensible that someone in that role can be so blind to how far they have fallen. His whole profession is meant to be about self reflection, but so far we haven't seen anything close to that. Not only does he lie to himself, but he tells malicious lies to others to cover it. I guess my main problem is that Gabriel as someone who should be able to help people with their own issues has failed so spectacularly at realising his own, that he is incredibly hard to sympathise with.

[CyanidePie]

The amount of shit that didn't make sense in this episode was at an all time high for tWD. Terribly sloppy silly writing, starting with Ass kickin with a staff Morgan to everything that happened to Glenn and continuing right up to the eyerolling throat slash. I'd love to be a television writer. It's a zero accountability job.

Writer 1 - "Ok, so Glenn is on the ground struggling with the walker on top of him, and we cut to a camera angle that shows two more walkers climbing on board for the gang bang!"

Writer 2 - "Sweet, that's totally bad ass. The viewers are going to shit themselves!"

Writer 1 " Fuck yeah bro!"

Writer 3 - "So how does Glenn get out of this without a scratch or a bite?"

Writer 1 - "Good point. No clue? How about a bear comes along and saves him? Then he rides the bear back to Alexandria or something."

Writer 3 - "A bear? Hmm...that might work!"

Writer 2 - " Fuck it, that scene is just too cool, just cut away from the three zombies and then show Glenn doing something else in the next scene. Everyone will be like wow Glenn is so cool, how did he do that? Glenn equals Batman!"

Writer 1 - "High five guys! We're totally awesome at writing!"

:lol: :lol:

This show makes me laugh more than comedies. I lost it when Carol was all "come at me bro."

I can't believe that I can't get a job writing.