A Review of "Conquer": The Season 5 Finale of "The Walking Dead"

directed by Greg Nicotero
written by Scott M. Gimple and Seth Hoffman

As a result of the meltdown of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) last episode, in which he ranted, and waved a gun at half the residents of Alexandria, Deanna Monroe (Tovah Feldshuh) decides to hold a meeting in which the residents will decide what to do with him. One of the genuine possibilities is that he may be exiled. Elsewhere, Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Aaron (Ross Marquand) seem to stumble upon a wealth of supplies, only to find themselves in a walker infested trap, from which they are rescued by the nomadic Season 1 veteran Morgan (Lennie James). Meanwhile, Nicholas (Michael Traynor), the Alexandria resident whose cowardice two episodes ago cost Noah (Tyler James Williams) his life, tries to lure Glenn into the forest and kill him. Fr. Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) attempts to commit suicide-by-walker, only to change his mind, except that he leaves the gate open as he blunders back into Alexandria. Meanwhile, Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) has hit rock bottom, and at one point even lies in a pit with destroyed walkers. She turns to Fr. Gabriel for guidance, not knowing just how much he hates her and the rest of Rick's crew. Rick sees the open gate, tracks down the walkers who made it inside, and makes his findings known to Deanna and her group. Pete shows up, and things do not end well.

This episode demonstrates just how much this series has become a victim of its own success; while there is quite a lot to like about what happened here, this episode was quite notably anticlimactic, much like the last season-ender was.

What was notable, though, was the writer's understanding that killing someone isn't always limited to their physical body. Something Rick does at the very end of this episode, a line he emphatically crosses, right in front of someone who holds him in very high esteem, is, in a way, not unlike the grisly death of Noah that Glenn saw happen with his very own eyes. It's interesting to see how this will play out, especially with the impending threat of the "wolves."

I still confess to feeling a little disappointed at how so much was basically left hanging by this episode.

One of the highlights for me was the appearance of Morgan, who shows off some serious fighting skills as he dispatches two of the members of the wolves with a simple bo staff. Unlike Tyreese and Noah, this is one black character who can clearly take care of himself, and I certainly hope he does, especially considering how violently the last two major black characters got killed off.

Still, it peeved me that this episode still seemed more about setting up the next big confrontation than actually resolving anything, but then, like I said, to subvert fans' prognostications, I guess they had to forgo things like major character deaths and other kinds of twists. I'm still not sure why Norman Reedus said that fans would cry at the end of this episode; maybe he meant from the disappointment they would feel seeing so little happen in almost ninety minutes of air time.

Ultimately, while I think it's disappointing that the show runners gave such a subdued ending to such a harrowing season, part of me gets that the effect they were really going for was to show the impact that events of the past season have had on the characters. In that, I think it was a success. It just wasn't the kind of season-ending climax I was hoping to see.

7.5/10

Late to the Party: A Review of Episode #15 of The Walking Dead Season 5

"Try"

directed by Michael Satrazemis
written by Angela Kang

It seems silly to write a review of the penultimate episode of Season 5 of The Walking Dead, considering that the season finale is almost a week old now, but considering that unfortunate circumstances conspired to prevent me from sitting down to write a review, and considering I've reviewed just about every episode since the season resumed earlier this year, it would be a shame not to give my two cents, even if everyone already knows what happened. Arguably, given that there's no longer any risk of spoiling anything, perhaps it's the best time to write a review.

Quite a bit happens: In "Try" a lot of things are revealed, and at least one major plot thread comes to a head as Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) upon learning that Alexandria's resident surgeon Pete (Corey Brill) has been beating his wife Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge), with whom Rick just happens to be infatuated, decides to punish him. This does not sit well with Deanna (Tovah Feldshuh) who mourns the death of her son Aiden (Daniel Bonjour). Meanwhile Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Aaron (Ross Marquand) in their recruitment sorties, come across a victim of a grisly murder; a woman tied to a tree who has only just been consumed by walkers. She has the letter "w" carved into her forehead. Carl (Chandler Riggs) finally finds out why Enid (Katelyn Nacon) sneaks out of Alexandria on her own, and gets to know her a bit better.

Having the Rick/Jessie/Pete storyline come to a head was an interesting call on the part of the show runners especially in the lead up to the climax, and while to my mind they failed to effectively follow through on this twist with "Conquer" (which I will review in short order), they succeeded in showing just how fragile Rick's mind really is as a result of all he has endured, and how a combination of rage, frustration with a system he does not agree with, and just plain old libido can reduce him from his group's hardened leader into an incoherent, blubbering mess.

Andrew Lincoln is in really top form here. What grates on the viewer as well as on Rick is knowing that he's right, and yet no one will believe him because he basically looks like a raving lunatic waving a gun around at the end of the episode. The cards are pretty much stacked against Rick as the episode ends, and this is, quite honestly a fitting set up for what should have been an epic climax.

8.5/10