What Happened and What's Going On

"What Happened and What's Going On" is the ninth episode and mid-season premiere of Season 5 of AMC's The Walking Dead. It aired on February 8, 2015 at 9/8c on AMC, and on February 9, 2015 at 9pm on Fox.

Plot Synopsis
17 days have passed since Beth's death.

Maggie and Noah are still coping with Beth's unexpected demise. After leaving the hospital, Rick, Glenn, Daryl, and Sasha go for a supply run. Rick checks a truck, clears it out, and takes it for transportation to Virginia.

Several glimpses show locations with significance to Tyreese: a small house, referencing the cabin at the Grove; the prison; and Woodbury. Some pictures of Noah along with his twin brothers are also shown.

When the night comes, Noah tells Rick that Beth was supposed to leave with him from the hospital to accompany him to the community where his family resides. Rick asks where it is and Noah tells him that it is just outside Richmond, Virginia, approximately 530 miles northeast of Atlanta. Despite it being far away, Rick decides to tell the rest of the group that the place Noah mentioned would be their next destination. The place was secured when Noah left the place, walled, and was a home for 20 people. "It's a long trip, but if it works out. It's the last long trip we have to make," Rick says. Glenn questions what if it's not around anymore. Rick says that they would keep going,  before being added by Michonne who said, ''"Then we find a new place." ''

Some glimpses are shown again: a skeleton of human remains in the woods and a sun drawing made of chalk on a road. Lizzie and Mika appears in a vision as they were last seen: bloodied and with the wounds that killed them. Mika looks at the camera and says, "It's better now." before a glimpse of the cabin seen before reappears, with blood dripping onto it.

The story cuts to the events before the funeral: Rick, Michonne, Glenn, Tyreese, and Noah are on the way to where Noah's place was mentioned, having made their way through South Carolina, North Carolina and much of Virginia. Rick radios Carol to tell her that they've almost reached the place. Carol says to Rick that if they don't get back, the rest will come looking. Noah and Tyreese have a conversation about their respective families. Noah says that he hopes to see his own well at the community, and Tyreese says that he hopes so too.

They park about two miles from the town. They approach with caution, Rick fearing snipers but Noah reassuring him. When the gate comes into view, Noah rushes toward it and tries to open it, but it is locked. They hear some noises from within and Glenn climbs the wall to peer inside, only to see the town destroyed; he remains silent. Noah panics and hops the wall to see the destruction.

Noah breaks down in tears as Rick and the others follow after him. Tyreese comforts him by telling him that everything is going to be all right, that he's with them now. Rick intervenes and tells Noah that he is truly sorry about what happened.

Rick radios Carol and informs her that the place is gone. Rick, Michonne, and Glenn head off to see what they can find. Rick and Glenn discuss the events at the hospital and their mutual desire to kill Dawn, despite the accidental nature of Beth's death. Glenn, formerly one of the group’s most steadfast optimists, admits to Rick that given all they’ve been through, if he had the chance to do it all over again, he wouldn’t have stopped to try and save the man trapped in the storage container at Terminus, and he would’ve killed Dawn without hesitation..

Meanwhile, Noah is still grieving. Tyreese stays with him and recounts his own story of loss, but concludes that, if it hadn't been for his perseverance, Judith wouldn't be alive today. He tells Noah that it isn't the end. Noah then stands up and see his old house from afar. He runs off towards it and Tyreese chases after him. They enter the house and find Noah's mother dead in the living room. Noah falls to her side and apologizes profusely as Tyreese sets off in investigation of a sound he heard from a bedroom. In the bedroom, he becomes distracted by photos on the wall of Noah's brothers and gets bitten by a walker by surprise. Noah hurries into the room and kills the walker before frantically telling Tyreese that he will go get the others.

Tyreese begins to hallucinate. He sees Martin from Terminus, who taunts him that he's dying and for not killing him when he had the chance at the cabin. He says that if he had, Bob might still be alive today; Beth might still be alive. Bob then appears and reminds Tyreese that he was bitten at the food bank. A voice in the radio is heard, reporting horrific news. The Governor appears and reminds Tyreese how he said he would do whatever he could to earn his keep when he first arrived at Woodbury. Mika and Lizzie then appear to comfort Tyreese, but the Governor deny their words. Tyreese snaps out from his hallucination as the figure her saw as the Governor turns into a walker that begins to attack Tyreese. Tyreese quickly puts it down, not before sustaining another bite to his arm, and falls to the floor.

On the back of the community, beside a broken wall surrounded by mutilated legs, Michonne expresses her idea to stay in the neighborhood, but Rick offers several rebuttals. She argues that instead of just "making it" that they should go to Washington, D.C., where they might have a chance. After a moment, Rick agrees. Just then, Noah is heard screaming for help and the group runs off to save him from several walkers that have him cornered. He reports that Tyreese has been bitten and they set off in the direction of his house.

At the house, Beth appears as part of Tyreese's hallucination, playing her guitar and singing. Mika and Lizzie are sitting in front of her. Beth tells Tyreese that it's okay and that he has to know this now. Bob adds that it's okay for him not to want to be a part of it anymore. Martin points out that being a part of it now is simply being. The Governor then scolds him for letting Carol go after what she did to the woman he loved. Tyreese stands up and confirms what he said before about a man having to do something to earn his keep, but that he did not know the Governor then but he knows him now. He knows what happened and what's going on. He points at the Governor and declares that he is dead, that everything about him is dead, and that he forgave Carol because it's not over. He says that he would listen to the news so that he could help.

Mika and Lizzie take hold of Tyreese's hand before it is revealed that it is Rick gripping his bloodied hand, holding his arm tight for Michonne to amputate the hand off to stop the infection from spreading.

The group haul Tyreese from the house and to the front gates. They smash the locks off and open the doors, walkers spilling in. They quickly dispatch them and carry Tyreese all the way back to their car. As they run, Tyreese has flashes of the horrors he has seen, which include Sasha killing Martin and Carol shooting Lizzie. Tyreese grows weaker as they get to the car and Rick radioes Carol to tell her that they have to cauterize the arm to stop the bleeding.

After a momentary stalling, in which the car gets stuck and then crashes into a truck filled with mutilated walkers - the upper halves of the legs seen by Rick, Glenn, and Michonne - they manage set off. Tyreese has another hallucination. Beth is driving the car, Bob is in the passenger seat, and Mika and Lizzie are sitting by his side, comforting him; however, unlike his previous hallucinations, the injuries they received when they originally died are no longer seen. Tyreese takes a final glance of Bob smiling, looks out of the car window, and dies peacefully whilst watching the sun. The people in the car notice his state and come to a stop. They pull him from the car onto the road and Michonne puts him down.

It is revealed that the funeral seen at the beginning was Tyreese's and not Beth's. Sasha is visually shocked by the death of her brother. The episode ends with a shot of a cross over Tyreese's grave, his signature beanie resting atop it.

Special Guest Stars

 * David Morrissey as Philip Blake/The Governor
 * Lawrence Gilliard Jr. as Bob Stookey
 * Chris Coy as Martin
 * Brighton Sharbino as Lizzie Samuels
 * Kyla Kenedy as Mika Samuels

Uncredited

 * Charlotte & Clara Ward as Judith Grimes
 * Gino Crognale as Walker
 * Zanion as Noah's youngest brother

Deaths

 * Tyreese
 * Noah's mother (Fate confirmed)
 * Noah's second brother (Fate confirmed)
 * Noah's youngest brother (Zombified)
 * At least 17 people from Shirewilt Residence. (Fate confirmed/Zombified)

Trivia

 * Last appearance of The Governor. (Hallucination)
 * Last appearance of Lizzie Samuels. (Hallucination)
 * Last appearance of Mika Samuels. (Hallucination)
 * Last appearance of Martin (Hallucination)
 * Last appearance of Bob Stookey (Hallucination)
 * Last appearance of Tyreese (Alive)
 * Beth is the only character in the series to appear in the next episode after their death.
 * This is the first episode of the TV series to be set outside of the state of Georgia. The majority of the episode is set outside of Richmond, Virginia, 530 miles northeast of Atlanta and 100 miles south of Washington, DC.
 * This episode is the longest distance the group has traveled in the entire series, a distance of 530 miles from Atlanta to Richmond.
 * The first 2 minutes of the episode were released the day prior to the episode's premiere.
 * During one of his interviews, Robert Kirkman teases this episode is gonna be “polarizing” to the fans. He believes The Walking Dead fans may be caught off guard, and he expects the episode will bring plenty of debate. He said, "Episode 509 is going to be a fan-favorite episode in a lot of ways, and it’s going to be a fan-hated episode in a lot of ways because it is a somewhat brutal episode. Those are very hard for the audience here and there, but there’s a lot of magic in that episode as well, and a lot of really cool stuff that people are going to be very excited about. So it’s going to be a very special, very unique episode that I’m really excited for people to see."
 * The title of the episode refers to Tyreese's statement to The Governor, "I know what happened and what's going on."
 * The name of Shirewilt Estates is a reference to Wiltshire Estates, a semi-prominent location in the early issues of the comics and that was shown in Season 2 of the show, though it was never named onscreen.
 * The song that Beth sings is called "Struggling Man" by Jimmy Cliff.
 * The room in Noah's house was built inside a soundstage to keep the actors in Tyreese's hallucinations hidden from the public.
 * According to Greg Nicotero on the episode of Talking Dead that followed this episode, 17 days have elapsed between episodes 8 and 9.
 * Tyreese's death in this episode now makes Season 5 the season with the most main character deaths, with four main characters dead.
 * This episode marks the third time that two main characters have died in consecutive episodes. The first being Dale and Shane in Season 2; the second being Merle and Andrea in Season 3.
 * In Talking Dead, Gregory Nicotero confirmed that Andrew Lincoln was the voice of the radio broadcaster during Tyreese's hallucinations.