After last week's awesome season opener, the second installment of Season 5 of The Walking Dead was a slower and quieter affair, but with one hell of a climax.
With a slow mo opening that's straight out of a music video, it's made clear from the start of this episode that the gang are finally all back together (sorry Beth) but with a reunion comes character development. While Tyreese has spent enough time with Carol on the road to accept her forgiveness over Karen's murder, he vows to make the others understand her motives too, not that Carol's bothered about being BFFs with everyone else.
Tara, who didn't have a big role and less than 5 lines in the previous episode, ("What's next is we get out of this." and "Shut up, Eugene." being two of her lines.) gets the development she deserves in this episode. Apologizing to Rick and Maggie, confessing that she was on the Governor's side, and fist-bumping Rick was a great addition to her character, and made me like her more and wish she would have a greater impact on future episodes.
Many fans will miss her katana, it’s lovely to hear that Michonne doesn't. Michonne has come a long way over the past two seasons; she’s much more than the woman with the sword. It’s great to see the show recognize and embrace this. Her conversation with Rick works well, checking in on their relationship and nodding to the audience, who may have been wondering what had come of the katana.
Bob and Sasha, up in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G..... Bob and Sasha were adorable throughout the episode. However, relationships on TWD are usually doomed to fail; Rick and Lori, Tyreese and Karen, so to see another romance blossom is questionable at best. But now that Tyreese is back, Sasha enters into a new romance with Bob and we can't help but be charmed by their playful banter as they try to make the best of this apocalypse. Will this love last?
Before the Great Bob Eating of 2014, some other stuff actually happened in the episode. The biggest event was the introduction of the cowardly Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam). We learn a lot about the man of the cloth this week, including he’s very scared all the time, he trusts in god, and he’s scared all the time. Actually we didn’t learn a whole lot about him.
The food bank supply run was quite harrowing, knowing that a walker could probably grab you in the leg while you're waddling through water that is high enough to reach your waist. Poor Bob got grabbed into the water by a slimy, rotting walker and that gave me a jumpscare. Thankfully, he was rescued by his love, Sasha.
The Carol and Daryl romance continues as they are off on their own adventure as Daryl catches a sighting of that cross-adorned car that kidnapped Beth last season, with our favourite twosome giving chase. If this means Carol, Daryl and Beth will soon all be in the same room together, it can only mean great events in the future. The sign that Morgan sees in the last episode can also be seen when Bob goes out alone. Does this mean that Morgan will be returning sooner than we expected? I can't wait to find out.
If 4 years of TWD taught me something, it taught me that tragedy comes with peace and hope. Bob gets knocked out and has his leg chopped off by someone none other than Terminus. And there's that asswipe and babykiller Martin, whom we thought we thought Tyreese finished off in the last episode.
If there's one thing Gareth is great at it's speeches, and he delivers a gem of one as he declares to a tied-up Bob: “We evolved as people, we had to, and now we’ve devolved into hunters." Oh, and what's that Gareth and his cronies are munching on? Only Bob's sawn off leg. Now, at this point fans of the comics will be wetting themselves as the storyline mirrors one of the most iconic of Robert Kirkman's plots. All I'm saying is that the attack on Bob in the food bank may come back to haunt his hunters - have they bitten off more than they can chew?
Some stuff and thangs related to the episode...
