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| Courtesy AMC |
This episode should have been named Flashback Frenzy because, well, it was full of flashbacks. Don’t get me wrong, I love old Hershel and all, but come on, you’ve got to give me something. It is the last episode of the season, and I had to rely on old footage of them at the prison before Hershel was ever killed otherwise known as footage from the first half of this season. Oyyyyy. There were some juicy parts, but overall this episode wasn’t as packed with violence as we have become accustomed to in other mid-season and season finales.
We opened up with a flashback with the whole gang musing about how things were good at the prison. Everyone seemed in good spirits, but then we head back to present day where we see a sad, bloody, and sweaty Rick. After the break we head back shortly in time to Rick, Michonne, and Carl cooking grub and checking snares for dead critters. Everyone is pretty hungry, but they seem pretty happy. Carl asks Rick if they should tell everyone about the messed up stuff they have done to survive when they finally meet up. Ehhh, I don’t want to tell the little fellow, but it’s about to get way worse. They stumble upon a dude about to get mauled by a bunch of walkers, but Rick tells Carl not to help him. You know, the need for survival and all that jazz. You can’t go around helping folks and wasting bullets, Carl!
Commence flashback number two here. Hershel talks about how he has no concept of time, and Beth takes Judith so Hershel can show Rick something. Cool story, bro.
Back in the not so distant future, Rick, Michonne, and Carl stumble upon an old, abandoned SUV to rest in for the evening. Michonne and he chit-chat about Terminus outside of the SUV while Carl rests after snacking on Rick’s sad and small rabbit. Once again the peace is short-lived as Joe and his band of merry marauders sneak up on them. Joe is still pissed about that incident a few episodes back where Rick killed their cohort and left him to turn on them. Since he was hot on the trail and had nothing better to do, he stalked Rick and eventually found him. I guess it’s New Year’s Eve (according to Joe), but who really knows? As Joe holds a gun to Rick’s head, Daryl shows up and stops him and tells him that Rick and Michonne are "good people."
Meanwhile, the creepy fat dude is looking lasciviously at Carl through the window of the SUV. Things are going from bad to worse. Since Joe is hell bent on his “rules,” he tells Daryl that saying that Rick and Michonne are good people is a lie; therefore, they’re going to have to beat Daryl to death, then there’s some mention of raping Michonne and Carl, then shooting Rick. Well, then. At this point, things get really awkward. The fat guy is pulling and writhing on Carl while he’s flipped over, and Daryl is getting his ass beaten. Rick finally head butts Joe then bites his jugular out. Michonne and he then take over the remaining men and kill the rapey fat man. Good riddance, Joe & creeps.
Flashback number 3: Hershel shows Rick how to raise animals and crops. He wants Carl to learn from Rick. Yada, yada, Carl’s a little psycho and shot that kid. Blah, blah, blah teach Carl not to be a little psycho. Hershel tells Rick that he owes him and that they can make things better. Okay, we all know this. Did they run out of material for the end of this season?
Back in the present, Daryl basically apologizes to Rick for hanging out with creepy, rapist psychos. Rick forgives him and tells him that Daryl is his brother. Precious. Daryl tells Rick that he doesn’t blame him for how he handled the Joe situation. Um, no doubt. They finally head to Terminus, but not straight on. Rick decides to head through the woods. Rick and Daryl head off together and Carl and Michonne stick together. Michonne tells Carl about how her son, Andre, died. Andre’s dad and their friend were getting high and weren’t paying attention and all three got bitten. She was so angry that she removed their jaws and arms and squired them around like pets on chains. She figured out that having them around disguised her amongst the walkers. The point is that she was pretty messed up and Andrea, Rick, and Carl (among others) brought her back to reality. She doesn’t want Carl to get all messed up or be scared of her or his dad. He thinks he’s not a good person like what his dad thinks he is. I guess we will all find out in due time.
Rick, Daryl, Carl, and Michonne come into Terminus from the back way. They don’t exactly bum rush the Terminus people, but they seem creepily nice. That’s a bad sign because no one is nice in the zombie apocalypse. They make them put their weapons down, but quickly return them. It all goes to shit pretty quickly once Rick realizes the Terminus people have goods belonging to Maggie, Glenn, and Tara.
Flashback number 4: Patrick plays with Legos, and Carl plays with a gun.
The thing that really tips him off is Hershel’s watch. The Terminus people tell Rick that they got the goods off of dead bodies. Riiiiiggghhhhttttt. A melee ensues, and the Terminus people force Rick and company through a set of doors labeled A. They enter a room with creepy candles and the message scrawled on the wall, “Never again. Never trust. We first, always.”
They run around for a while, but realize they’re outnumbered by Terminus snipers and they're made to drop their weapons and enter a train car one by one. Once they enter, they meet Glenn, Maggie, Bob, Tara, Sasha, Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene.
Flashback number 5: Rick, Hershel, Beth, and Carl farm and joke around.
Rick speaks to the group and says, "They're gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out.” To which Abraham asks, "Find out what?" "They're screwing with the wrong people," Rick says.
Smaller bites:
-Where are Carol and Ty?
-Is Beth even still alive or was she kidnapped by a weird funeral home director or the Terminus crowd?
-Are the Terminus people cannibals? Are they into weird ritual crap? I don’t really know what to think about those people.
-I don’t know what I am going to do when this show is on hiatus. It usually returns in October, so my Sunday nights for the next six months are going to be pretty anticlimactic.