It’s October, so you know what that means: “The Walking Dead” is back, and so am I with my five thoughts reviews on the show. After a very up and down relationship with the show, season four – especially its splintered second half – actually was something I enjoyed greatly. Sure, there were occasional faults, but it was overall the season that I think was by far the best we’ve seen so far.
And now, the crew is in a train car in Terminus and they very well may be dinner. What’s going to happen? Will Rick unleash his unholy wrath on those not so kind folks? Who are these people exactly? Where is Beth? Does anyone care where Beth is? If Beth sings in a forest and no one hears it, did she really sing? Answers to all of that and more in my five thoughts review below.
If you haven’t watched the episode yet, please beware a LOT of spoilers.
1. Literally the best cold open they’ve ever had
If there’s one thing I’ve been positive about on the show before, it’s that they are very good at cold opens. This one, which featured Team Train Car dealing with the people of Terminus who are VERY APPARENTLY CANNIBALS NOW, was almost certainly the best one yet. Unfathomably intense and really, really gruesome, its best feature was perhaps the first of what is certain to be many tête-à-têtes between Rick and Gareth. The wildly efficient manner the Terminus folk deal with their victims – the blood trough, swing and slit, and Gareth’s book, for three – was probably the creepiest part of it, and good lord was it delicious.
Plus, the revelation that once upon a time Gareth was in a train car once upon a time himself? Pretty, pretty great start to the season. Yeesh. The fact that his story looped back around at the end further indicated that yes, he’ll be a bigger part of the show going forward. Excited for that.
In a weird way, the vibe reminded me of the open to “Half Life 2”, if you ever played that. The extreme high tension, the radio messages, the single perspective to chaos…it was an extreme level of quality the show rarely reaches.
2. Carol: A Goddess Amongst Women
Somehow, Carol has become my favorite character on the show by a good margin. While the people in Terminus were highly efficient and capable, they were never met by the human meat grinder that is Carol, and hoo boy, seeing her take Terminus to pieces was a sight to behold. Whether it was going all Arnold in Predator with zombie blood and guts, innovatively using fireworks as a weapon (and what aim!), or mercilessly opening the door with an “I’m not here” to Terminus’s matriarch (referencing her zombie invisibility), she was THE apex predator in a world where only the strong survive.
Once upon a time, Daryl was the character I hoped to see leave the show and just do badass things all day, every day. Now? Daryl bows to the might of Carol.
3. “That’s still who we are. It’s gotta be.”
This line from Glenn when Rick was planning on skipping other shipping containers filled with people (more food for the Terminus crew) was pitch perfect. A lot of this episode, in-between the super badass action set pieces, was about the difference between people and what they have to do to survive.
The guy Tyreese was watching as Carol went all Rambo on Terminus talked about it, about how what Tyreese really should do is take the car and go, and that Tyreese should have killed him from the start. But like what Glenn said, they’re not the type who are just going to kill people unnecessarily, or the type who will just let them die. Sure, some of the Tyreese part can be read as meta-commentary about how foolish the characters act sometimes (as if the guy was a viewer watching yelling “JUST KILL THE GUY! THERE IS A CAR! COME ONNN!!”), but it really existed as a line in the sand as to the differences between people and how far they’ll go.
Continued belowI think we’re seeing that some people, like Carol (as the woman in Terminus said) and Rick, might be willing to go all the way. Maybe not cannibalism far, but they’ll go further than anyone. I expect this to be a continuing theme in the season, even more so than it has been in the past.
4. The Walking Dead Escape
At varying comic cons and events around the country, there’s a “The Walking Dead Escape” survival course where you get chased by people dressed up as zombies. I did it at NYCC in 2013, and it was a hell of a lot of fun.
When Rick opened the door to the train car to the rest of the survivors and they (and us) were greeted with utter chaos behind him with gunfire and zombies up the wazoo, that was all I could think of. This…THIS is a hell of an escape. It was a flurry of energy and excitement and chaos and hysteria. It was everything you want the Walking Dead’s action set pieces to be, and god was it invigorating and exciting. The perfect way to open a season.
5. At least the best season premiere, maybe the best episode of the series
The title says it. This episode absolutely rocked. It was one of the most enjoyable episodes ever – maybe the best ever – with standout performances across the cast, most notably Melissa McBride, Andrew Lincoln and Andrew J. West were scenery chewers. It had wall-to-wall action, and when people were talking, it was highly impactful and interesting for once. They were so on fire, they even somehow made Eugene’s answer to “what is the cure?” sound somewhat believable, and I’ve read the comic!
There were still some super minor flaws (I still yelled at Tyreese for being stupid and Carl is really starting to look like he’s 30, which is troubling), but with the amazing action and the emotional catharsis of Carol and Daryl’s reunion followed by the one of the Grimes family getting back together, it was impossible not to be sucked into this episode. Now the question is, is this as good as it gets, or is this the start of something truly worth the mass hysteria around the show?
Here’s hoping it’s the latter.
