Halloween '16: My Walking Dead S5 Marathon

Last Sunday, while other people were watching the premiere of the seventh season of The Walking Dead, I began my marathon viewing of the fifth season. Yes, I hadn't yet seen the fifth season. Don't ask me when I'll catch the sixth and seventh season, I couldn't tell you. Okay, okay, okay. I did see a couple episodes of fifth season prior. So not the entire season but I did binge watch fifteen episodes. So continuing my (hopefully) daily Halloween blog entry here are my thoughts on those 15 episodes of Season 5. For the sake of brevity, I'm only going to list between one to five things that I felt were cool or noteworthy.




Spoilers






Strangers

• Rick and Carol finally coming to terms over him casting her out.
• Father Gabriel's first appearance!
• Alas poor Bob, he's experienced Dale's comic book fate as the Terminus cannibals have started eating him.

Four Walls and a Roof

• Father Gabriel is haunted by the fact that he kept his parishioners locked out as walkers attacked them.
• Baby Judith alerting the Terminus cannibals where people are hiding.
• Rick and Co ambushing the Terminus cannibals whom everyone thought were sneak attacking those in church.
• Tyrese once again finishing of the dying - Alas, poor Bob, I didn't know him well.

Slabtown

• Turns out those who nabbed Beth were a group of cops and they operate out of a hospital.
• Don't improve, you die!
• Walkers are referred to as robbers.
• Seeing Beth's transformation from weak link to bad ass as she helps Noah escape - killing several walkers in the process.

Self Help

• Wait? Eugene says the Human Genome Project may have the cure for zombies?! Clearly none of the rest of the cast were science geeks...
• Abraham beating a person or walker to death with a can of beans.
• Survival 101!
• Using the fire hose atop a fire engine to destroy zombies!
• Yep, Eugene's lying about a cure. So Abraham KO's him after three hits.

Consumed

• I've been wondering if everyone who dies becomes a walker, why are there dead that are inanimate? Shouldn't every encounter with corpse be dangerous?
• Walkers trapped within camping gear.
• Walkers knocking over a van then splattering to their doom following.
• Never really realized that walkers are attracted to fire before...

Crossed

• Father Gabriel's church torn up in order to construct defense.
• Walker utility workers trapped under a utility pole. Walkers that blasted by an aerial bombardment.
• Oh wait, the walkers were referred to as rotters? My bad.

Coda

• 'You've been out here too long.'
• Father Gabriel killing Walkers under his church with a machete is rather cool.
• Alas, I bet they felt the rescue was pointless as poor Beth dies stabbing with head cop with smuggled scissors. But they get Noah...
• Morgan!

What Happened and What's Going On

• I'm familiar with the comic so Glenn holding a bat is some pretty nasty foreshadowing...
• After being bit, Tyrese sacrificing his bit arm to a different walker before bashing its head in! Awesome!
• Seems someone knocked down the wall of the gated community...
• De-limbed walkers with a 'W' on the forehead...
• Alas, poor Tyrese, we knew him well - although probably not as well as we could have like in the comic. I'm starting to suspect that characters that live longer than they did in the comic are on borrowed time. Yes, I spoiled myself about the deaths during the Season 7 premiere...

Them

• Dispatching walkers by knocking them down a hill is an ingenious method.
• Feral dogs would be pretty nasty during a zombie apocalypse...
• Storm knocking down trees dispatching walkers.

The Distance

• This guy Aaron shows the group pictures of a gated community. Seems very calm and friendly.
• He calls walkers roamers.
• A car cutting through swaths of zombies as it plows through!
• Glenn demonstrates his camper know-how that he learned from Dale.

Remember

• Check your guns in!
• 'I like this place but they're weak and I don't want us to become weak.'
• 'Amazing how people from different backgrounds can become a family. Everyone has a job. Guess, the communists won after all.'
• 'We were almost out there too long.'
• 'If they can't make it, we'll take this place.'

Forget

• Another zombie with a 'W' on forehead.
• Poor horse.

Spend

• Rather like how the architect that designed the walls gave Noah his journal so he can jot down notes and record the beginnings of Alexandria.
• A grenade carried on a vest worn by a walker is shot and blows up!
• Oh... about the journal and the building of a great new society... yeah don't think that's happening now. Another one bites the dust.

Try

• A Nine Inch Nails song!
• The girl who came from outside is like a ninja.
• 'It is their world. We are just living in it.'
• Sasha seems to have inherited Andrea's marksmanship from the comics.
• More walkers with 'W' on forehead plus a gutted out woman tied a tree with the same 'W'.

Conquer

• Guess, there are living people with 'W' on foreheads calling themselves wolves. While I am not an avid reader of the comic, I don't recall them...
• Morgan calmly dispatching both wolves with a bo staff. Big change from his last appearance...
• Trailers full of walkers with 'W' on forehead!
• Morgan saves Aaron and Daryl.
• Wolves corralling walkers into semi trailers. Hmm I think these might be the people crashing down gated/walled communities...

Have to say, I liked Season 5 and had no problem with the pacing. I think the Wolves are neat addition to the Walking Dead mythos.


Till next time.