When we last saw Rick Grimes and the gang from AMC’s hit show “The Walking Dead,” they were locked in a rail car, not a good way to end a day in the post-apocalyptic world. After spending many episodes wandering separately, the former residents of the prison were lost and all searching for the promised “sanctuary for all” in the mysterious “Terminus.”
When Rick, Carl, Daryl and Michonne arrived, Rich noticed things were not exactly as they were sold. A gun battle ensued, and the four were taken by Termites and placed in the rail car, where they found the rest of their lost group.
That’s where season five starts, in that rail car.
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“The Walking Dead” has always been as much about the fight to survive other humans after society collapses as it is about zombies, and it’s had it slow moments, even seasons (most of season two was spent seeking normalcy on a secluded farm).
If episode one of season five is any indication, it can be summed up in one word – war.
The residents of Terminus, led by the charismatic Gareth, intend to eat our heroes, as the promised sanctuary is little more than bait to round up food.
The episode opens in that rail car, with the group fashioning weapons from belt buckles, shoelaces and anything else they can cook up. When the Termites come for them, they’re ready to fight. But, as is often the case in the “Dead” world, this isn’t their enemy’s first rodeo. They’re taken by surprise, through the roof with teargas, and find themselves lined up in the “slaughterhouse,” ready to be prepped for dinner.
The tension built in the opening scene, when Rick, Glenn, Daryl and Bob face Gareth and their imminent death, is some of the best the series has offered. The usual tension is smaller; a shoot out with other survivors or a zombie attack, but this time it is up-close and personal.
Clearly their fate is not sealed, this is a season premiere, not a series finale. But getting there is the fun part.
And that’s what “The Walking Dead” offers, that’s what gives it its life – the tension and the drama. The characters come and go (most of the cast from season one is dead), but the drama, the struggle to retain their humanity, survives.
There will be some spoilers from here on out, but I will keep them to a minimum.
We get a flashback right after the first commercial, but only about 20 minutes back. Carol, Tyreese and baby Judith stumble across a Termite outside the compound and take him prisoner. He tells them Michonne and Carl are in Terminus, but he lies about their circumstances. Carol, who has become quite the badass in the last two seasons, sets out to see for herself and, in a masterstroke of commando assault, sets into motion a chaos that spares Rich and the gang, giving them a fighting chance.
And fight they do.
This episode has a lot of action — action audiences have been craving. The characters we’ve come to know in the first four seasons have morphed into the characters we wanted them to be, the people we’d like to think we’d be should we find ourselves in a zombie apocalypse. The expectations set up in the season four finale were realized and surpassed.
Tyreese, heretofore somewhat of a pacifist, even gets into the act.
The theme of this episode, and perhaps the season, is “You’re either the butcher or the cattle.” And there were a lot of butchers here.
At the end, with the core group reunited (minus Beth, who was abducted last season and hasn’t yet been explained), they set off away from a now destroyed Terminus, not knowing when — or if — they will find the sanctuary they still seek.
If this episode is any indication of what’s to come, season five has a chance to be the best so far.