Another great seasons in the books! The 90 minute format for the season finale was spectacular, and I hope that AMC will continue to present finales like that in the future. I know that AMC likes to borrow inspiration from the comic books, but this episode’s core story (Rick vs. Alexandria) was almost ripped panel for panel from issue #77 of the comic books (we’ve included the panels below). The events in Alexandria up until Jesus arrives (issue #91) are regarded as kind of boring, but this episode showed that there are more than a few ways to make the subject entertaining until then.
Pros:
Still the good guys: The take-away from his whole kerfuffle is that our team is still “the good guys.” Sure, Rick went off the deep end, but there were several opportunities our crew had to completely slaughter the Alexandrians and the chose the high road – notably Glenn.
TV Morgan > comic book Morgan: Another great separation between the book and show is Morgan’s character. No longer is he the frail insane man we met earlier. He is a Transcendentalist now. He must have found Walden somewhere on his trek from Crazy Town. And he’s a freakin’ ninja.
Minor characters made the big difference here: While the finale focused on the big showdowns (Rick vs. Everybody, Glenn vs. fuckboy Nick, Sasha vs. Gabriel), it was words and small actions by the characters who had the least screen-time that made the difference. It was Michonne and Carl’s words that made Rick decide not to go all “Option 3” on everybody. It was Rosita that brought Abraham and Eugene together again. Jessie was the only one from Alexandria to speak in Rick’s defense. And it was Maggie’s reassured hands that led Sasha and Gabriel together in prayer – arguably the most powerful moment of the show to me.
FINISH HIM!: Mortal Kombat fans will be plenty pleased with this episode’s creative fatalities. Whipping a chain to lop off three heads? Check. Decapitating a mofo with an Alaskan license plate? Hell yeah, license plate collecting just gained a whole new generation of collectors. And then there’s my absolute favorite: sticking a gun all the way up inside the rotting head of a corpse and pulling the trigger, while the insides shower you from above. It’s pretty disgusting, but in a creative way.
“Like at Terminus”: No, Rick, not like at Terminus. This is “Option 3” from Gotham all over again. Why is the next step to grab the leaders and threaten to cut their throats? You saw how well that worked at Terminus, and those were actually the bad guys. Rick has been finding a reason to overtake the camp since day one, and I’m glad Glenn could put it in perspective for everybody.
Abraham, the eloquent: I don’t know how he does it, but Abraham Ford knows just the right words to tug at heart strings and make me laugh uncontrollably. When the mood gets too harsh, Abe reminds the citizens that there is a “vast ocean of shit that people don’t know shit about. Rick knows every fine grain of said shit… and then some.”
Eugene and Abraham bury the hatchet: Abraham repeatedly slapping things out of Eugene’s hands has become a household joke here at Hush. There was even a cosplay idea to just follow one of us around and continuously slap water out of Eugene’s hands. But in all honesty, it was really good for the show to have them finally take a moment and talk things through – especially after the transformation Eugene has gone through lately.
The Morgan-Rick dynamic: As happy as we were to see old friends reunited, Rick and Morgan have taken on completely different paths since they last saw each other – not only in skill, but in psyche. Morgan’s zen-like approach to the Wolves at the beginning (we’re assuming he trapped them in the car to buy himself some space, but we’ve heard other theories, too) is so far left of Rick’s presumed response of “kill them all, brutally.” I can’t wait to see how that plays out.
Cons:
The hype: I know the stars have to do something to hype up the season finales, but this one was a bit much. Nobody important died. I didn’t need to bring my Kleenex. The anticipation of somebody dying (it could have happened multiple times with multiple characters) altered my expectations of the episode change, and so, when nothing happened, I left feeling a tad dissatisfied. It’s like when the people ahead of you in a roller coaster tell you it’s going to be the most terrifying ride ever – even if it’s scary, it’s still not as good as if you had no pretext.
How have the wolves not been mentioned yet?: So it’s not just me, but multiple people in the group have had run-ins with the aftermath of The Wolves. Mutilated bodies, desecrated communities. You would think that somebody would have to mention that “hey, there’s a roaming band of psychotic assholes out there” to Alexandria. Or even to each other.
Still a better love story than Twilight: Jessie and Rick are the most boring story on the show right now. The connection between them doesn’t feel nearly as organic as in the comic books. He wants to play alpha male and take the most attractive female as his mate. Meanwhile, Jessie just wants the R. It’s not romantic, therapeutic or entertaining. Bleh.
What is this, Survivor?: Too much pre-apocalyptic television is to blame for this malarkey. The one-by-one story defense on why they shouldn’t vote Rick off the island is just dumb. It took the town hall thing a little too seriously. It looks like it worked, though, and both Pete and Reg were voted off in Rick’s stead.
Come at me, bro: Carol’s complexity has turned her into a frighteningly-unpredictable character. After throwing Rick under the bus like that in front of the group, I’m not so sure that she’s not playing double agent. If she’s turning into a sneaky two-timer, her stock will plummet for me.
Sasha is so emo right now: How sad and dead inside do you have to be to lay down in a pile of corpses? We get that she’s really sad about Bob and Tyreese – I mean, Rick went bonkers for half a season… But Sasha isn’t Rick, and watching her incrementally break down with PTSD is just as scary as it was with Rick.
Glenn and Maggie are a couple, right?: In the books, Glenn and Maggie are inseparable. They are the Jay-Z and Beyoncé of the zombie apocalypse. In this show, they barely speak to one another. It’s a letdown, as there aren’t really any other couples left in The Walking Dead (aside from Aaron & Eric and Abraham & Rosita) aside from our power couple, so why is the show afraid to let love in?
Easter Eggs & Tidbits:
Morgan’s staff: Just as Michonne flicks the blood off her katana after a fresh kill, Morgan tries to do the same by cleaning off his bo staff. However, he finds it much more difficult to wash out the blood, which is perhaps a metaphor about how each stroke affects the characters. Because of Morgan’s past, wiping the sin clean is a more difficult thing to do for him. Also, Michonne’s sword has now slaughtered two close human characters, Herschel and now Reg.
Pete’s drunk murder: Long, sharp objects are not toys, and when Pete stumbles in drunk to get angry with Rick, he accidentally slashes Reg’s throat, almost an exact parallel of the comic book murder of Douglas’ wife Regina’s murder.
Alexander Davidson: The origin of Alexandria began with this man right here. Aaron mentions him by name and details the story of how he was exiled for his manipulative rule over the community. It’s a theory that The Wolves are led by Davidson, as they follow similar scouting tactics as Alexandrians do.
Father Gabriel shirt: During Father Gabriel’s stroll, which included a walker kill, a good cry in the fetal position, and a tussle with Sasha on the ground, his shirt stays white. There’s no way that was an accident – these writers are too clever. I played around with the idea of purgatory, that God is mocking him by keeping his clothing pure and white. I don’t know; I’ll leave that metaphor up to somebody with a better theological point of view.
I don’t need my sword here: Michonne played around with the concept in the book, and that’s just what it turned out to be: playing. As much as she wanted Rick to blend in and accept the new system, there had to be a part of her that knew the world outside the walls were still as dangerous as ever.
Face full of Band-Aids: If you’re thinking to yourself, “there’s no way Rick needs that many Band-Aids,” then you would be right. However, after the scuffle with Pete in the books, both Rick and Pete must have shared a toilet paper roll between them to put their faces back together.
Predictions:
Domino effect of bad crap: There was a lot of shitty things set into motion here. If the TV show continues to directly follow the comic book lore like they have been, it would appear that The Wolves are going to be the group of DC Scavengers found around issue #75-80. Their tactics are congruent with those of the Wolves, and they even use the same “you got it, I want it” mentality. Engaging with them also brings on a massive horde of walkers to Alexandria, killing several key players (including Douglas) and giving Carl a big ol hole in the head in the process.
However, in the TV show, they are much more frightening and sadistic. Also, the wall is much shorter in this rendition of Alexandria, and The Wolves seem much more intelligent and sneaky than in the books. Knowing that AMC wants to drag out The Walking Dead forever, we know that they will want to make The Wolves the main antagonists for the first half of Season 6, but there’s also a lot of The Saviors (Negan’s group) in this group of bad guys, so blending the two stories together seems logical since not much happens between the DC Scavengers and meeting Jesus.
Glenn is going to regret not killing Nicholas: Once a snake, always a snake. Glenn has turned the cheek too many times. He may have bought whatever coward’s loyalty he gained from not killing Nick this time, but he’s bound to switch sides on The Survivors the first chance he gets. In the comic books, his coupe for power is met with “Do you have any fucking idea who you’re talking to?” and a good punking, but things were pretty close to going the other way, too. Watch out for that guy…
Music from the Episode:
The song that made the walkers boogie oogie oogie into the food trucks was “Love and Mercy” by Gazelle Twin. You can find it on the upcoming Season 5 soundtrack, here, but below is the original Brian Wilson track.
Hush Comics gives “Conquer” a A- for doing the phrase “season finale” justice without needing to go over-the-top with a key characters depth, and showing us that The Survivors are still the good guys. It just could have done without so much fluffing.
All images belong to AMC and are credited to Gene Page.
Hush Comics 