The Walking Dead: ‘Conquer’ Recap and Review

The Season 5 finale of The Walking Dead aired on Sunday night, putting an end to a 16 episode season.  The season began with the group locked up in a boxcar at the death-trap known as Terminus.  After their escape from there and a perilous life on the road, salvation was finally found in the form of a safe-zone called Alexandria.  How did things end there before Season 5 was officially wrapped?

First of all, Morgan is back, and more badass than ever.  Having set up a campsite in the forest, Morgan would be the first one to discover who the culprits were behind all of the murdered victims we’ve seen with ‘W’ marks carved into their heads.  As theorized, a pair of lunatics who refer to themselves as “wolves” made their presence known to Morgan, threatening to steal all of his supplies for killing him.

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However, these wolves weren’t counting on Morgan having been insanely skilled with his staff, as he beat the crap out of both of them.  He piled both of them into a car before honking the horn, leaving them as walker bait.  It shows that he’s a lot less crazy now that he chose not to just murder the two of these guys outright, which is good for Morgan, but potentially bad for Alexandria.  If nobody has stopped these guys, they’re only going to continue, and now they’re even more pissed off.

The horrific nature of the Wolves was even more apparent when Daryl and Aaron wound up falling right into one of their traps.  After tailing a potential recruit, a man in a red poncho, the duo found what seemed to be a cache of food in the form of a food truck.  When Daryl opened it, nothing was inside but a pack of zombies, all with ‘W’ carved into their foreheads.  Completely surrounded by walkers, Aaron and Daryl barely made it into a car before being completely surrounded.  It was there when Aaron discovered a note warning them of the trap, and mentioning that “bad people” would be coming soon.

Aaron and Daryl seemed to be totally screwed, and Daryl even offered to sacrifice himself so that Aaron could make it.  Aaron didn’t go for the idea, as he is apparently the only native Alexandrian who isn’t a complete coward.  Things looked bleak until Morgan showed up and saved their hides from the attacking zombies.  Morgan refused Aaron’s invitation to come to Alexandria, but he did want their assistance in getting him to his next location.  He shows them the map he found back at Gabriel’s church that tells Rick Grimes to go to Washington, and that’s when Daryl realizes who it is they’re dealing with.

Back in Alexandria, Rick seemed to have calmed down quite a bit since his fight with Pete, but he isn’t prepared to leave just yet, should Deanna choose to kick him out.  He tried to plan for taking Deanna and her family hostage if things were looking bad, but the idea was shot down by Michonne.  Glenn also tells Rick about his disappointment in their situation, asking Rick if chaos was what he wanted all along.  Rick admits that he hit his breaking point and lost control.

Out in the forest, Nicholas tried to kill Glenn by shooting at him, only managing to graze the skin.  Nick is apparently still worried about causing Noah’s death and the fact that Glenn knows the truth.  Glenn and Nicholas end up brawling halfway through the woods, going back and forth until Glenn finally gets the upper hand with the opportunity to kill Nicholas.  Glenn proves to be the bigger man by relenting and then helping bring Nicholas back to Alexandria, despite everything that had just happened.

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At the town meeting that night, Rick was late after being forced to seek out and kill a walker that had gotten in, thanks to Gabriel leaving the gate unlatched earlier.  After Carol and Maggie defended Rick at the meeting, things still didn’t look good for him until the man himself flopped the dead zombie on the ground in front of everybody, showing them that they aren’t as safe as they think they are.  The truth is, they need somebody like Rick there, who will do whatever it takes to keep their community safe.

Jessie’s husband, Pete, then comes storming out, waving Michonne’s sword in the air and threatening Rick.  When Deanna’s husband, Reg, tries to intervene, he ends up getting his throat slashed open with the sword.  At this moment, Deanna finally realizes the truth in Rick’s words, and orders Rick to go ahead and kill Pete for his crimes.  Rick doesn’t hesitate, immediately putting a bullet into Pete’s abusive brain.

And finally, immediately after killing Pete, Rick notices that Daryl and Aaron have returned, along with another familiar face.  The two had brought Morgan back to Alexandria, finally reuniting with Rick after the two hadn’t seen one another since Season 3.  What will Morgan think after seeing Rick’s swift justice, especially after Morgan hadn’t been able to kill the Wolves, who were much worse?

All in all, it was a great episode of the show, but not the best episode of the season.  It didn’t really feel like a season finale, except for Morgan’s return and the extra 30 minutes.  I guess it’s their fault for over-hyping the episode, with producer Gale Anne Hurd promising some “sad losses” and Norman Reedus warning viewers to “bring your Kleenex.”  That made me think we were going to see something truly shocking or depressing, such as the loss of someone like Glenn or Maggie.  While I’m sure Reg dying was a sad loss for Deanna, it wasn’t so much for long-time fans of this series who had only just met him.

And I’m pretty sure Pete’s death wasn’t sad for anybody.  Good riddance!