TV Review: The Walking Dead (Season 5, Episode 5, November 9, 2014)

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

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EPISODE 5: Self Help

THE HOOK: Rick’s Terminus reunion didn’t go as planned. Now, prisoners of this malicious new group of survivors, Rick and crew must plot their next move carefully if they hope to survive.

The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS, so I don’t recommend reading this if you haven’t watched this episode

THE LOWDOWN: And the wheels on the bus go boom. I enjoyed the bus scene, but having read the comics and being privy to tonight’s big twist, I always find myself cringing when someone asks Eugene about his “mission”. I want to say I don’t understand why Abraham doesn’t see how huge a phoney Eugene is (dude looks like Joe Dirt’s slow Uncle, Bubba, a far cry from mankind’s last hope), but it’s obvious he just doesn’t want to. If it were me, you can be damn sure I wouldn’t be laying my ass on the line for that fool until we had a serious chat about Washington. I’d want a slow and steady walk through the entire plan, down to the very last detail, in big dummy terms. The words “It’s classified” would unleash the greatest ass-whooping this world has ever seen.

Abraham is one of my favourite characters. Yes, he’s high-strung, and I’d assume he shits bullets, but that guy ain’t got time for the can! His flashback is downright heartbreaking, but the context leaves a little to be desired. On the one hand, it looks to me that in the aftermath of shit hitting the fan, he and his family went looking for supplies at the local grocery store and found some unsavory characters. From what I can tell, they were still people, not walkers, but it was difficult to be sure. It looks like they threw down and he put foot to ass, I just don’t get why his family were so freaked out. The world’s going to hell people, he did what needed to be done to protect his family (you guys), and you’re going to stare at him like he’s a damn monster and ditch his ass in the night?! That’s cold. Again, the context of this scenario is foggy at best, but that’s what it looks like to me and I do not approve.

The library is the perfect place to keep warm for the night, but rather than read, we find Eugene watching (in the Self Help section…priceless) Abraham and his woman get it on—and not very inconspicuously I might add. What a damn freak show. Tara seems to dig him though (love her casual glance as she takes off), and although I enjoyed her speech about friends and how everyone’s stuck together, there are deal breakers…like sabotaging the damn bus. Tara’s awfully forgiving, far more so that I would be. Glenn Maggie also share a moment, and I laughed out loud when Maggie says “I feel guilty”. She was of course referring to leaving the group behind, but it made me think of Beth. I wanted to yell at the screen “Hey Maggie, you do remember you have a sister, right?” And suddenly, Beth’s the Rickon Stark of the group.

THE WALKING DEAD SEASON 5’s fifth episode didn’t seem like it was going anywhere until Eugene dropped the bomb. Poor Abraham. Aside from feeding his heartache with zombie kills, the guy really needed to believe in something (and he clearly should have paid more attention in Shop Class). You can almost hear his soul being crushed, and then he crushes Eugene’s face (which he totally had coming). So much for Washington. I’m extremely anxious to see how this group pulls together in light of this revelation. I don’t remember the actual incident from the comics, and I didn’t think it would happen this early in the show, so I have no idea what’s going down next. I’m assuming Glenn will step up, collect poor Abraham and lug everyone back to Rick and the crew. That’s what I want to see anyway. Oh, and in my version they leave Eugene tied to the Fire truck, dangling like a carrot for that horde of walkers to chow down on. That would be sweet.

ZOMBIE KILL OF THE WEEK: As much as I hate the guy, I gotta hand it to Eugene for taking out all those walkers with the hose tonight. Badass move.

BLOOD AND GORE: There are lots of kills, blood and beatdowns. It was a good night.

COOLEST SCENE: Abraham’s flashback, spread out as it was, was as horrible as it was heartfelt, and you could see every single emotion play out on his face and in his eyes. Fantastic performance.

FINAL VERDICT:

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