TV Review: The Walking Dead (Season 5, Episode 8, November 30, 2014)

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

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EPISODE 8: Coda

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: Picking up where last week left off, we get officer Bob making a break for it. Unfortunately for him, Rick isn’t having it and runs him down GTA style. And despite breaking his back, he still gets out of the car and shoots him in the face. I love Rick. In light of this mess, you can tell Rick’s just itching to go back to plan A, but somehow Daryl and the other two cops talk him out of it. What makes Rick a tremendous leader is that he’s still such a smooth motherf*cker when he reaches out to the responding officers at the Hospital—I mean, obviously he’s calm, his crew are up top with sniper rifles ready to throw down, but it’s his demeanor that commands respect.

Elsewhere, we have the least interesting story arc of the night as everyone’s favorite preacher goes on a sojourn to the school and finds Bob’s cookout. I don’t know if he’s more angry that people were eating people, or that they used pages of the bible to start the fire (or the fact that “Mary” was engraved inside the cover), but at any rate, he throws a hissy fit and high tails it back to the church, nearly managing to get everyone there killed in the process. Talk about dead weight. Seeing Abraham storm in and save the day was fitting, but aside from mentioning Beth to Maggie and blurting out that Euguene was full of shit, nothing else happened on that front. It’s nice to have them reunited, but I was hoping for more. Guess we’ll have to wait for the smoke to clear. It was nice to finally see Maggie acknowledge the fact that her sister may still be out there, as people were starting to question her loyalties.

What I found particularly interesting tonight were the talks between Beth and Dawn. Yes, Dawn is far from perfect. Yes, her system leaves much to be desired, but when push comes to shove (and it sure did), I can’t help but think Dawn had good intensions. It’s hard to know for certain, however, as everything going on at that Hospital seems to be hanging by a thread. Dude showing up to (I assume) kill Dawn and make Beth his new rape toy, was something I didn’t see coming. The girls tag-teamed his ass real good though! Dawn covering for Beth’s dispatching of Gorman was something I’m glad she admitted because I wondered how she viewed that situation. It was also interesting to hear Dawn say she knew Beth and Carol weren’t strangers. There’s been a fantastic tension building between these two characters, and in that final moment, I hoped Beth was going for Dawn’s jugular.

THE WALKING DEAD SEASON 5’s eighth episode was all about one moment, the final moment. The trade-off looked to be going fine, a little too easy, and then Dawn asked for Noah. I loved how Rick and the crew stepped up to protect Noah, considering he was still pretty much a stranger. That shows that our team haven’t lost all their humanity, and that’s a good thing. If only it worked out. Again, with all the tension bubbling under the skin (and the fact that Beth was packing those scissors), I figured she’d confront Dawn on some level, but I didn’t expect things to go down like they did. I knew someone was going to die, as the internet’s been streaming “the scene that made Norman Reedus cry”. It didn’t say who or what was going to happen, but I figured they’d lose Beth or Carol. What a gut-wrenching scene. I felt that gunshot, and cringed at the pain in those characters’ eyes. Beth’s death will change everything. She will be missed.

ZOMBIE KILL OF THE WEEK: Michonne slices and dices the hell out of some walkers at the church, one kill being her signature double beheading. The head splitting on the machete was cool too, but in all fairness, nobody was holding it so it’s a hard kill to claim.

BLOOD AND GORE: Headshots, beheadings, a broken back (he was a mess) and a kamikaze dive down an elevator shaft were all in good fun tonight. That is, until the final confrontation. That was no fun at all.

COOLEST SCENE: I have to go with the opening scene. Rick running that guy down, breaking his spine, and then shooting him in the face with a “shut up” was pretty damn cool.

FINAL VERDICT:

TELL US WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF THIS EPISODE BELOW!