The Walking Dead: Strangers (5x02)

I'm just going to jump right in - sound good?

The group walk through the forest, regrouping after their ordeal at Terminus. Carol doesn't feel like talking about what happened before, at the prison and with Lizzie and Mika, but Daryl tells her it's okay to start over. Abraham is anxious to keep moving on towards DC, but Rick hasn't decided yet if they'll all come along.

They then encounter a priest, named Father Gabriel. They save him from being killed by Walkers, but Rick isn't sure what to make of him, especially when he says he's never killed any Walkers, or people. He takes them to his church, where he's been holed up this whole time, surviving on canned goods that had just been collected for a food drive when the disaster began. He tells them that he's recently ran out of food, but that there is one more place nearby with food. It's been overrun by Walkers, though.

Rick tells Carl to keep his guard up, and that he doesn't trust Gabriel. Then, Rick takes Michonne, Bob, and Sasha with him to get the food. He also drags along Gabriel, because he doesn't trust him enough to let him out of his sight. The group manage to get the food, but Bob has a close call with a Walker, only barely being saved by Sasha. Gabriel sees someone he knew when she was alive, which badly rattles him.

Back at the church, Carl shows Rick that he found scratch marks on the outside of the walls, along with the words "you'll burn for this." Rick tells Gabriel that it's okay for him to have his secrets, but if he ends up hurting any of his people, Rick will kill him. Tara tells Maggie that she was at the prison with the Governor, but Maggie hugs her and reinforces her rightful position within the group. Abraham makes an impassioned speech about the need to journey on to DC, and Rick decides that the group will indeed go along.

Meanwhile, Carol tries to leave the group and head off on her own, but Daryl follows her to stop her. Out on the road, they see a car zoom by, and Daryl recognizes it as the car that took Beth. He and Carol hop in another car and go to follow.

Bob, who went outside away from the group, gets kidnapped. When he awakens, it's to see Gareth, and other survivors from Terminus! They've "devolved" into hunters, and they have to do what they can to survive. As the camera pans out, we see that Bob's leg has been chopped off, and the Terminus people are eating it right in front of him!

I don't really have any complaints, except for one thing... oddly enough, I thought Chandler Riggs (Carl) had some awkward acting moments here. Usually he's great, so I'm not sure what was going on, but he made a really awkward speech to his dad, and it just didn't come across right.

Sometimes, I feel like The Walking Dead struggles with episodes like this one. There's no central event, and the characters are all regrouping and trying to start over. The pace can drag, we can get some weird editing, etc. This episode did a good job of avoiding these pitfalls, for the most part. However, there was some weird editing at the beginning, where we kept getting slo-mo shots of the group just... walking through the woods. That could have been cool, but it was overused and they weren't doing anything particularly bad ass, so it didn't make a lot of sense.

However, let's move on to the positive aspects. As I said, episodes like this can often be a bit lackluster, but this episode was great. First of all, I like this Gabriel guy. He's interesting. Clearly all is not as it seems, and yet I don't think he's lying about his ineptitude with the Walkers. Carl and Rick both had such different reactions to him, which was a great way to build on the relationship between this father and son. Carl is willing to give Gabriel the benefit of the doubt, but he's not an idiot about it. He does his research, and when he sees something suspicious, he's honest about it. I love that Carl and Rick seem to be on good footing at last.

I loved Abraham's speech to the group, and Rick's moment of optimistic agreement. Looks like the group is heading to DC! After the nightmare of last week's episode, this scene was a real comfort. We got to see everyone playing with baby Judith, and eating food, and feeling secure. Even so, the threat still lingers. It's never totally absent in this show. The show's ability to maintain this sort of tension for such a long time is one of the best things about it.

Carol and Daryl had some great moments! I love how Carol is still hiding from the past, but Daryl tells her it's okay to move past it. Very sweet. Their relationship, whether romantic or not, is one of my favorite things to watch on this show. And I can't wait to see their epic journey to track down Beth! Oh gosh, I hope she's okay. (Although... is anyone else annoyed at Maggie for not being more concerned? Has she just given up on Beth?)

Michonne had a lovely moment where she talked about the past, when it was just her and her sword. Now that she's lost it, Rick wonders if she misses it. She says no. She misses Andrea. She misses Hershel. She doesn't miss what came before, when she was all alone.

There were lots of great character moments like that - Bob and Sasha, fighting between pessimism and optimism... Tyreese playing with Judith... Tara and Maggie's conversation... Bob's belief that they'll end up in DC... all of these things make the characters feel all the more real.

Of course, let's talk about that ending. I knew Gareth couldn't be dead... I mean, why waste such time on his development if that was the end of the Terminus plot? But I did not expect that sort of re-introduction for his character. What a creepy scene. Very well done. When the camera zooms out and you see his missing leg, and then Gareth just takes a big ol' bite of meat... ugh. Excellently creepy. Although... was Bob bitten on the leg in the earlier scene with the Walkers? Because he was totally limping afterwards. And he went outside to get away from everyone and cry, so I feel like he knew he was doomed. If the Terminus people eat a person whose been bitten, will that infect them? Or maybe, because everyone is already infected no matter what, it won't make a difference? Hey, maybe the leg amputation actually saved Bob's life!

I think that's all I've got for now. This season of The Walking Dead is shaping up to be some of the show's best stuff yet. Can't wait to find Beth!

8/10