The Walking Dead: Conquer (5x16)

Yikes. There were a lot of things going on in this finale. At some points I worried that it was going to seem overcrowded or convoluted. There were so many plot threads, and they all came together at roughly the same time. But they lacked connection. Sort of a weird formula for a season finale, but I think it worked. Let's talk about everything that happened.

First of all, we check in with Morgan Jones, who is out in the wilderness. He is approached by a strange man with a "W" carved into his forehead. This man identifies himself as part of a group of "Wolves," and he demands that Morgan hand over all of his supplies. The man also says that he'll be killing Morgan. Morgan strikes back to prevent this from happening, and manages to kill both the man and his companion.

Daryl and Aaron are still out looking for possible recruits. Aaron tells Daryl about a time earlier when people were exiled from Alexandria. Daryl and Aaron find someone out in the middle of a field, but they lose track of him when they try to follow him. When they find some food trucks, they decide to abandon the search for the guy and stock up on supplies. Turns out, the food trucks are full of Walkers - it was a trap! Daryl and Aaron lock themselves in a car as the Walkers pound on the glass from the outside. Daryl offers to try and fend them off so Aaron can make a run for it, but Aaron insists that they try to escape together. Just as they are about to try, Morgan shows up and gets the Walkers away from the car, saving Daryl and Aaron. Aaron offers to bring Morgan back to Alexandria, but Morgan says he has other plans - he then shows Daryl and Aaron the map that he's been following. Daryl realizes that this map is from the church.

Later, two men from the "Wolves" bring the man that Daryl and Aaron were earlier following to their trap, but they find that somebody has already released the Walkers. They reset the trap, and find Aaron's bag on the ground. Now, they know about Alexandria!

Speaking of Alexandria - lots of crazy stuff is going on there. Rick wakes up after Michonne knocked him out. Michonne is there. She tells him that Pete has been separated from his family. Deanna is going to hold a forum to discuss what happened with Rick, and whether or not he should be exiled. Rick makes a plan with Carol, Abraham, and Glenn to seize control at the forum, in case it doesn't work to just talk to them. Maggie tries to talk to Deanna about the forum, but Deanna is determined.

Rick visits Jessie, while Carol visits Pete and threatens him, telling him that she could kill him and everybody would believe her if she told them it was self defense.

Rick comes clean to Michonne, telling her about how Carol, Daryl and himself made the plan to steal the guns. Michonne says that she only knocked him out to protect him, not the other Alexandria members. She thinks that they can make this place work, but if they can't she'll still follow him.

Sasha is a total mess. Outside the walls, she gathers up some of the Walkers she's been hunting and goes to bury them. She then lays down on top of the corpses. Abraham visits Tara, who is still injured. He and Eugene finally have a talk to sort out their issues. Eugene apologizes for lying to Abraham, and Abraham apologizes for nearly killing Eugene.

Glenn follows Nicholas over the wall, wondering what he's up to. Nicholas shoots Glenn, injuring him, but Glenn attacks him. They struggle, but ultimately Glenn gets the upper hand. He is livid that Nicholas would try to kill him, especially after Nicholas led to Noah's death. Nicholas begs for mercy, and Glenn ultimately decides not to kill him. The two start to make their way back to Alexandria.

Father Gabriel is also falling apart. He goes outside the walls and nearly commits suicide by letting a Walker attack him. However, he then changes his mind and kills the Walker. Back inside Alexandria, Gabriel fails to close the gates properly, leaving the community open to danger. Inside the church, Gabriel finds Sasha, who came to him for some help. Gabriel then starts ranting about how Bob and Tyreese are both dead because of Sasha. Sasha snaps and attacks him. Maggie shows up and stops Sasha from killing Gabriel. Gabriel cries about how he let people die back at the beginning of all of this. Maggie helps him to his feet.

Just before the forum starts, Rick notices that the front gate is open. He finds a Walker inside the community but manages to kill it. At the forum, Rick's people are speaking in his defense. Deanna tells everybody about Father Gabriel's warning. At this point, Rick shows up with the dead Walker and makes a little speech - he says that these people are not ready or able to survive on their own. Rick says he can help them to survive, if they would be willing to change and be more ruthless. At this point, Pete shows up with Michonne's sword in hand. He yells at Rick, and when Reg tries to calm him down, Pete kills him with the sword. Deanna, devastated, tells Rick to kill Pete. Rick does so without hesitation. Just then, Daryl, Aaron, and Morgan arrive.

After the credits, we see the man that the Wolves killed earlier walking around, reanimated as a Walker. We see the car where Daryl and Aaron had earlier hidden. Across it has been written "Wolves Not Far."

I really did love this finale, but I will admit that the buildup to the climax sort of threw me. There were just so many things happening all at once. We had Daryl and Aaron in danger, and we had Glenn and Nicholas fighting, we had Sasha overpowering Gabriel... I couldn't really invest myself in any one of these moments, because I knew Sasha wouldn't shoot Gabriel. I knew Glenn wouldn't kill Nicholas. I knew Daryl and Aaron wouldn't both die. Maybe it was just suspense overload. It started to lose its impact.

Also, I'm still not totally buying the whole Jessie/Rick thing. I still feel like it came out of freakin' nowhere.

That being said, I did enjoy this finale. It made me really excited for next season, and it had a lot of exciting action. I'll list some of my favorite elements.

Michonne and Rick! Now this relationship I can get behind. I loved how Rick decided to trust Michonne with the truth. After what Carol said to Rick, I think he realized that he needed to trust his family with the truth, and that ultimately meant telling Michonne. And Michonne, despite the fact that she's upset with Rick, is still on his side 100%.

Aaron and Daryl. Okay, I ship it. I feel bad, because I'm sure Aaron is happy with his boyfriend or whatever, but I'm firmly on the Aaron/Daryl bandwagon now. When Daryl offered to sacrifice himself, my heart was in my throat. I mean, I figured it wouldn't happen, but I was just so... emotional about it. And Aaron won't let him - they're in this together.

Morgan! Yes, yes, yes. This is such an excellent way to bring him back into the story proper. The moment at the end when Rick and Morgan are reunited... it made me so excited about next season. Think about it - Morgan has been searching for Rick for a long time, and when he finally finds him, he's in the act of executing someone. What does Morgan think of that? Especially after his earlier comment that all life is precious now?

Despite not really feeling the impact of the Glenn/Nicholas fight and the Sasha/Gabriel fights, I still thought there was a lot of fantastic acting going on in these moments. I could really feel Glenn's anger and grief as he contemplated taking Nicholas' life, and Sasha's depression and PTSD are manifesting in really interesting ways.

Then there's Carol. Damn. I think she's the most off the rails of everybody. You have Rick, who hit his limit and freaked out, but he snaps back to himself. He tells Michonne the truth and he realizes that he shouldn't kill the Alexandria people for their own good. Carol, on the other hand... yikes. She's really off the deep end. I'm worried about her. I love her progression this season, and I can't wait to see more of it.

Rick's execution of Pete was really, really intense. It was intense because there was no hesitation. No buildup. Deanna cradles her dead husband in her arm, and she says "do it." Rick doesn't even take a second to think about it. Bam. That was probably the highlight of the episode for me. Because it happens so quickly, you can almost forget what a shit show this is going to be. The fallout is going to be astronomical.

I could go on and on about the little details in this episode. So many things are being put in motion. I think that's what initially threw me about this finale. Yeah, a lot of stuff happened - maybe too much stuff. But instead of feeling like a culmination, it felt like another beginning. Lots of things are being set up. I hope we can see what this new Alexandria is going to look like. I hope Rick and the others can kick the asses of these Wolf jerks. I can't wait to see it all play out!

9/10