Welcome to paradise!
That's not how one would begin any "Walking Dead" recap, especially this one. This is more like "Escape From Alcatraz." Or more specifically, "Escaprecape From Terminus." (This begs the question: why venture to anywhere called "Terminus" in the first place, "sanctuary" promises or not?")
This is clearly an action episode, not a character building one. Blood, guts, kills, the entire kit and kaboodle.
We knew from the end of season 4 that the killer Rick Grimes (as opposed to Farm Rick) is back in full force. His sense of betrayal and need to save his troops are embedded deep in his eyes.
He and his trapped gang are in the box car prepping weapons to attack whoever opens the door. But Garreth and his Terminus buddies throw tear gas inside, hobbling their ability to do anything. Then they grab four of the guys: Bob, Glenn, Rick and Daryl for what appears to be certain death. In an expansive building, they are hog tied with their mouths wrapped shut, too. Four other guys are with them, too.
Fortunately, those extras are where the two minions start the big kill. One dude bashes a sucker with a baseball bat into the skull. The other nameless worker slashes the neck and lets the blood drain in a trough. What are they using the bodies for? Dinner?
Just as Glenn is about to get bashed, Garreth enters the room and starts gabbing with the dudes about "counts" and such. Bob then tries to convince Garreth that they have a man who knows the cure to this zombie apocalypse. Gareth is terribly unconvinced. But he is curious about one thing and lets Rick talk: spotters had seen Rick approach with a bag full of something. But then entered Terminus without the bag. What was in the bag and where is it?
Rick wouldn't say where but said they possessed plenty of bad-ass weapons.. Garreth said they'll find it eventually, no worries. Gareth tells the men to proceed again with the killings - Glenn first. Will one of our originals die after almost croaking last season from that pig flu?
No! They hear gun shots and an explosion. What the...?
This gets us back to Carol, Tyrese and Judith. Tyrese has (sorta) forgiven Carol. He's being pragmatic. He realizes he needs her right now, even if he's not happy she had killed his girlfriend as a preventive measure back at the prison last season. They notice a zombie. She knifes it since Tyrese is currently so traumatized, he can't kill anything.
Carol is the stronger person right now. Then she sees a horde of zombies approaching. Not good.
They are getting very close to Terminus and run into a dude with fireworks by a cabin. They hear him talking on a walkie talkie about a kid with a cap (Carl) and a samurai woman (Michonne). Carol sneaks up on him and inquires about how many people are in there that she may know. He is uncooperative. They tie him down.
Carol decides to go to Terminus to try to save the crew. "I'm going to go kill people," she said. Tyrese plays babysitter. The Terminus dude is cynical, says the folks he works with are not friends, just "a**holes" to stay alive with. He figures either he is going to die or they are going to die. Tyrese says neither will happen. The guy scoffs. Having a baby, to him, is like saving an anchor on a sinking ship. He also wonders if Carol is his "friend." Tyrese can't say that after last season's revelation.
"You haven't gotten your hands dirty," the guy says, misinterpreting Tyrese badly. "You're a good guy."
"You have no idea the things I've done," Tyrese intones.
As Tyrese stares at an arriving zombie crew outside the cabin, the dude gets lose and grabs Judith by the neck, threatening to kill her. He then tells Tyrese to go outside. Tyrese leaves. Could this be curtains for him? No. He hand-kills three of the zombies out of our sight (it was not the total horde - just strays), then attacks the guy, punching the dude to death. "I won't!" he yells, again and again as he does what he has to do.
Meanwhile, Carol decides to disguise herself as a zombie by smudging zombie blood on her face and covering herself in a zombie poncho. This evokes what Glenn and Rick did in downtown Atlanta season one. Fortunately, it's sunny so she won't have to worry about losing her protection.
She approaches a fence and sees a group of zombies approaching Terminus. She has the dude's fireworks and a gun. She shoots the gas tank, then releases the fireworks (good aim!) right on said gas tank, causing an explosion and opening up a perimeter for zombies to enter the premises.
Her explosion gave Rick a chance to kill the two minions (though he let one 'turn" just for the heck of it, just like he did last year in the bathroom.)
The foursome are now ready to free their friends in the cattle car. Before then, they free one crazy dude who gets quickly chomped. (Apparently, he was one of the really bad guys.)
Inside the room with candles and signs that say "Don't Trust," Carol runs into Mary, who appeared to be some sort of leader of Terminus. She says Terminus really was a sanctuary until bad guys took over. They were able to take it back. "You're the butcher," Mary said, "or you're the cattle."
The two wrestle, then Carol shoots her in the leg. She is so cold, she then lets some zombies enter and have a meal on Mary.
She escapes Terminus at this point, hoping she has created enough mayhem to free everyone.
Rick at one point waits for several Terminus shooters to pass, then grabs the lagging one, takes his guns and shoots down the rest. The quartet lets their friends out of the cattle car and everyone manages to climb a fence and escape.
They start approaching the cabin and run into Carol. Rick, shocked to see her, hugs her. The two friends reunited! Even Rick is happy to see her, aware that she saved their butts. Exile is over.
Better yet, she gets them to the cabin, where Tyrese and Judith are. Carl and Rick have long thought Judith was dead. They are thrilled to see her again. And Sasha meets up with her bro Tyrese. Relief all the way around.
They decide to get far away from Terminus. The question: where are they going? As Rick passes a Terminus sign, he adds "No" in front of "Sanctuary."
Earlier, Sasha asks Eugene about what the cure was. He ays he was part of some human genome project and was creating mechanized viruses to fight mechanized viruses. He figures if he can get to D.C., find some of the surviving scientists, they can counter what caused the zombie apocalypse. If that is true, wonderful. But what if they get to D.C. and he has nothing to work with?
And although she appears in the trailer, Beth is absent this episode. Presumably, we'll find out who her kidnapper is at some point. Question: will she ever reunite with her sister?
TALKING DEAD with Scott Gimple and Greg Nicotero.
Apparently, the first dude whose throat was cut in the trough was someone we had seen before: last season, during the Carol/Rick exile episode, he was the part of that hippie couple. We saw the girl dead but he must have run off. (The actor? Robin Taylor, who plays the Penguin on Fox's "Gotham"!)
And Morgan comes back from season one (and three, when he was a little crazy.) He's the man who helped Rick out in his hometown in the pilot from 2010.
Gimple confirms that the trailer shows Beth is indeed alive and not having a good time.
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