The Walking Dead S5 Finale “Conquer”

By: Donna Cohrs

amc andrew lincoln daryl dixon finale Morgan Norman Reedus rick grimes Season 5 Ep 516 the walking dead zombies

Well the waiting finally paid off. Morgan is here! After teasing us for too many seasons, Morgan has finally reached our group at Alexandria. I for one, cheered in happiness! I love how they put him in the first scene. Although, having him being held at gunpoint by the “next in line”, bad guy, was kind of scary! The man, sporting a “w” on his forehead, tells Morgan that early tribes believed the first people were wolves transformed into men.

“Everything gets a return,” he says, vowing to kill Morgan and take his possessions.

We find Rick in one of Alexandria’s abandoned houses. Michonne is watching over him. Glenn, Carol and Abraham stop by to report that Deanna is holding a meeting that night to discuss his possible exile. Although Rick plans to stage a takeover if things go bad, the others think of a more peaceful resolution.

Maggie tries to talk Deanna out of banishing Rick, Deanna still thinks that’s the best way. Reg catches up with Maggie to tell her that he will try to convince Deanna and the town that civilization starts when they stop sending people away, and that is how they’ll live.

Creepiness abounds outside the walls as Sasha is busy burying the walkers that she has used for target practice. She wheels a flatbed full of dead walkers to a pit and then lays down on top of the corpses. Something isn’t quite right with our poor Sasha. Too long outside and too many losses for her, have got her brain scrambled.

Back in Alexandria, Carol wakes Rick and gives him a gun to replace the one that was confiscated after his outburst in the street. Rick says that he’s tired of lying to the group.

“You don’t want to take this place, and you don’t want to lie?” Carol says. “Oh sunshine, you don’t get both.”

Carol’s sense of humor has evolved during this last season. Her haughty quips and one-liners are awesome!

Maggie and Glenn are discussing how to drum up support for Rick at the town meeting. Creepy Nicholas is watching. He climbs over the wall and Glenn goes after him. It’s all been a ploy! Nicholas shoots Glenn and takes off, leaving Glenn struggling with walkers.

At one point, Glenn catches up with Nicholas and beats him to a pulp. Nicholas confides that he feels guilty about being scared and causing deaths. Glenn is going to shoot him, but when Nicholas cries, he lets him live. Too bad! The guy is bad news.

Daryl and Aaron have been tracking a man in a red poncho. Aaron wants to find him. They need more people to survive at Alexandria.

They get to a food warehouse and decide to go in to gather some food. Scoping out the trailers, they open one. It sets off a booby trap that opens all the doors and releases hordes of walkers! With little chance of escaping they jump into the nearest car and are surrounded. With little chance of survival, guess who comes to the rescue? Morgan! With ninja type moves and reminiscent of the Karate Kid, Morgan, Daryl and Aaron are able to escape the ensuing horde! Neither know who Morgan is, until he hands Daryl the map that Rick left at the church. Daryl asks Morgan why he helped them.

“Because all life is precious.”

Father Gabriel has lost his mind. He insists on going for a walk outside the gate. He refuses a weapon and insists, “The word of God is the only protection I need.” The guy is obviously a nut case. He wanders out in the woods and is attacked by walkers, he kills them, then lays down in a fetal position and cries. What the heck is with this guy?

Carol makes a visit to Pete, who is in an abandoned house, separated from Jessie. She threatens him with a knife and says she could kill him right now. She orders him to go perform his duties as Tara’s doctor and to toe the line. “If you play your cards right, maybe you don’t have to die,” Carol says. Oh and Pete, Carol wants her dish back, and it better be clean. Carol rocks!

Spencer opens the gate to let Gabriel back inside. In a rush to attend the meeting, Spencer asks Gabriel to shut the gate behind him. Gabriel, in a daze, leaves the gate slightly ajar. Guess what will happen?

Michonne stops by Rick’s room to summon him to the meeting. He confesses that Carol, Daryl and he took guns from the armory and lied to her because they were afraid she would disapprove. Michonne assures him that she’s still on his side. After Michonne leaves, Rick sees the wide-open gate and runs to close it. Spotting a trail of walker blood, he sprints down the street on high alert. Rick tracks down the walkers that infiltrated the community and kills them single-handedly.

The men who attacked Morgan, the Wolves, arrive at the food warehouse with a captive – the man in the red poncho — and slash his throat. Using a remote control, they activate loud music and disco lights inside the shipping trucks, luring the walkers back inside.

Meanwhile, Sasha visits the church and asks Gabriel for help. “No,” he says. Sasha tells Gabriel she wants to die. “You don’t deserve to be here,” Gabriel replies. Enraged, she pushes him to the ground and points a rifle at his head. Maggie walks in on them and convinces Sasha to lower her rifle. “You should let her,” Gabriel tells Maggie. Weeping over his congregation, he adds, “They all died because of me.” Maggie takes Gabriel’s hand.

Deanna meeting is evolving to a bash Rick session. Our group pleads with her that he should stay, pointing out all the obvious reasons. They need a man like Rick. They won’t survive otherwise. Deanna still isn’t convinced until Rick walks up carrying a dead walker that he killed inside the gate. He announces that the gate was ajar and warns that the living and the dead will always find a way in. “But we’ll kill them,” Rick vows. “We’ll survive, I’ll show you how.”Things get real when Pete shows up with a sword, threatening everyone and wanting to kill Rick. A fight ensues and Reg gets in the way and Pete cuts his throat! Poor Reg, he only wanted peace. They grab Pete and with one short look at Rick, Deanna says,

“Do it!”

Rick turns and shoots Pete dead just as Daryl and Aaron arrive with Morgan. “Rick?” Morgan says, staring in shock at the execution.

At the food warehouse, the man in the red poncho shuffles about, now a walker. Scrawled on a nearby car is a message: “WOLVESNOTFAR.”

Well what did you think of last night’s finale? Did some scores get settled? Do you think all will be well with Morgan joining our group? I felt that the ending was a great one. It doesn’t leave you hanging as some past finales have. I am content to wait and see what evolves with the next season. We know that our group will come together and gear up for the battle that is ahaed. We have anticipation for the next season to start. But hey, we have got a great show coming up this Summer! Fear The Walking Dead will air 6 episodes! Maybe we will finally find out what causes all this mayhem. This companion series looks good. Of course it will be a big hit to all of you fanatic Walking Dead followers. And We will be reviewing it! Find out more about it here.

Here is a mini teaser for Fear The Walking Dead -Coming in Summer 2015