Plot: Season 5 follows the group of survivors led by former sheriff’s deputy Rick Grimes, as they face several threats from both humans and walkers in their search for finding a new place to reside. The group is also motivated by Dr. Eugene Porter’s proposal to head to Washington, D.C. for a possible cure for the walker virus.
Review: Major Spoilers ahead so if you haven’t watched season 5 yet then you’d best look away.
After an uneven fourth season The Walking Dead has found its feet again. Several major characters leave us and Rick becomes more unpredictable with every episode. Carol continues to grow into the ultimate badass but now she gets to play (pretend) Susie Homemaker when the crew eventually arrive in Alexandria.
But that’s a little later; it’s hard to believe that this season had our gang trying to escape Gareth and his cannibal buddies at Terminus; it feels like such a long time ago because so much has happened since. The first episode was one of the most disturbing and visceral of the entire show. With everyone lined up to get hit on the back of a head with a baseball bat and then getting their throats slit, good times would not ensue.
Thankfully, Rick breaks free and an all-out assault begins on Terminus leaving only a few stragglers surviving. Carol turns into Rambo in one of the best action sequences of the show with some first rate explosions and zombie dismemberments.
The reason this show has remained so popular is the characters; it might not be until someone dies that we realize how integral they were to the group; when Tyreese buys the farm I was quite devastated as he was part of the moral glue that held the group together. After he dies, Sasha goes off the rails and essentially loses the will to live.
I was never a particularly huge fan of Beth so I didn’t care when she departed but the scene itself was incredibly tense. I have to admit though that all of the time spent with the “police” I never really cared for and I was glad when it was over.
I love The Walking Dead the most when the gang are out in the wilderness fighting for survival and we get plenty of that this season. They hit rock bottom as they drag themselves across the roads trying to get by and at times we wonder if they’ll ever find salvation.
I think this is the most eventful of any of the Seasons as each member of the group has their own story with plenty of time to develop. As always the acting is excellent even though Maggie’s accent does slip occasionally.
The only thing this season lacks is a big bad villain like The Governor; we aren’t sure whether the residents of Alexandria can be trusted but as the story progresses we find out that it’s actually Rick and co. who are their own worst enemies. They have spent so much time out in the wild just surviving that they’ve forgotten how to live and be civilized. Daryl and Rick struggle to adjust to this new way of life but the others do their best.
Season 6 might finally introduce us to Negan who fans have been salivating for since earlier on in the show; I hope we see him soon as he will be a truly classic villain.
Overall, despite the uninteresting Beth episodes and a lack of a big villain The Walking Dead is still one of the greatest television phenomenons of all time and is essential viewing.
