Saturday, November 29, 2014

The Walking Dead S5E7 "Crossed" 11/23/14

This week my excuse for not getting this recap up until now is because Mr. Mouse's parents (the Mouse-in-laws) came to visit us for Thanksgiving.  It's apparently rude to watch zombie shows in front of non-zombie-loving company.  I get that.

Church.  As Rick's group prepares to go after Carol and Beth, they fortify the church against attacks because Carl, Michonne, Father Gabriel and Judith are staying behind.  Gabriel is struggling mightily as the others dismantle the organ, sharpening the pipe ends and planting them as a fence around the door.  "Are you going to take the cross too?"  After the raiding party leaves, Carl and Michonne nail the doors closed as Gabriel freaks out a little and tries scrubbing the bloodstains off the floor.  Dude is not stable and I don't trust him for a minute.

Raiding party.  The raiding party consists of Darryl, Rick, Noah, Tyrese and Sasha.  Sasha is still struggling with Bob's death.  When they get to Atlanta, they hole up in an old factory (?) and Rick lays out the plan: attacking the hospital and killing lots and lots of people.  It's a pretty bloody plan and Tyrese is not at all comfortable with it.  He suggests that they snatch up a couple of Dawn's cops and offer her a trade: her people for theirs.  Surprisingly, Darryl sides with Tyrese against Rick, saying this way, "Everybody goes home."  Rick is taken aback but finally agrees.  (Of course, this being The Walking Dead, we all know that they'll end up doing Rick's plan after Tyrese's plan fails - because nothing can ever go right for these poor people.)

Hospital.  Beth, on floor scrubbing duty, tries to be in Carol's room as much as possible without arousing suspicions, holding her hand and whispering that she is there.  Later, she hears Dawn and one of the cops deciding to take Carol off life support.  Beth gets super-upset about this when Dawn orders her to turn off the machines so as not to waste resources.  But after the cop leaves, Dawn strangely gives Beth the key to the drug locker and tells her to give Carol whatever she needs to try to save her.

Eugene's group.  Eugene is still unconscious; Abraham is still zoned out.  They're out of water but the giant walker herd hasn't noticed them yet so Glen, Rosita and Tara go off to get water from a stream back aways.  Maggie stays behind to keep an eye on Abraham and Eugene.  I kinda love Maggie when she and Glen are not all lovey-dovey.

Church.  Carl tries to teach the useless Gabriel how to defend himself.  Gabriel reluctantly takes the proffered machete but can't deal learning how to smash it into zombie skulls that aren't that soft.  "I need to go lie down," he says.  Some time later, Michonne checks on Gabriel, making sure he's okay.  After she leaves and he closes the door behind her, he turns back to the center of the room where he's using his new machete to pull up floor boards.  Oh, Gabriel, you idiot.

Hospital.  Beth asks Dr. _____ what to give Carol to save her.  He demurs, saying that Carol suffered internal injuries so it's just a guessing game.  Beth presses him and he tells her to try an epinephrine drips.  Carol won't wake up right away but it should help.

Glen, Rosita and Tara.  When they get to the creek, the water is super-muddy.  Rosita, however, knows how to make a water filter using gravel and a piece of her shirt.  Eugene taught her how to do it.  Then Rosita gets more lines than she's gotten the whole show, telling Glen and Tara how she met up with Abraham and Eugene.  Then, as they wait for the water to pass through the filter, a fish jumps and Glen's all, food!  They rig up some nets and catch some fish and Rosita even knows how to clean them.

Maggie, Eugene and Abraham.  After the others have gone off on their water quest, Maggie rigs up a sunshade over Eugene.  Eventually, she offers Abraham some water and tries to get him to talk to her.  It's seems like he hasn't given up entirely.  There's some noise from under Eugene's sunshade and Maggie runs back there with a grin to check on him.  Maybe Eugene's coming around but I'm pessimistic and think he's maybe dead and turned.

Raiding party.  Using Noah and some gunshots as bait, Rick's group lures two of Dawn's cops out and captures them.  In order to draw things out a while longer, another cop drives up and rescues them, only to drive a little ways away until wrecking the car on some walker bodies and then running off on foot.  They abandon the car in a truly gruesome spot: a parking lot that had been burned, fusing partial walkers to the asphalt.  The group splits up and the camera focuses on Darryl.  At this point, things get a little tense because no one has died in a while and if they kill Darryl off I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL QUIT THIS SHOW.  One of the cops lunges out and tackles Darryl, knocking him to the ground.  The cop is much bigger than Darryl and Darryl gets pinned between two of the fused walkers, the cop choking him while immobile but still lively walkers try to chew his face off.  Darryl flails around wildly for something to use as a weapon.  And then, it happens:  Darryl grabs onto a walker's head, pokes his fingers into its eye sockets for a good grip, rips the head off the walker's neck and bashes the cop in the head with the now-decapitated skull.  It is amazing and disgusting and incredibly original.  Bravo!  Then Rick is there, with his gun.  He is tempted to just shoot the cop but Darryl convinces him that three captives will be better than two.  Since when did Rick become the loose cannon and Darryl the voice of reason?  I love Darryl.

The raiding party takes the captive cops back to the factory.  The cops cooperate, telling Rick et als. how to deal with Dawn.  One of them, Lamson, is very calm and rational, seemingly honest.  (But I've been watching this show for 5+ seasons now and I don't trust any new characters.)  He tells them how to approach Dawn, how to reason with her.

Hospital.  Beth bribes another of the wards with a couple of fresh strawberries.  He starts coughing and retching and clutching at his throat and three cops rush over to him.  While he provides the distraction, Beth raids the drug cabinet, taking what she needs.  As she walks past, the coughing ward is suddenly fine.  Beth goes into Carol's room and hooks her up with the epinephrine drip.  She stands there, holding Carol's hand and whispering to her.

Church.  Gabriel has pulled up enough floorboards to wriggle down through the crawlspace under the church.  When he stands up outside, he has managed to step right on a long nail which pierces his foot.  He pulls out the nail and hobbles off into the woods.  He has not taken the machete with him.  He's not too far into the woods when a lone walker attacks him.  He manages to throw her/it to the ground where it gets impaled through the chest on a stump.  He picks up a rock to crush its skull but when he sees the small, gold crucifix around its neck, he can't do it.  He limps off, still not having killed his first zombie.

Raiding party.  Rick thanks Lamson for his insider information with respect to negotiating with Dawn.  Rick, Darryl, Tyrese and Noah head out for the hospital, leaving Sasha to guard the prisoners.  Lamson sighs heavily and tells a sympathetic Sasha (because his first name is "Bob" and she's still all hung up on her Bob dying) that he saw a former friend/current zombie fused to the asphalt out there.  He's all sad about it because the guy saved his life once.  Sasha says they can't go outside but she's a good shot and they can put it out of its misery.  They go to another part of the factory; Lamson's hands are still ziptied behind his back but his legs aren't tied.  Sasha looks out the window, searching for that walker.  Lamson suddenly rushes at her, bashing her head against the glass and knocking her out.  Then he makes a run for it.

Previously on The Walking Dead / next time on The Walking Dead

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