Recap: The Walking Dead – 505 – Self Help
Season 5 of AMC’s hit show, The Walking Dead showed a promising start with the fall of Terminus and the introduction of Father Gabriel. But with a full 16-episode order, it may be hard to keep the viewers interested. Instead of investing time to develop core characters like Michonne and Carol (who the hell knows where she went when Rick kicked her out), the show continues to use filler episodes like last week’s, “Slabtown”. While it did answer what happened to Beth, viewers weren’t invested enough in her character to begin with to make a full episode about her.
This episode continued the same trend that last week’s episode had in that, the storyline in the previous episode are put aside for a new one.
*SPOILER WARNING*
This episode shifted focus on who I like to call the “Abe-Team”, consisting of Abraham, Rosita, Eugene, Tara, Glenn and Maggie. Since Abraham’s premiere in season 4, he’s had one mission and one mission only – to get Eugene to Washington in hopes of reversing the zombie apocalypse and saving the rest of humanity. The gang parted ways with Rick & Co. after the events of “Four Walls and a Roof” in a small bus they had fixed during their stay in the church.
In the beginning of the episode, Glenn and Maggie probe Eugene with questions about his miracle cure and if it’ll even work. Eugene gives them answers, but none of which make any sense to anyone.
Seems legit.
After a comment about Eugene’s hair, the bus suddenly steers out of control and is flipped on its side while a small number of walkers slowly approach. Cue title music.
Once the gang finally come to, they quickly fight their way out of the bus and find shelter in an abandoned bookstore. As Abraham and Rosita knock boots, Tara catches Eugene watching them from behind a shelf. She’s not too creeped out though; she thanks him for saving her life earlier. It’s in this moment that Eugene confesses to filling the bus’ tank with broken glass in his attempt to slow the group down. He’s not ready to go to Washington because he feels that he won’t be able to prove his worth when he gets there.
The next morning, Abraham is ready to hit the road while the rest want to stay and gather more supplies. They find a fire truck across the street and are ready to leave. Only, the firetruck isn’t – it only moves a few feet before dying. Soon, the group is surprised once again by a big group of walkers. Just when you think that they won’t survive, a burst of water just starts hitting the walkers. We look up to find Eugene saving the day. Maybe he’s not so bad after all.
After clearing out the walkers, the group once again get the truck started and head north. They should’ve learned the first time that the truck was a pile of crap because, surprise, it dies yet again. While working on fixing the truck, Glenn notices a strange smell and finds hundreds to thousands of walkers stretched across the roads and fields. At this point everyone is all, “Hell no” but Abraham insists just ramming them all with the truck and drive straight through. This causes a heated argument between everyone and Abraham, who attempted to grab Eugene and leave everyone behind. Finally, Eugene ‘fesses up: “I lied”.
He explains to the crestfallen faces of his group that he was smart but not save the world smart. He just wanted what everyone in the series had been trying to do – survive. Abraham interrupts his explanation with not one, not two but three hooks to Eugene’s face with the third being a fatal (?) blow. We won’t know until next episode!
Throughout the episode were a series of flashbacks focusing on Abraham pre-apocalypse. The first flashback found Abraham beating the living crap out of someone and crushing their neck with his boots. He’s calling out to Ellen, who he finds hiding in a room with his two children. You’d think they’d be happy but after seeing the blood-soaked Abraham, they’re scared. He later wakes up to find them gone with nothing but a note that read, “Don’t try to find us”. Leaving the building he finds that his wife and children didn’t survive long – leaving him heartbroken. Just as he’s about to turn his gun on himself he hears Eugene, screaming for his life.
While this episode moved faster than last week’s it was still slow in comparison to the first three episodes of season 5. Things didn’t start picking up until the last few minutes, which isn’t enough time to properly digest all the information being thrown at us. While we got to see an even more aggressive side to Abraham, it was nice to see some depth in his back story and why he was trying so hard to help humanity. But with Eugene’s confession comes a very harsh truth: there is no hope left.
What did you guys think of this episode? Let us know in the comments!
