The Walking Dead, Season 5, Episode 2: Strangers
Bit of a weaker episode thanks to the relatively large chunk of the episode devoted to what could be called a bit of a filler plot. Though honestly, without a solid endgame in sight, just what constitutes filler and what constitutes the meat of the show is honestly up to debate. The episode mostly deals with introducing Gabriel, a panicky priest who claims to have never killed a walker or human before and honestly just looks to be a super-decent person. He's not a cannibal, he's not a rapist, he's not a one-eyed egomaniac... which, after last episode's "you either be a badass, heartless killer in this world or you become someone's lunch" moral, is something Rick refuses to accept. And yeah, Carl did find some evidence of things that might be a mite suspicious ("You'll burn for this"), but honestly I think I'll take Gabriel at face value. His kindness and panic seem to stem from someplace genuine, unlike the cannibals from Terminus.
The rest episode plays catch-up. We have a pretty bad scene of Rick and Carol apologizing sort-of to each other, and Tara being emo about her role as one of the Governor's goons. We've got the much better conversations between Carol and Tyreese, and Carol and Daryl, and Rick and Tyreese. Also Michonne growing beyond just being 'the chick with the samurai sword', accepting the loss of the blade. Which I totally didn't realize. Abraham really tries to sell his 'save the world, you bastards' pitch, and honestly at this point I'm not sure why Abraham and Eugene are still waiting for the whims of Team Rick, who clearly don't give a shit about their mission.
The episode plays out relatively mild, introducing Gabriel and keeping him mysterious while showing us how he reacts to the situation and telling both Team Rick and us to draw out own conclusions. Bob gets far more screentime than he does, which doesn't bode well for him -- none of the season four characters other than Tyreese are honestly any kind of appealing, but Bob's stuck with us the longest, and he's grown into an optimist because apparently the 'risk everyone's life because I need a drink' Bob has just... petered out, I guess? He gets a near-death experience, he snuggles with Sasha a lot more, so of course he gets knocked out by Gareth (who, of course, survives). Maybe he gets bitten by the zombie? It was pretty dark, and he did go out of the church to cry.
The scene with Gareth and the other Terminians (Mr. Jackass is prominently among them, so yeah, Tyreese couldn't go through with it) is pretty chilling, especially the pull back to reveal that, oops, they've already chopped of Bob's legs and are barbecuing it. Pretty horrifying stuff, which is nice. Last episode didn't actually get to the cannibalism stuff, and seeing them actually attack a character is pretty cool. Don't really give a shit about Bob, though, so can't say that his mutilation affected me beyond like ten seconds of me going 'oh god that's horrible you sick fucks'.
So, yeah. Human decency and all, but they really should've allowed Rick to go around and snipe as many Terminians in the head as they can. I mean, like, Rick being an ass to the Father is not something I totally agree with, but I can't fault him for thinking like that. Stopping Rick from killing the Terminians with a grudge against them and clearly a fair amount of resources... yeah, maybe that's why I'm not hero material, I guess?
Oh, and Carol and Daryl head off after the car that kidnapped Beth. Good thing to know that Daryl recognizes that Beth was kidnapped instead of leaving him behind. Speaking of which... for all the grief Maggie makes over being separated with Glenn, she really doesn't give a shit about her sister, does she? No Terminus signs, no angsty moments, and shit, she's even partying with the rest of the group despite the fact that Daryl probably already told her that someone kidnapped Beth.
Still, it's a bit of a slower episode and one that really felt rather weak. We have a couple of conflict balls running around between Gabriel, the cannibals, Beth's kidnapper and Washington, though, so let's get to it.
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