SPOILERS AHEAD, so use caution, Walkers…
Season Four, Episode 16: “A”
Written by Scott M. Gimple and Angela Kang; Directed by Michelle MacLaren
After seven episodes of wandering toward the mysterious Terminus, this week’s finale of The Walking Dead didn’t provide many answers. We know Terminus is bad, but we don’t know exactly what’s going on there. We also don’t what happened to Beth or how Carol and Tyreese are doing. Those wanting big reveals, moments, or deaths were left disappointed. It wasn’t the show’s strongest finale, but provides plenty of story for season five.
Quick Breakdown
The finale began with a flashback to the prison. Rick is returning from a run and is greeted by Hershel. We then flip quickly to Rick’s bloody face sitting by a truck on the side of the road (with the assumption that this is in current time). There are some clothes on the ground and no one else around. The camera focuses in on Rick’s eye before going into the opening credits.
Our next scene is Michonne, Carl, and Rick sitting around a fire in the woods talking about how hungry they are. They have set some traps and decide to go check on them. They think they are getting close to Terminus. As they walk, Carl asks, “When we get there, are we going to tell them?” (Meaning, “Are we going to tell them everything we’ve done?”). Rick responds that they will tell them who they are. Carl wonders aloud “Who are we?” This becomes the central theme of the episode: Who have they become?
They check their trap and find a dead rabbit. (This show really needs to get better dead animal props.) As Rick is explaining the workings of the trap, they hear someone screaming for help. Without hesitation, Carl runs towards the voice — Rick and Michonne quickly follow. Carl comes up on a man circled by a large group of zombies. He’s just about to start shooting when Rick and Michonne pull him back into the woods. They watch the man get eaten. (I guess this is who you are, Carl).
Then there’s another flashback to Hershel waking Rick up in the prison. He wants help with something and tells Rick he can leave his gun behind. Rick puts it on anyway and follows him out.
Michonne, Rick, and Carl are continuing down the path and find a truck beside the road. (It looks like the one from the opening scene.) A creepy smashed zombie is beside it, which Michonne takes care of with her sword. They build a fire, and Carl goes to sleep in the truck. Michonne and Rick talk outside. They are worried about food, but Rick is hopeful about Terminus. Michonne isn’t as sure and reminds him that the Governor took people in too (a solid point).
All of the sudden there’s a noise in the woods, and then Joe sneaks up behind Rick and puts a gun to his head. (Rick killed one of Joe’s men many episodes ago.) The rest of Joe’s men slowly come out all with weapons. Joe starts a countdown to blowing Rick’s head off. Then Daryl comes out of the dark and says, “No.”
Daryl tries to convince Joe that these are good people and then offers himself up instead of Rick. Joe doesn’t buy it and says that if he thinks these are good people then he is lying (and we know what they do to liars). Joe’s men start beating up Daryl. One of the guys gets Carl out of the car and puts a knife to his throat. They are going to kill all of them.
In an attempt to save them, Rick butts against Joe’s gun, causing it to go off right by Rick’s head. This leads to Rick and Joe fighting and Rick biting into Joe’s neck, killing him (another sign of who they have become). The shock of this allows Michonne to get the gun away from the guy in front of her. She turns it on him and shoots him. Daryl takes care of another, which ends up leaving the guy with the knife to Carl’s throat. He lifts the knife and attempts to surrender, but Rick comes at him and stabs him over and over again (showing Carl exactly what kind of people they are).
We once again flashback to the prison, where Hershel is convincing Rick to start farming. He tells them they could domesticate the pigs and horses they’ve seen in the woods. He says, “The war is over, Rick.” Hershel wants Rick to think about the needs of Carl and show him a different kind of life.
The next scene is from the opening of the episode. Rick is bloody (again) and sitting by the truck. Michonne and Carl are in the truck. Michonne is trying to be motherly. Daryl comes up to Rick and gives him something to wipe his face off. Daryl tells Rick about Beth and how he feels bad about being with those guys. He reassures Rick that he didn’t know what they were up to or that they were hunting Rick.
Rick tells him, “It’s not on you.” Rick is glad to have him back (as he should be). “You are my brother,” he says, admitting his has an anger issue (after his repeated stabbing of the man earlier). All that matters, he says, is keeping Carl safe.
The next morning, they come upon another Terminus sign, but it’s on the ground. Rick says they need to head through the woods because they don’t know who these people are. They plan to watch Terminus from a distance to make sure what it’s like. (Smart idea.)
They split up to take a look around. Carl chooses to go with Michonne and not Rick. As they are walking, Michonne decides to tell Carl how her son, boyfriend, and friend died. They were at a refugee camp and people were giving up and leaving, but Michonne still had hope. She went on a run and when she came back the fences were knocked down and her boyfriend and friend were bitten. She tells Carl how she let them turn and kept them chained to her. She says, “I was gone for a long time, but Andrea brought me back. Your dad brought me back. And you did.” She’s trying to give Carl something to believe in and tells him not to be afraid of her or Rick. Carl isn’t so much afraid, but knows that he’s not turning out the way Rick wants. “I’m not what he wanted for me,” Carl says.
Meanwhile, Rick finds a spot to bury some of their weapons in the woods before going into Terminus. (Another smart idea.) Then they hop over the fence and enter from the backside. They come into a building and find a group of people — one is a woman on a radio talking and another is a man named Gareth, who says, “Welcomes to Terminus.”
They seem normal and polite (which is a bad sign). They do ask to see everyone’s weapons and pat them down, but they don’t take anything away from them. Gareth tells them, “We shouldn’t have any problems, just solutions” (What does that mean?)
Another guy named Alex takes them to the front, where we find Mary again. She’s still at the grill and offers them some plates of food (a gesture which seems important). As they are about to eat something, Rick notices the watch Hershel gave Glenn hanging out of Alex’s pocket. He pulls his gun and goes at Alex, asking him where he got the watch.
We are then treated to yet another flashback. This time Rick finds Carl in the prison, cleaning his gun instead of playing with toys or being a kid. He tells Carl he wants him to help with something and for him to leave his gun there. Rick takes his gun off too. (Oh, the days of Farmer Rick.)
Back at Terminus, things are heating up — there’s a sniper on the roof with a gun pointed at Rick. Michonne, Daryl, and Carl have all pulled weapons too. Rick also notices another Terminus guy is wearing Glenn’s riot gear. No one seems willing to give any answers. Then all the sudden the sniper shoots Alex in the head, and a gun battle begins.
Rick, Michonne, Daryl, and Carl begin running through Terminus. As they run, there seems to be more and more people with guns in different places, but no one seems to be aiming to kill. They are shooting at their feet.
As they run, lots of areas are marked with the letter “A,” which is also the name of this week’s episode. They hear some people screaming for help from inside some train cars and spot a pile of human remains (bones and guts). Then they come into a room full of candles and writing on the walls and floor. The walls say: “Never Again. Never Trust. We First, Always.”
Back outside, they get surrounded and are forced to surrender. They drop their weapons and are told to head one by one to a train car marked with the letter “A.” Once inside, they find Glenn and company all alive.
The last flashback shows us the beginning of the farm at the prison. Hershel, Beth, Rick, and Carl are happily messing in the dirt. Hershel says, “It can be like this all the time.” Rick responds, “It’s like this now and that’s enough.”
Back in the train car, Rick finishes off the season by staring through a crack and saying, “They’re screwing with the wrong people.”
Rating
C
This half of the season has been a nice shift in the show and has provided for some interesting character development and moments, but the finale didn’t really pay off. There’s been a long build up to Terminus, but we didn’t get much insight into the place. In the end, it feels like the last eight episodes have been a build for season five and not necessarily very satisfying on their own. The best episode of the season was “The Grove,” which has been one reason these last two have felt weaker. There wasn’t anything too shocking in this finale hour, but it does make us want more.
Now for some random thoughts and my favorite moments of the night…
These flashbacks aren’t really doing much for me. They feel pretty expected.
I love Michonne’s development this season and her motherly moments with Carl.
What is Mary cooking? Will we ever find out?
I missed Carol not being in the finale.
