Original Airdate: March 30, 2014
Well, we made it to Terminus. Season Finale. And what a finale it was.
We start out with a flashback to the prison days. It’s hard to believe how peaceful it once was. Maggie and Glenn return from a run with Rick and Hershel greets them. Carl says hello to his father. Carol is still a welcome resident and she walks along with Tyreese. Hershel watches everything with a wise eye. But this is just a flashback.
Now we see Rick drenched in blood next to an old car. He’s shaking. He stares blankly as he remembers what used to be that is no more.
Carl, Rick and Michonne discuss how hungry they are. They’re out of food. Carl offers to go check the snare with Rick, and they bring Michonne along. They have been camping out until Rick gets stronger. They talk about getting to terminus. Carl wonders if they should tell “them” what they’ve done and who they are. “Who are we?” Carl muses. A Walker comes along and they take it out. Fortunately, they have a rabbit in the snare, and no sooner does Rick get his lesson in about setting a snare than a man calls for help. Carl races to help but they are no match for the herd of Walkers descending upon the man. Rick stops Carl from getting involved. They can’t do anything for the man, and he’s quickly overrun. The trio runs away and they find the tracks. Walkers follow.
Rick has a flashback to waking up back at the prison when Hershel comes for him. Hershel can’t tell time anymore after giving Glenn his watch. The time is always “now.” Beth comes in to care for Judith while Hershel leads Rick out of the cell.
Back in the present, Rick and crew take out as many Walkers as possible and race down the tracks. They come upon an abandoned truck. They set up camp, and while Carl sleeps, Michonne and Rick ponder their small rabbit and how all they talk about is food. They’re close, he figures. He also figures that the people at Terminus must be strong if they are managing to survive the way they are. They must have a system. As they talk, the muzzle of a gun appears on Rick’s temple. Joe’s gang has found them. And Joe makes sure to point out how badly Rick screwed up.
Rick’s eyes are blank as Joe talks about a day of reckoning. He’s talking about it being New Year’s Eve. Daryl stops Joe during the countdown. He says that Joe should let them go. “They’re good people,” he asserts. Daryl tells Joe that he should take blood from him. Joe calls this a lie and so the guys jump Daryl, then they grab Carl. Joe says they’ll kill Daryl, have their way with Michonne and Carl, and then kill Rick. As the violence escalates, Rick head butts Joe and a shot is fired. Time goes in slow motion. The men start to attack Carl. Rick takes a bite out of Joe’s neck, and that provides the distraction for them to change the game in the Grimes Gang’s favor. Joe goes down, Michonne grabs her attacker’s gun and shoots him, and Daryl takes out his attacker. Michonne is about to kill the man who was attacking Carl, but Rick wants to kill him. And kill him he does. Rick stabs him over and over again while Michonne hugs Carl. Things will never be the same. Rick killed a guy by biting his neck. Crazy.
Hershel points at the ground and tells Rick that they could domesticate the wild pigs and horses. They need to start planting. Hershel says that he can teach Rick how to be a farmer, and he can teach Carl. Hershel tells Rick that Carl needs his father to show him the way. Carl shot that boy. He needs to have guidance. Hershel wants to teach Rick because he “owes” him. They all owe him after what he did. Hershel says the prison is a good place to start.
Rick sits against the car all bloodied and battered. Michonne is inside with Carl sleeping in her lap. She caresses his cheek. Daryl returns from a water run and gives Rick some water to get cleaned up. Daryl confesses that he didn’t know that Joe’s men were like that. He explains that he got out with Beth but they got separated. He knew they were bad, but they had a simple “stupid” code to live by. He had no idea that Rick was the guy they were looking for. He had been planning to leave the group when he realized that it was Rick and Michonne and Carl. “It’s not on you,” Rick tells him. Having Daryl back in the group is “everything.” “You’re my brother,” Rick says. Daryl says that anyone would have done what Rick did last night to Joe. He did that to Joe, and he did what he did to Tyreese, because it’s about staying safe and keeping Carl safe. “That’s all that matters.”
As they walk along the tracks, Rick asks Michonne if she’s ok. He tells her that he’s ok, too, and she smiles. They find another Terminus sign and suspect that they can arrive before sundown. Rick wants to go through the woods so that they don’t come in blind. They don’t know who they are. He’s right—they arrive at a chain link fence and see the terminal in the distance. Rick says that they all need to sit and watch for a while to see what is going on. Carl doesn’t want to stay with Rick. Michonne wants to know why Carl didn’t go with him. She tells Carl that she never told Carl how Andre died. He was at a refugee camp. The situation was getting worse and worse. The fences went down and Michonne could hear the Walkers. Her brother and fiancé were bitten because they were high. She could have stopped it, but she let it happen. She cut out their jaws and chained them up so that she would be invisible to the Walkers around her. She says that she was “gone for a long time” at that point, and Andrea, Rick and Carl brought her back. She’s seen the way Carl looks at his dad. Carl knows what his father thinks, but Carl says he isn’t what his dad thinks he is. “I’m just another monster too,” he says.
Rick hides his stash of weapons in a bag and buries them. Daryl walks up. “Just in case,” he says. They climb the fences and get into Terminus through the back. Once again it’s totally empty. They hear a woman’s voice and find the woman who is broadcasting directions to Terminus. Beyond her a group of people work. Rick says hello, and we meet Gareth. Gareth greets them and notices that they have been traveling for a while. Gareth calls Alex over and promises to take them to the “welcome wagon” after they display their weapons. Once they are on the ground, the gang is frisked. Gareth says they aren’t stupid and he doesn’t think the Grimes gang is stupid either. Just don’t try anything stupid. Alex tells them to follow him. They go out to the courtyard, where Mary is cooking. She praises that they came in the back. “Smart,” she praises. Alex explains that they offer sanctuary to those who arrive…but that’s when Rick notices the chain in Alex’s pocket. Rick grabs him and puts a gun to his head. It’s Hershel’s pocket watch.
WTF?
Patrick is playing with Lego toys while Beth holds Judith and Carl sits and cleans his gun. Patrick isn’t ashamed that they’re made for kids. Carl is cleaning his gun atop a coloring book. Rick looks at Judith and says that he needs his help.
Carl points his gun while Rick demands answers. The people all around them are wearing the gear from Maggie and Glenn’s group. Gareth comes up and says that Rick’s gang doesn’t trust them anymore. That’s when the gunfire starts. The group is chased into an alley, and judging by the bullet holes, this isn’t the first time this has happened. There is a pile of bones nearby. And a room full of candles. And people crying out for help. “Never again” is written all over the walls. There are candles and writing all over the floor. When the group emerges from the creepy warehouse, they see that there are people all over in the bushes with guns trained on them. Shit. They’re trapped.
What the hell is going on?
Of course there are only 5 minutes left…what can possibly happen?
Rick turns and looks at Carl, who is hyperventilating. Gareth tells them to drop their weapons. “Now!” he yells. Gareth says Carl can go with him if he goes into the train car. “The Archer” Daryl goes next, then “The Samurai,” Michonne. Then Carl. Rick won’t go in until he sees Carl. Carl walks slowly into the train car. Once they’re inside, Glenn and Maggie emerge from the shadows. “You’re here,” Rick says. Maggie says that they are with friends. Now they’re out friends, Daryl says.
We return to the prison as Carl digs and Rick says that he might need a farmer’s hat. Judith sleeps and Hershel says it can always be like this.
But in the train car, Rick paces. He goes up to the door and peeks through. “They’re going to feel really stupid,” Rick says. Everyone looks at him. Glenn and Daryl look at him knowing what they’re hearing. Even Abraham senses that this guy is dangerous. (Which he is, because he ate a guy!) “They screwed with the wrong people.” Rick’s voice is deeper, and more resolute.
RICK IS BACK!
Okay, please excuse me while I go collect myself. I will see all of you in the fall!
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