User Reviews

Here it is! This is it! This is the episode that makes up for the mediocrity of the past two episodes.

The suspense, doubt, hope, fear, emotion - it was *all* present!

I was bewildered with how good this episode was. After the past two episodes I was almost certain that this show had become awful and beyond repair.

The new characters are refreshing and thankfully quite interesting; the power struggle (maybe struggle isn't quite the right word...development?) between Rick and Michonne was compelling; Walkers were finally scary again in the scene in the dark when Glenn was driving through the horde; the Walker-flare-head-lantern was awesome; the fear of not knowing who fired the flare was genuine; and the uncertainty and the self-conflict of wanting to let hope take over and trust the strangers vs trusting your instincts ran rampant throughout the episode.

The success of this episode truly comes from the uncertainty: we don't know if they can be trusted, we don't know what's behind those walls, we don't know for certain the kind of people the two new strangers are, and we don't know if trusting them was the right move or in fact the biggest mistake they've made to date.

I understand that some may criticise that it's just a rinse and repeat of what we've seen before (with regard to the new safe-haven) and I would agree; however, this seems far more promising than the Governor's town of Woodbury. I feel that this is what we've been waiting for. And if the rest of the season remains as phenomenal as this episode was then we're all set!

Could this be it? Is this really what they've been waiting for? Rick isn't so sure, and his gut has a habit of being right. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

This is probably the 4th time I have watched this. This is hard to watch knowing what we know about Aaron. Rick was a total jerk in this episode. I hate the way he treats Aaron...I understand it a little but I hate it.

I really enjoyed this week episode compared to last weeks. I have to admit I got really frustrated with Rick and his being overly paranoid about the new character Aaron. I understand where he was coming from because things that happened with the governor and terminus but he was acting little crazy. I'm glad he eventually listened to Michonne and Glenn and gave Aaron a chance. I really do hope things work out for them for at least a couple episodes in Alexandria. After everything they've been through with the loss of Bob, Beth and Tyreese I hope they have a chance to feel semi safe for a while and catch their breaths. However since it's the walking dead something will go terribly wrong and their happiness won't last long.

I love this series but ever since it started there have been too many little problems with it. The tired old cliché of every single walker making grunting, growling, slobbering noise, except for the one that sneaks up on a regular member of the gang and manages to bite him (because he's so absorbed at looking at a picture on the wall that has absolutely no meaning for him).

And the usual tired old cliché of driving down a deserted road and the very instant the driver takes his eyes off the road suddenly there's a horde of walkers and despite the second vehicle being 10 feet behind them, they get separated.

And the tired old cliché that happens in far too many movies, where the car the was running fine gets shut off for NO reason at all, and of course won't start when they need it to.

And the huge plot hole in this episode where Aaron tells them he is with 1 other person, but despite the fact they don't see him at the vehicles, they all load up and drive off without anyone (including) Aaron mentioning it !

And of course, despite their previous experiences at Woodbury and Terminus, they drive straight up to the entrance of this latest safe haven without any hesitation or checking the place out first from a safe distance. Doesn't even seem the least bit odd to any of them that when they get to the gate, there's no one there to greet (or challenge) them so they all get out and just stand in front of the gates like they're waiting to be gunned down. Seriously, the writers are starting to get lazy. I was kind of surprised this episode wasn't mostly comprised of useless "flashbacks" as well.

There are numerous other plot holes as well, like the fact they seem to be able to find gas powered vehicles that run perfectly (except when you need them the most) despite the fact that gas degrades overtime and would be pretty much unusable by now.

And wow -seriously ? The US has major military bases scattered all over the country, complete with some heavy duty, diesel powered, armoured vehicles that would plow through entire herds of walkers without even slowing down. MRAPs, LAV IIIs, even just HumVees would be considerably better than "whatever piece of crap we find on the side of the road" BS that they keep trying to survive in.

I won't even bother with the whole "skull turns to squishy melon consistency seconds after someone becomes a walker" crap. Odd how the rest of them seems pretty strong though (like teeth, nails and other bones). At least they don't turn into the superhuman vampire zombies like in some movies.

And what's with Michonne suddenly being the "lets throw all caution to the wind and just trust this guy for no real reason at all" person ? Or are the writers getting that pathetic that they expect the viewers to believe that the group automatically thinks the next "safe" place won't be filled with murderous cannibals and psychos like the last 2 were ? If anything, the entire group should be paranoid as can be about anything that crosses their path. This series has potential to keep going strong for quite awhile, unless they start going down the dumbass road where everyone starts having weird psychotic flashbacks and suddenly some stupid jar jar binks type character is introduced and they all turn into cross- thumping true believers.

This should've been the season five finale. I know, I know, they went a different way, and that's fine, but think about it. This would've been perfect as a season finale. The dramatic ending, and the season's journey coming beautifully full-circle. They should've moved some plot into season six, and thrown in some more in between episodes of season five, because this was a season finale if I've ever seen one.

However, in terms of the quality.

I have never said this about "The Walking Dead" before, but the episode's crowning achievement is the acting. Particularly from, you guessed it, Andrew Lincoln. It's not Emmy nomination acting, but it's very good.

The episode didn't have any real weaknesses, except for, other than Lincoln's acting and Hoffman's writing, the fact that it didn't have any real strengths. It was intense, sure. It was well-conceptualized and well-executed, sure. But I have grievances.

First and foremost is the applesauce scene. Aaron is willing to risk the baby's well-being, and by extension his own, not to mention the fact that he's chained up by Rick, and refuse to taste the applesauce because he doesn't like the taste of applesauce? What? I could live with that if it turned out to be poison, but no. It was just applesauce. That scene was five minutes of Rick spoon-feeding this man who -get this- WASN'T trying to poison Judith. What a thriller!

It's not bad television, it's just flawed.

This was a decent episode with, it might be a shock but there is actually a plot, unlike some of the recent episodes of season 5 we are getting. In the first scene, Maggie and Sasha bring Aaron to the barn. Aaron tells the group that he has a community, but Rick of course is "so cold" and decides to knock him out for absolutely no reason and is too cautious and stupid to see that Aaron is a good person and is telling the truth. If he had just listened to Aaron and went immediately Eric could've come with them and not gotten his ankle broken. At the end of the episode the group arrives at Alexandria.