‘The Walking Dead’: Strangers and a Bob-A-Cue [Recap/Review]

In the second episode of The Walking Dead Season 5, Strangers, Rick must undertake a mission to replenish supplies for the larger band of survivors after their battle last week at Terminus. It is a dangerous mission, but one that needs to be done. Also, the character of Father Gabriel, played by Seth Williams, is introduced. He is, on the surface, at any rate, a man of God; but, he has a mysterious secret.

Carol continued to play an important role in Strangers on The Walking Dead, also. She has three key discussions with characters during the episode, so her influence continued to be strong.

Though Morgan was re-introduced at the very end of the premiere episode of The Walking Dead, he will not be in this one. However, there will be other surprises, and walkers galore.

The Walking Dead began with a scene of smoke arising in the distance, from Terminus. Maggie and Glenn embraced, and Rick told Tara that Glenn told him she had saved his life.

“He saved mine,” she replied.

“That’s how it works with us,” Rick answered her. They fist-bumped and continued on.

Then, they marched onward. Tyreese asked Carol if she had talked with Rick. He said they both need to talk to the rest of them, “That they need to accept it. They just do.”

Though, he added to Carol they “do not need to tell them about the girls. I don’t want to,” he said.

She asked him “Why?” and Tyreese answered “I just need to forget it.”

The group of survivors continued on until they come across a walker. Michonne said “I’ve got this one,” and lays into it viciously.

At night, around a campfire, Rick tells Carol “I owe you everything.”

They discussed storerooms and going to replenish their supplies. “I stil don’t know what you did.” Rick said to Carol.

“You said I could survive,” she answered. “You were right.”

Again, Rick told Carol “Thank you.” He is the first (not counting Tyrese) that she speaks to.

“I don’t want to talk about it. I can’t,” she told Daryl. “I just need to forget.” They see something kind of creepy and then The Walking Dead went to a commercial break.

After the break, Rick and Daryl discussed last night and Rick said he thinks someone is watching and following them. Bob and Sasha have a romantic momemnt and kiss.

Then, Carl heard somebody screaming for help and he urges everyone to go to the rescue. They see a man being attacked by a walker — it is Father Gabriel. After they dispatch the walker he vomited.

Rick asks him if he has any weapons, and he replied “Does it look like I have any weapons?”

He asks them if they have any food. Carl offers him some. Rick asks “How many walkers have you killed?”

“I haven’t killed any,” Father Gabriel said.

“How many people have you killed?” Rick asked.

“None.”

“Why?” Rick asked.

“Because the Lord abhors violence,” he said (This and other responses are paraphrased). He asked them if they have a camp; Rick asked “Do you?”

“I have a church,” he replied.

Father Gabriel told them “Maybe I’m leading you into a trap instead of my church so I can steal all of your squirrels. Members of my congregation say my humor leaves a lot to be desired.”

“It does,” Rick agreed with him.

At the church he leads them to, there is a hand-written Bible, stain glass windows, drawings on the walls. It appeared to be a normal-looking church.

“I spent months here without stepping outside,” he told them.

There is a short bus there and they discuss taking it and continuing on. Glenn told Sergeant Abraham that “We’re going to do what Rick says.” Others echo his words.

Rick asked him “What did you do for food?”

“We had a canned food drive. After that, I scavenged for supplies.”

They asked him where, and he told them he can draw them a map, but said “It’s over-run.”

Rick said “You will come with us.”

Carl said to his dad that he trusts Father Gabriel. “You are not safe. No matter how clear the area looks, no matter who is or isn’t around. You are not safe. I don’t want you to leave your guard down. It only takes a second,” Rick told Carl.

“We’re strong enough that we don’t have to be afraid and we don’t have to hide,” Carl tells him. He adds “I’m 16, Dad.”

Rick and Bob talk about going to Washington. Rick tells him “I haven’t decided to go.” They talked about what the “real world” is, and Rick told Bob “This is the real world.”

“This is not the ‘real world,'” Bob said. “This is a nightmare.” He said that he knows Rick will go, that it is inevitable.

Meanwhile, Carol and Daryl talked to each other and Carol told him she did not want to talk about it. Daryl tells her “We can start over.”

“I want to,” Carol says.

“We can,” Daryl answered her.

Tara and Maggie heard noises inside a house and Glenn came out.

“Was it a walker?” Tara asked.

“Yes, it was,” Glenn relied, then admitted he had stumbled over things and made the noises.

On The Walking Dead, Father Gabriel then led the survivors top where he saw supplies. Michonne and Rick and the others come across walkers in a fairly deep pool of water at the foodbank. They cannot get out, and they stink up the place, as the water and humidity is speeding up the decomposition process.

After commercials, The Walking Dead returned to scenes of the survivors in a basement area of the foodbank flooded by water, with walkers all around. The survivors dispatched zombies right and left, and Gabriel freaked out and took off. Rick wondered where he went.

One walker attacked Bob — a skeletal one, but a strong one. Sasha helped get the walker off of him and saved his life by smashing the walker’s head in.

“I’m sorry. I panicked,” Father Gabriel told Rick once they were outside.

Returning from another commercial break, The Walking Dead showed Rick and Michonne talking. Michonne told him “I miss Andrea. I miss Hershel. But, I don’t miss what was before.”

They come to a church that might have supplies inside of it, according to Father Gabriel, but with a lot of scratches on the outside, as if something was trying to get in.

Carl said to Rick: “It doesn’t mean that Gabriel is a bad guy for sure — but, it means something.” Then, The Walking Dead went to another commercial break.

When The Walking Dead returned, the survivors were inside the building. “When I look around this room, I see survivors. Each and every one of you has earned that title,” Rick told them, and toasted them.

“Is that all you want to be?” Sergeant Abraham Ford told them. He said to everyone that they can go to Washington, and help end the plague. “Come with us. Save the world for that little one. Save it for yourselves. Save it for those people out there, who have nothing left to do but survive,” Ford said.

Baby Judith made some cooing sounds, and Rick asks “What was that?” and then says “She says we’re in. Is anyone else in?”

Others also respond that they are in, too, so it looks as if the survivors will be headed to Washington, D.C.

In a quiet moment on The Walking Dead, Tara told Maggie “I didn’t know who the Governor was or what he could do. And, I didn’t know who any of you wre.” Maggie gave her a hug. This is a religious sort of episode, with various people asking for and receiving forgiveness. None of the survivors are without sin, and they probably have all forgiven others in the past.

“Thanks for the hospitality,” Rick told Father Gabriel. “I am surprised you let us drink your comunal wine.”

“It isn’t communal wine until it’s blessed,” Gabriel said.

“You’re hiding something. It’s pretty obvious,” Rick told him. “If it results in anyone getting hurt, I’ll kill you.”

Carol, outside at night, killed a walker. Daryl met her and said “Come on.” Daryl saw a car with its headlights on and smashed the headlights.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“They’ve got Beth!” he yelled. But, the car drove off. Daryl and Carol might possibly try to go together and rescue Beth, if possible, sometime in the next episode.

Then, something happened, and Bob was attacked, a mark on a tree was shown, and The Walking Dead went to another commercial break.

When The Walking Dead came back, Gareth said to Bob “You’re back with us. The good news is you’re still alive. The good news is we didn’t want to hurt you, before. We didn’t want to pull you away from your group or scare you. Those are things we had to do. Your people took away our home. Now, we have to hunt. We’ve evolved and devolved into hunters. I just hope you understand that nothing happening here is personal It’s kind of a cosmic justice that this is you. But, we would have done it to anyone. And we will. At the end of the day, a man has to eat. If it makes you feel any better, you taste much better than we thought you would.”

On The Walking Dead, the camera then pulled away to show one of Bob’s feet in a netting. They are cutting him up and eating him, while still keeping him alive. They are apparently the ones who have been stalking Rick and the other survivors. But, what secret does Father Gabriel have? Is he somehow in cahoots with the other people from Terminus? Also, the guy (Martin) who Tyreese had pounded and beaten up and thought was dead, was at the…Bob-a-cue.

The Walking Dead episode, Strangers, was another “devastating” one, but most of the terrible things (other than dispatching walkers) did not happen until the very end. There were some touching moments, some extremely violent ones, and, ultimately, now we know why our parents told us to “Never trust strangers.”

Rick gave Carl good advice in The Walking Dead, but Carl is still perhaps too trusting. Other than the people who have been in Rick’s group almost from the beginning, and a few additions to it, like Tara and Bob — who is now, likely, not going to be around much longer — Rick does not trust anyone. He has paid the price for trusting in the past by having people around him die.

The Walking Dead main group of survivors will now be heading towards Washington. D.C., but Gareth and his group from Terminus will be stalking them every step of the way. Sergeant Abraham Ford will, apparently, be a leader of the group, though when push comes to shove, the survivors will, no doubt, do whatever Rick advises them to do. Next week, there will be even more of the survivors who mysteriously “disappear” and are taken down by Gareth’s Terminus group. It looks as if Bob did not become “Walker Chow,” but he certainly became “Terminus Chow” in this disquieting episode of The Walking Dead.

Written By Douglas Cobb

Sources:
Spoiler TV.com
AMC.com
Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC