*Be warned: this review contains spoilers
It’s that time of year again. That time where, once again, “The Walking Dead” season finale has just aired. People died and walkers walked. But this time was different. And like everyone else, I’m feeling a lot of feelings.
The second half of the fourth season has alternately been following the different groups that split off from the prison. After ignoring Rick, Michonne and Carl for a while, the finale picks back up with them on their way to Terminus. Ever since the group split up, I’ve been hoping and praying for all of them to reunite, and little by little my dreams are coming true.
The entire episode was spliced with scenes from a happier time. When Rick’s group wasn’t split up, when they were all happy at the prison, when everything was peaceful. Scenes of a living Hershel almost made me want to cry, but also the scenes of Rick before all of this season’s events showed a ridiculous contrast between past and present Rick. He’s a changed man, and it’s extremely disconcerting. And this episode, he’s gotten even darker.
This time, Rick’s group was ambushed by Joe’s group, everyone’s favorite band of ragtag vagabonds. In what may be a first for the series, some action actually happened early on in the episode. Joe was holding a gun to Rick’s head, Michonne was about to get killed and shockingly enough, it looked as though Carl was going to get raped. Thankfully my white knight Daryl Dixon strode in to save the day, even offering his life for Rick’s. This didn’t work and with tensions rising, Rick snapped and went full-walker: he bit a chunk out of Joe’s neck. Yeah. That happened.
And while everyone was in shock, Rick’s group killed off the rest of Joe’s, and they were reunited with Daryl once again. Oh, happy days.
For the next 20 minutes pretty much nothing eventful happened, but it started feeling as though “The Walking Dead” was interrupting my commercials. I mean really, is it necessary to have a Windows 8 ad every five minutes? I digress.
After my mind stopped wandering off, Rick, his blood-stained beard (new spring ’14 trend, no?) and the group had found their way into Terminus. Now, “The Walking Dead” probably thought they were being super sneaky about what was going on there. Please. It’s been theorized that the camp was full of cannibals for weeks now, so pretty much no one was surprised with the amount of foreshadowing going on.
When the group wandered into one of Terminus’ buildings, the group was greeted by a bunch of weird hippies dropping crazy obvious hints: “When people become a part of us, we get stronger.” Somehow none of this registered with the group. But they continued on into the camp where Rick spotted a guy carrying Old Man Hershel’s old pocket watch, which he’d given to Glen. Now this is where everything started going wrong.
While Mary was barbecuing (which she always seems to be doing; does she ever sleep?), Rick pulled a knife on one of the cannibal-randoms and demanded to know where Glen’s group was. Cue to several shots of the cannibals wearing Maggie’s poncho, Glen’s riot gear, etc. Cue to my official freak out.
At that point I was positive Beth wouldn’t return this episode. I was semi-positive I’d never see Glen or Maggie again. And I was gradually coming to accept Carol wouldn’t make an appearance, either. And Carol is my favorite. Trying to process all of this, I was practically on the verge of tears.
As I was busy yelling for Carol to make an appearance, Rick’s group was getting shot at by the Terminus snipers. Oddly enough all of the snipers had horrible aim, shooting several feet away from the group at all times. We’re they drunk? Is that what eating humans does to you? I hope I’ll never know.
The episode ends with Rick, Carl, Michonne and Daryl being herded into a train car where, thank God, Glen and the rest of his group were staying. And just when everything seemed hopeless, Rick dropped a bomb: Terminus had no idea who they were dealing with. Boom. Cut to black. Edgy music plays, credits roll.
This season has been a whirlwind. The first half was about the craziness at the prison, and the second half was pulling everything back together. Thankfully, none of the better characters died. We were introduced to Abraham, a true bad-ass, and baby Judith is alive and well. Lizzie finally died, so I can stop grinding my teeth whenever she’s on screen. And Maggie and Glen reunited, so all is right with the world. Also, Rick went crazy. And it was awesome.
See you next season, “Walking Dead” fans, and remember: no one is safe.
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