Review: ‘The Walking Dead – S5E5’ From The Editor

With The Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 5, I found myself worried that the focus shift towards Abraham “We don’t stop” Ford and his ragtag team of survivors wouldn’t lead us any closer to getting to D.C.

There would be plenty of stopping, fighting the occasional walker here and there, and a bunch of sitting around and talking while the crew was saddling back up to finally go somewhere. And there was that, and I was rather bored for most of this episode.

Perhaps I was bit like Abraham, eager to get a move on instead of really realizing the truth that we were never going to really go to D.C., that Eugene wasn’t on a classified mission that would save the world.

Leaving Beth and the rape cop hospital behind for the time being, this week’s episode of The Walking Dead catches us up on the single-minded mission of Sgt. Abraham Ford, a man on a mission to save the world. Abraham’s persistent drive to save the world as we used to know it seems to cause conflict with everyone he comes in contact with, and why wouldn’t it? In his charge is the man with the know-how to slay every single last zombie and make the Earth a planet of the living once more.

That drive is perhaps the reason why Abraham can’t see that there are some holes in Eugene Porter’s story, and why even to the ears of a non-scientist, Eugene seems not entirely knowledgeable for a guy employed by the Human Genome Project. The question as to Eugene’s veracity comes to a head this week in “Self Help.”

Through flashbacks, we get Abraham’s backstory. Some point, in the early days of the calamite, Abraham was in a grocery store almost literally fighting other survivors for the last can of tuna fish. There was a family with him, a woman named Ellen and two kids named A.J. and Becca. Were they Abraham’s family? It’s not explicitly said, but I would say it’s more than likely that A.J. stands for “Abraham Junior” if that settles the matter. Ellen and the kids are frightened by Abraham’s brutality, and run away one night into the waiting maw of some walkers. When Abraham finds their eaten remains, he decides to take his own life too. Until… He hears the cries for help from Eugene. All of the sudden he has a mission, and a reason to live.

Even seeing Rosita, who got to show a much more caring side and actually be more than just standing around in the group, seemed ready to pull her gun on her lover in all his anger.

Really, that whole reveal made me feel bad for both Eugene and Abraham, something I thought would take me a lot longer, especially when it comes to the new characters.

That scene with Abraham collapsing in the street alone was a memorable one, as his world, his purpose, his drive, was essentially shattered.

Don’t get me wrong, a good portion of this hour felt tiresome in leading up to Eugene’s eventual but probable reveal. And frankly, I’m glad it’s out in the open now rather than dragging that one out even further.

And maybe that slowness was purposeful in respect to Eugene trying to slow the mission down, even if I wish it didn’t take most of the hour to show that.

Still, there’s now a lot of “what’s nexts” left on the table, including who Daryl was talking to and what’s up with Carol in the hospital. Certainly, by the end of the hour I was back on board, so I’m just ready to see where all those jumping off points go and where the season is really headed.

What did you think of the hour? Was it too slow or just right? Were you shocked by Eugene’s truth