The Walking Dead S04 E16: A

Season four has kept us on the very edge as we followed Rick’s scattered team through back roads, golf walkers, fog walkers, dirty diapers and a sociopath kid. Carol’s back, but Beth is lost, and Sgt. Abraham and his team want to save the world. Maggie and Glenn reunite, but Daryl is stuck with the bikers from hell. Will all roads lead to Terminus… and what the heck is Mary cooking? Let’s find out together.

Food

Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Carl and Michonne are hungry. It’s been a while since they’ve had a decent meal. Rick has set some traps, but before they can enjoy the rabbit nuggets, they hear someone screaming for help. They can’t help the man… too many damn walkers. It doesn’t matter how many weapons you carry if you don’t have food and water; you’re going to die. You should carry enough food and water to last a week. Protein bars and water purifying packets will save your life, but then what? What do you eat when your supplies are gone? Check out the Zombie Squad website for helpful hints.

Who Are You?

Rick is having flashbacks to the good ole prison days when Hershel was still alive and the farm was doing well and Rick made a conscious choice to put down his gun and picked up the plow. Carl, who is the mirror in which his father judges himself, asks Rick, “Do we tell them who we are; what we’ve done?” Great question, but do our survivors really know who they are? They’ve had to change multiple times just to survive. Michonne and Rick are talking about Terminus when they are attacked by the dirt bag bikers. Why do men want to kill and rape everything they come across? The apocalypse, just like war, is especially horrid for women and children.

Rick Mode

If you were expecting Joe (Jeff Kober) the biker to be a decent guy, forget it: Daryl is unable to protect his friends and is almost beaten to death; Carl and Michonne are almost raped, and the only way Rick can save his son is to become what he fears most. Taking his cue from the walkers, he kills Joe and saves his team. Yes, my little zombie snacks, teeth are weapons, too. Rick went from flashbacks of farmer Rick to a father willing to do anything to save his son. At first, I was stunned by how Rick killed Joe, but then I cheered. Sometimes, you have to be a monster, and I would have done the same thing to save my child. Would you?

Does Carl think his father is a monster? Maybe, but Michonne tries to explain to Carl why people do monstrous things. We finally hear the gritty details of how Mike and Terry became Michonne’s pets while at a refugee camp. Carl’s reply is unexpected and honest; maybe he’s a monster, too.

Daryl and Rick have been through a lot, but they’ve grown with each defeat. Rick trusts Daryl with his life. Daryl is his right hand man and worthy enough to be called brother.

Terminus

We’ve all waited patiently to learn about the mysterious Terminus and wondered if it would be worse than Woodbury. If Rick and his team were expecting sanctuary, what they got instead was mankind at its worse. Think Soylent Green. Greeted by the smiling, hippy dippy Gareth (Andrew J. West), Alex and Mary, Rick and the others are almost lulled into accepting the lie… that is until Rick recognizes the watch. “Where did you get that watch?” Gareth ain’t talking, but Rick notices the human remains as they make a run for it.

Conclusion

My warning signals went up when I saw Mary (Denise Crosby) working that grill when Glenn’s group made it to Terminus, but the names written on the floor and the candles were the cincher. Sure, Woodbury had a diabolical Governor with a love of fish tanks and heads, but I think cannibals are scary as hell. Did they eat Beth?

Rick and most of his team, except for Beth, Carol, Tyreese and Judith, are together along with Sgt. Abraham’s team, but they might end up being lunch. We’ve watched four seasons of “The Walking Dead,” watched as each character’s story became known to us; watched as each character grew into their part and became family to each other and to us, but the show was always about Rick.

We watched as Rick morphed into the man he needs to be to keep his son alive and to save his team from Terminus. In the end we’ve learned that there is no physical sanctuary. Sanctuary is not a place, but your will to survive. The residents of Terminus have made a big mistake and they are ill-prepared for the new Rick. I can’t wait until season five to see Rick go nuclear on Team Terminus. See you next year, my little zombie snacks and remember to sharpen your teeth.

Side note: Andrew Lincoln and Scott Gimple were on “Talking Dead” and we got a new hashtag #walkingdeadbrazillian, and we were told that season five is going to rock!