The Walking Dead 502: Strangers gave us Father Gabriel and ate Bob!

In episode 502 of The Walking Dead, the gang presses on but meets a stranger with an unexpected peaceful philosophy, yet possibly a dark past.

With trouble following them at every turn, The Walking Dead survivors are faced with a new challenge in “Strangers”: A pacifist Priest named Father Gabriel Stokes. Why is he a challenge? Putting aside how they don’t trust his image, it’s a bother even if he is peaceful. If the man refuses to fight humans — or even the undead — is he not potentially a mere burden?

It’s especially true when, just prior to meeting him, the group fought off two separate groups: The Claimers and the Terminus cannibals. To emphasize Rick’s distrust of Father Gabriel’s naiveté, he tells his son to never let his guard down, reminding him that he’ll never be truly safe, no matter how things look.

The others are reminded of this very quickly, as the food bank they visit is infested by walkers. In fact, on top of that, the food storage area has been flooded. So, in addition to fending off a bunch of pesky walkers, they have to contend with gross, stagnant-looking water. Unfortunately, Father Gabriel demonstrates his lack of worth here, as he fails to fend off a walker, instead seemingly leaving it “up to God” to intervene.

Of course, it’s not God that really does so, but the other human beings who are willing to defend him, regardless of their thoughts on the big man upstairs. There is little point in denying that, in the words of Bad Religion, “Faith alone won’t sustain us anymore.”

Threats not averted

There are definitely some huge moments in this Walking Dead episode. Other than the introduction of Father Gabriel, we see Bob kidnapped and partially cannibalized by Gareth, Martin and other Terminus scum.

While they coldly rationalize their behavior as “hunter vs. hunted,” Bob is faced with the stark reality that justifications aren’t important when it’s your leg being devoured! Would a Gabriel-esque plead for mercy and reason actually take hold on these vengeful cannibals? Not bloody likely! Not only are these people depraved but they feel quite justified in their behavior. They have crossed the line into a new normal, and they quite simply don’t care to cross back over into normalcy. We didn’t 100% knew Bob was to die by this episode, but it was easy enough to predict.

As we see Bob wince at them eating him, we likely wince, too. It’s not even just the pain the character would hypothetically feel, or even the grossness of cannibalism. We likely also wince at the lack of ethical consideration here, and the knowledge that no moral/ethical philosophy would sway these people into a more peaceful path.

So, in the previous episode where our heroes transformed into brute defenders, it was never without reason. When you’re pushed into extraordinary circumstances, you sometimes do extraordinary things…or possibly perish. It’s just too bad that Father Gabriel is sort of wrong because it would be so good to have him be right.

What are your thoughts on this classic episode of The Walking Dead? Let us know in the comments!