The Walking Dead episode 507: ‘Crossed’ had Abraham at a crossroads

In The Walking Dead season 5’s “Crossed,” Gabriel’s pacifism is challenged, Abraham is at a crossroads, Glenn goes fishing and Daryl beats someone with a walker’s head.

The Walking Dead season 5 episode “Crossed” is somewhat difficult to summarize, as there’s no immediately obvious theme. Compared to other episodes of The Walking Dead, this one seems like just a bunch of stuff that happens to set up future storylines. Daryl and Noah get help to retrieve Beth and Carol in Atlanta. This leaves the others to defend Judith at Father Gabriel’s church.

There are a few memorable moments, though, such as Gabriel’s conflicted feelings about defending himself.  His problems are different than Abraham’s in this episode, for sure. Perhaps more than any other character in The Walking Dead, Gabriel best represents one’s determination to stay principled, even at considerable personal risk. Granted, Dale and Hershel came pretty close to being uncompromising peacemakers. Still, they weren’t so close to being absolute pacifists.

Abraham Ford’s frustration and breakdown

As sort of a counterbalance to Gabriel, Abraham Ford represents someone whose capacity for violence has caught up with him. It’s not that Ford is normally such a bad guy. In fact, he’s rather likable to most people. However, this episode further establishes that he’s no stranger to lashing out. After leaning the fraudulent nature of Eugene’s mission to reach D.C. and “save the world,” Ford beat Eugene (apparently) within an inch of his life. We see Abraham nearly give up, sitting silently on the pavement as his group remains at a crossroads.

What would be going through your mind in his place? How could you not feel like the biggest fool ever to walk the earth? To complicate things, you’d likely feel justified in your anger, possibly even in your violent reaction. While Ford ultimately moves on, he definitely has learned a lesson about false prophets of hope.  Frankly, — and without naming names — one wishes the real world could learn such a lesson sometimes.

The Fishing Trip

The Walking Dead is notorious for its bleakness, including in this episode. However, when Glenn and the others spot some fish that they can catch to help them survive on the road, it’s a glimmer of hope. It also demonstrates some of their survival skills as they improvise fishing nets and seem to have some fun while fishing. Sure, it’s not a lengthy scene, but it’s refreshing to see their teamwork and intelligence on display.  It’s also a slight callback to a certain scene with Andrea and her sister.

A Hospital Full of Cops and Questions

As the episode gets back to the hospital, the point of the place remains a bit murky. They come off seeming like an odd mixture of incompetent and evil, and with no clear reasoning for what they’re up to. Why keep Beth hostage as they do? Why even rescue Carol if they’re so quick to let her possibly die anyway? Why is Dawn a leader if she’s so obviously frustrated with every second of it?

Nevertheless, one could imagine such quirky places taking shape in an actual apocalyptic scenario (with or without zombies). In fact, people create all sorts of problems out of thin air every day, so why wouldn’t Dawn and her prison-hospital be any different? Still, it is weird to try to discern exactly what their point is, and why they’d be set up like that in the middle of a walker-infested city, with no apparent help on the way.

Infiltrating the Hospital

When Rick and the others have a fight with these people, there’s a sense of going through the motions. Obviously, Mr. Grimes has dealt with hostage situations before, so why wouldn’t he do so again? At the very least, these moments allow for an inter-group skirmish, with some added thrills courtesy of nearby walkers. One of the best moments, of course, is the fight between Daryl and Officer Licari. As the cop holds Daryl down, a walker tries its best to bite at him. However, Mr. Dixon proves resourceful yet again. He gouges his finger into the walker’s eye, rips off its head and uses it to pummel his human attacker. It’s all in a day’s work!

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