The Walking Dead: Looking back at A

The Walking Dead episode titled “A” would mark the finale for season four which aired on March 30, 2014. This is the 51st episode of the series, and it was written by Scott Gimple & Angela Kang and directed by Michelle MacLaren.

Season finales always give us something great, and this one was no exception. Rick takes a bite out of Joe, and the group arrives at the mysterious community of Terminus.

Throughout the episode, Rick remembers days at the prison when Hershel was a guiding voice and when things were calm and almost normal. Then reality would set in, and we would see him with Michonne and Carl as they scavenge for food and fight off the undead.

Ironically, earlier this week, it was National Joe week, and we discussed the leader of the claimers on this day.

The Walking Dead season 4

In the episode simply titled “A,” Rick, Michonne and Carl are camping on the roadside at night when the Claimers finally catch up to them. They are searching for Rick as he killed one of their members earlier in the season. Daryl comes up on the scene, shocked to see his friends, and tells Joe they are good people. Joe says, “that is a lie,” and the gang begins to beat Daryl while Joe proceeds to tell Rick how they are going to rape Michonne and Carl and then kill Rick.

Eventually, Joe asks Rick, “What the hell are you gonna do now, sport?” And Rick shows him by ripping his throat with his teeth, which causes him to bleed out, and Rick, Michonne, and Daryl can take control of the situation and kill all of the Claimers. Rick takes extra time in killing Dan, the man trying to rape Carl. He slowly guts him as Carl watches in horror.

Rick and Daryl share a tender moment on the roadside while Michonne and Carl listen in from the vehicle.

When they arrive at Terminus, they split up to case the place. Michonne and Carl share a special moment when she explains to Carl how her son died and how she turned her boyfriend and his friend into her pet walkers. She used this moment to show that she was in a low place but was able to come back from it.

They sneak into the backdoor of Terminus to the shock of the residents there. Things seem too good to be true, and you see Rick taking all of it in. When they are being introduced, Rick notices many things, the orange backpack, Daryl’s poncho that Maggie was wearing, and then he sees the chain to Hershel’s pocket watch that he gave to Glenn. A gunfight breaks out, and they realize that the Terminites aren’t shooting at them, only at their feet, herding them somewhere. As they are running, bones and flesh are lying around, and you can hear screams coming from the nearby shipping containers.

They eventually have to surrender and Gareth, the leader, lines them up, calling them The Ringleader (Rick), The Archer (Daryl), The Samurai (Michonne) and The Kid (Carl). They herd them into a boxcar where they are reunited with Bob, Maggie, Sasha, Glenn, Tara and their new friends Abraham, Eugene and Rosita.

Looking through a crack in the boxcar, Rick says,  “They’re gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out…” Abraham then asks Rick, “Find out what?” Rick responds, “They’re screwing with the wrong people.”

It was a great episode that finally reunites our survivors after the fall of the prison.

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