The Walking Dead Season 5 Finale Recap ‘Conquer’: Everything Gets a Return

In The Walking Dead Season 5 finale recap, Rick’s fate is decided, Daryl and Aaron find trouble, the wolves aren’t far and an old friend returns….

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

Through the first five seasons of ‘The Walking Dead’ there have been more than a few complaints lodged by critics and fans alike.

“They spent way too much time on the farm!”

“They aren’t following along with the comic books!”

“Why did they need two tries to finally get the story with The Governor correct?”

But the fifth season of ‘The Walking Dead’, which just capped off with a special 90-minute episode on Sunday night titled ‘Conquer’ was the culmination of what I believe was the single best year of this show from start to finish. There were certainly a few episodes that dipped and didn’t live up to expectations, but the stories that ran this season were emotional, wrought with conflict and action packed from the first episodes taking place in Terminus and Father Gabriel’s church all the way to a late night town meeting in the center of Alexandria.

The season five finale was 90-minutes of riveting television that didn’t necessarily give us a ton of resolution, but still paid off in huge sums by the time the final scenes ended. There was a long awaited reunion albeit under strenuous circumstances, a new threat looming just outside the gates of Alexandria and a coming to terms reality with several people who had no idea just how rough things were when you didn’t live behind gated walls.

We’ll talk about all of that as we recap ‘The Walking Dead’ season five finale titled ‘Conquer’:

I Know Kung-Fu

The finale kicked off with our old pal Morgan, who has popped up a couple of times this season as he tracked Rick Grimes all the way from Atlanta until he was just outside Washington D.C. It appeared as he woke up in the backseat of a car with a smile on his face that Morgan was no longer the disturbed and depressed individual who ran into Rick, Michonne and Carl more than a season ago. Instead, there was some hope returned to Morgan’s eyes as he sat down in a wooded area for some morning cocoa before a man with a gun approached and sat down just across from him.

Morgan’s appearance along would have been exciting, but his story interceded with the first real information we’ve received on the group that’s been teased for the entire second half of the season — The Wolves. They are the people carving ‘W’ into the heads of zombies from all over the area not to mention raiding Noah’s ‘hometown’ and leaving a message behind that said ‘Wolves Not Far’. As the shaggy, gun toting individual told Morgan, the area where they were sitting was once populated and ruled by wolves until the settlers moved in and hunted them down and thinned their numbers to near extinction. Now the wolves are coming back — metaphorically speaking.

Morgan tells the man a phrase that holds meaning throughout this episode.

“Everything gets a return”
~ Morgan

The man says he’s going to take all of Morgan’s possessions and then he’s going to take Morgan as well. When Morgan resists and just asks that the man leave him with a day’s worth of supplies and he can take everything else, he knows in the back of his mind that almost everything isn’t going to get this guy to go away. The new Morgan is a peaceful man only drawn into violence by those who refuse to avoid it. So when Wolf No. 1’s pal shows up and tries to ambush Morgan, he finds out in quick order that in addition to his ability to come up with traps to snare and impale zombies, the man who saved Rick’s life when he woke up from a coma years ago, has now studied a shit load of old ‘Kung Fu’ tapes and picked up stick fighting as an art form.

Morgan kicks the crap out of the wolves and leaves them in the back of the car before honking the horn to ring the dinner bell. His mistake is leaving them alive and assuming the dead will get them because that’s going to come back to bite the survivors in the long run.

A Bad Hangover

Back in Alexandria, Rick is waking up from a hell of a hangover after Michonne cold cocked him at the end of a rant where he pointed a gun at Deanna, her husband and anyone else who disagreed with the notion that the world is a scarier place than the one they are currently occupying behind some very tall walls. Rick doesn’t actually regret much of what he said or did, but now he’s going to have to answer for it because there’s going to be a town meeting where they will discuss what should happen to him next.

Rick is convinced that if things don’t go his way, he’ll just grab Deanna while Carol and the others react in the same manner as they finally take over Alexandria just like he warned weeks ago. If a few throats have to be slit in the process, so be it.

Michonne doesn’t seem exactly on board with the plan, but Carol being the ultimate bad ass keeps things in check when she reveals that Rick just needs to tell the people of Alexandria what they need to hear because in this world they are children and ‘children like stories’.

Later in the day, Carol pays Pete a visit in his new home far away from Jessie and their kids where she offers him a casserole and some (un)friendly advice. She begs him to attack her while she puts a knife to his throat because if he does, Carol already knows no one will believe him. She keeps pushing until Pete all but slinks away in fear as she makes the bully cower when a woman stands up to him. Pete tosses his casserole to the ground and beats up some furniture while proclaiming ‘this is not my house!’. Side note — can somebody please eat Carol’s goddamn casserole? That’s two in a row people have just thrown out.

If It Looks Too Good to Be True…

Daryl and Aaron continue their hunt for more survivors and potential prospects to add to the Alexandria population while discussing the good and the bad people they will eventually come across. Aaron even reveals the time he had to exile two men and a woman who just couldn’t acclimate to life in Alexandria and he personally drove them away and put them back out into the world. In the midst of all this, the new scouting duo finds a man wandering through the woods in a red poncho as he quietly smothers himself in wild leeks to keep the mosquitoes off his skin.

At some point along the way, Daryl and Aaron lose track of poncho and instead happen upon a canned food factory. The gates are sealed and there are only a few walkers roaming inside, which looks like the employees who could have once inhabited this factory before the apocalypse started. Aaron is tired of chasing red poncho and decides this is a great opportunity to get some food because if they ever find new people, they are going to have to be fed. Daryl finally agrees and they head inside to see what’s waiting for them.

Everything is quiet and Aaron even finds an elusive Alaska license plate for his boyfriend, but everything goes to hell in a hand basket when they lift the first door to a food truck and a trap gets triggered that raises the doors on all of the trailers. Inside are dozens of zombies just waiting for a three course meal aka Aaron and Daryl.

They kill as many walkers as possible, but they are clearly out numbered so Daryl and Aaron take refuge in an abandoned car in the center of the factory grounds. While the zombies surround the vehicle looking for a snack, Daryl finds a note lodged in between the seats that says this is all a trap and bad people are coming so get out.

Now Daryl and Aaron are really screwed because there are people on the way to kill them not to mention the hundred zombies outside the car also looking to munch on them for dinner.

In Other News

Several other story lines took place in ‘The Walking Dead’ season finale and while they didn’t play as much of a part in the overall plot that came at the end, they were still relevant and for the most part (minus Father Gabriel) rather interesting.

First up was Glenn, who decided to follow Nicholas outside the walls of Alexandria after watching him hop, skip and jump to escape. Little does Glenn know that his warning to Nicholas to never go outside the walls again has fallen on deaf ears so he’s going out to ‘safe him’ but what he doesn’t know is this was also a trap.

Nicholas lures Glenn into the woods and then fires the gun he stole from Rick’s stashed weapon from the day he arrived in Alexandria. He tags Glenn in the shoulder before the two of them end up in a brawl but Nicholas sticking his finger in the bullet hole pretty much gives him the win. As he bolts away, a pack of walkers descends on Glenn and it looks like he’s not going to make it out alive.

But of course he does!

He eventually catches up to Nicholas (again) and pounds him into the dirt. Just when it looks like Glenn is going to pull the trigger, humanity gets the best of him and he lets Nicholas live. Glenn ends up helping him back to Alexandria as the two of them hobble through the woods together.

Elsewhere, Abraham shows up to sit with Tara, who is still recovering from her head wound suffered at the warehouse where Aiden and Noah died. Inside, Abraham is ready to bolt when he sees Eugene sitting vigil, but Rosita decides this is a good time for healing between the one time friends. Eugene eventually apologizes to Abraham for lying to him, but he knew that his new ginger friend was a superhero who just needed a mission in order to feel useful so he gave him that. Abraham apologizes for nearly killing him and they are good pals again. Tara even wakes up towards the end of the episode, showing signs of recovery after near death just a couple of episodes ago.

And then there’s Father Gabriel, who is based on a comic book character I actually have enjoyed over the years, but the version on the show cries more than the chick in Seinfeld who loses it every time her hot dog hits the ground. This week he goes for a walk outside the walls without a weapon before tempting a walker to munch him to death before he finally fights it off. Then he goes back inside the walls of Alexandria and leaves the gate wide open (that will come back into play momentarily). Finally, he tells Sasha she’s to blame for everything that’s happened to her including Bob and Tyreese before she finally attacks and has a rifle pointed at his head.

Maggie shows up at just the right moment and gets Sasha to put the gun down and Father Gabriel finally confesses that he’s been harboring guilt this entire time believing that he’s at fault for everybody who he died. He’s been living in self hate and this was his carthartic way of letting it all go. In the end, Maggie, Sasha and Gabriel sit in a prayer circle while singing ‘Kumbaya’ or something similar we can only assume.

The Map

Back at the canned food factory, Daryl has decided he’s going to bust out of the car and lead the zombies away so Aaron can escape. Aaron refuses to go along with that plan and instead tells Daryl that they will go out together and either live or die as a team. Just when they are about to go for it, a zombie’s head explodes and then another and then another.

It’s Morgan!

He’s arrived on the scene and along with Daryl and Maggie they clear out the zombies and make it to the other side of the gate to escape. The trio feels relieved once they get out of harm’s way and Aaron already knows this is a guy who belongs in Alexandria. He offers Morgan safe passage and a new place to live, but he’s got other things on his mind. Morgan has been searching for someone for a long time but he recently got off his path and now needs help to figure out where he’s going.

He hands Daryl a map and kindly asks him to show where they are currently so he can go back in the correct direction. When Daryl sees the map he reads the inscription left on there once upon a time by Abraham when he said that this world is going to need Rick Grimes. Light bulb goes on and Daryl figures out that this is the same Morgan who Rick talked about during his earliest days with the camp.

It’s Dangerous Everywhere

As the town meeting begins, all of the survivors tell their stories about why Rick Grimes is not only worth saving but how he’s personally sacrificed everything to get them here to this point. While everybody’s speeches were wonderful, Abraham summed it up the best.

“There’s a vast ocean of shit that you people don’t know shit about. Rick knows every fine grain of said shit. And then some”
~ Abraham

Rick has every intention of going to the meeting to defend himself and stand before a jury of his peers but as he goes by the main gate, he notices the lock isn’t sealed and there’s blood trails leading into the town. He quickly goes on a hunt before tracking down a trio of walkers who managed to get inside during the time the gate was open. Rick quickly dispatches of all three of them.

Back at the meeting, Deanna reveals how Father Gabriel told her just a few days ago that the survivors he arrived with were bad people and they couldn’t be trusted. Rick’s attack on Pete, stealing a gun from the armory and then pulling it on everybody who tried to stop him was just proof that Gabriel was correct. Just when it seemed like the tide was really turning against Rick, he shows up and tosses a zombie down on the ground much to the horror of the townspeople, many of whom probably had never been this close to a dead person since the apocalypse of the dead started.

Rick tells them that no matter how high they build their walls or how strong their gates are, something is always going to get in and they need to be prepared for that. He admits he had plans to come here and take over, but he now realizes that his survivors are part of this community and the rest of the community needs his survivors. There’s no longer us and them. Everybody needs everybody.

Before Rick can get too far into his speech, a very intoxicated Pete shows up with Michonne’s sword in hand. He’s there for his wife and for Rick, but Reg (Deanna’s cuckhold) quickly intervenes and tries to get Pete to calm down. Instead, Pete puts the sword to Reg’s throat and slices him wide open. Michonne and the others tackle Pete to the ground and disarm him while Deanna lays on the ground horrified as her husband slips away. Rick looks to Deanna as tears run down her face and without hesitation she turns and tells him to do it.

Rick pulls the gun he had hidden in his waistband and executes Pete without blinking. Just then he looks up and sees Daryl and Aaron have returned and Morgan is with them. Morgan stares at his old friend and mutters ‘Rick?’ before Rick catches his eye and realizes in the last months since they’ve seen each other maybe when it comes to mentality and psychosis, the two of them may have found a way to switch places.

In a post credits scene, Michonne picks back up the sword she originally put down when she moved to town realizing that while this place is safer than anyone could have imagined, threats are always going to be lurking just around the corner. Meanwhile back at the canned food plant, the Wolves have arrived home (the same ones Morgan failed to execute) and they’ve captured red poncho. They kill him before turning on some very loud music to coax the walkers back into the food trailers.

Inside, they find a knapsack — the knapsack Aaron dropped when he was trying to escape the zombies when he and Daryl got out of the car. After opening up the knapsack, they find pictures of Rick and Carl and a whole lot of photos of Alexandria. As the camera pans away, a car sits near the entrance with the world ‘Wolves Not Far’ scribbled on the side. The Wolves are coming soon ‘Walking Dead’ fans and while the people of Alexandria will be holding on by the hair of their chinny chin chins, these animals are going to be knocking at the gates and demanding the little pigs to let them in.

‘The Walking Dead’ season 6 will debut on AMC this October.