Season 5 Episode 5 of The Walking Dead, titled Self Help, follows Abraham, Glenn, Maggie, Tara, Rosita, and the “lovable” Eugene, on their journey to D.C. Needless to say, there are some bumps along the way, and some important information regarding Eugene’s mission comes to light. Check out Violet and Josh’s thoughts on the big reveal, right after Josh’s episode recap below!
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Episode Recap of The Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 5: Self Help
So this episode of The Walking Dead focuses on Abraham, Rosita, Glenn, Maggie, Eugene, and Tara heading to Washington D.C. in their fixed school bus. The episode opens with Tara talking with Eugene, and he seems deep in thought. He tells Tara he is thinking about what the preacher did to the people wanting inside. Meanwhile, Maggie asks Eugene about the plan to stop the walkers, and how long it will take. He seems dodgy, but says there are many factors that would affect the time frame.
Abraham then loses control of the bus, and it flips. Walkers approach, and inside Glenn and Abraham make a game plan to get out.
Before they get out though, there is a flashback of Abraham. He had apparently beaten a man to death with a tin can. Several people appear dead, and he begins looking for someone named “Ellen”.
The group makes it out of the bus, and Eugene is terrified. Tara hands him a knife, and he looks around scared. He finally acts when needed though, saving Tara’s life. Meanwhile, the rest of the group has massacred the rest of the walkers approaching.
Maggie goes back to the bus for first aid supplies, but unfortunately the bus ignites. Abraham insists they move on, despite Eugene trying to talk Abraham into heading back to the church. Glenn tries to calm him down. The group remains really optimistic, and they all decide to trudge on. Eugene has an odd “moment” with the walker he killed, spitting on it, and the group moves on.
Returning to Abraham’s flashback, he seems to have found who he was looking for–a woman and couple of kids.
In the present, the group has found an old book store, and the group sets up camp, reinforcing it to prevent any unwanted guests. Glenn and Abraham have a chat, and Abraham appreciates Glenn’s back up to move on. Abraham also gets a little philosophical–getting into “survival of the fittest”, saying it’s the strong that have survived.
Later, Rosita and Abraham are having some “alone” time, but they aren’t so alone–Eugene is watching, and this apparently isn’t the first time. Tara calls him out on it, but changing the topic, thanks him for saving her. Eugene then reveals a big secret–he sabotaged the bus to crash so that they wouldn’t leave the church, but he didn’t plan for the bus lasting for so long. He reveals that he cannot survive on his own, and is worried that if he cannot stop the disease, his value is lost, and he will be abandoned. This becomes a very important point at the end of the episode…
Maggie and Glenn talk, and Maggie is guilty that they are on this mission to save the world, while the rest of the group is just “surviving”.
Again in the flashback, the woman and kids look afraid of Abraham, he tells them they don’t have to be scared.
Back in the library, Rosita and Abraham get into an argument. Rosita wants to take a quick rest, but Abraham wants to push on. Maggie tries to mediate, but Rosita returns to backing Abraham, and they plan on heading out. Abraham tells them he found a fire truck for their next mode of transportation.
Eugene, Glenn and Abraham try to get it going, and things look good–for a second. The truck gives out pretty quickly though, and the small movement it did unblocked a door. And out pour a bunch of walkers. The team begins taking the walkers down, but there are a lot. Eugene saves the day though, using the water hose on the fire truck to beat the walkers back. Abraham wants to press on now.
Back in the past, Abraham wakes up, finding a note from his wife that they have left him. This was another quick flashback.
Down the road, the fire truck gives out, and Abraham tries to repair it. Abraham decides that instead of repairs, they are going to hoof it. Up the road they come across what is causing a horrible stench in the air–loads and loads of walkers. Glenn and the group turn away to go around, but Abraham wants to push through. Glenn wants to regroup, but Abraham has become belligerent, and begins screaming at them that they can’t go back. Abraham forcibly grabs Eugene, and Abraham loses it. Eugene then blurts out, “I lied, I’m not a scientist!” Turns out he is just a fairly smart guy, but has no idea how to stop this epidemic. His goal for D.C. was to find the best possible place to hole up and survive. Eugene begins making his case as to why he shouldn’t be abandoned, which unhinges Abraham, causing him to knock Eugene unconscious. Rosita and Maggie attend to Eugene, while Abraham seems to lose his hope and humanity.
Returning to the flashback, we see that Abraham’s family has been taken out by walkers. He again here seems to lose all hope, and is about to eat his gun. Eugene runs up, being pursued by zombies. Abraham slaughters them, and Eugene thanks him. Eugene then tells him he has a “very important mission”.
Josh’s Thoughts: The Walking Dead, Season 5 Episode 5: Self Help
The second time around, I appreciated this episode a lot more. I really want to see what is next for Beth and Carol, and the main group, and was a little disappointed that wasn’t happening yet, but really seeing what drives Abraham was really interesting, now that I have come to appreciate it more. I am curious to know how far into the “apocalypse” it was when Abraham lost his family. It doesn’t seem to be too far, as the first scene has him in a supermarket. I would guess people were still trying to fight for supplies, which is what caused the fighting to break out there, that had Abraham murdering people.
But the big reveal happened this episode regarding Eugene. He has nothing that he can help with. At least with regards to stopping the apocalypse. Abraham seems to have ended this episode where he ended when he lost his wife–a man without purpose. I am wondering what is next for him, and now the group. Do they return to Rick? I would imagine that they have to. They really have no other place to be, so you would think they would want to stay with people they know work together with them. Besides, Glenn and Maggie are more connected to Rick and the group than they are with Abraham, Eugene and Rosita.
I have to say, I don’t really blame Abraham for what he did to Eugene. People did die on this mission, which would be blood on Eugene’s hands. For Abraham though, there is a small other side for him–without this mission, he would have killed himself. Maybe Eugene helped him some, when he gave Abraham something to live for. It is sort of twisted to look at it like that, but it sort of makes sense. Maybe Abraham is being a little harsh on Eugene, then again, it is all a sham, so maybe not.
I really want to move the main story forward! It looks like next week we will still be following yet another group–Carol and Daryl up until Carol is taken by the “cops”. It will be interesting to see I guess, but I want to see what is next!
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 5 Episode 5 of The Walking Dead: Self Help
For the first time, we get an insight into Abraham’s back story, though only from the point after the zombie apocalypse had already begun. It’s a sad story, of him being a family man, trying to defend his family, and provide for their survival — that is, until they become afraid of him when they see what he is capable of, and they run away from him. Which was dumb, because they ended up getting eaten by walkers, and Abraham heartbreakingly found their remains. With nothing left to live for, Abraham is about to take his life when Eugene shows up and gives him something new to live for — getting Eugene to D.C. so he can cure the virus and save the world. Ever since then, Abraham has devoted his life to this cause, putting this mission as his main priority, above any and everything else. And then Eugene drops the bomb that it was all a lie. That all along, Abraham was wasting his time. So now, Abraham basically realizes that he has nothing left to live for.
Or does he? At the point in time when he was going to kill himself, he had just lost his whole family, and was all alone in the world. But now, he has Rosita, and has made friends with Glenn, Tara, and the rest of Rick’s group. Although it must be devastating to him to find out he protected Eugene all this time under false pretenses, he is not alone anymore, and he was not the only one who was deceived. I think this time around, he won’t be so quick to want to off himself.
As for Eugene, I never really knew what to make of him, whether he was telling the truth, or was just delusional or something. His reasoning for telling his lie was that without it, he would no longer have worth, that he would be abandoned. Maybe that would have been true when he initially met Abraham, but that definitely would not be true with the group he has found himself with now. There were a number of helpless people in Rick’s prison group, and even after the group fled the prison, some people were more skillful than others, but that didn’t mean that the ones less skillful would be abandoned. Regardless, Eugene has proved this episode that he is not helpless, since he saved Tara from the walker, and used the water hose on the fire truck to take out a whole group of walkers. Maybe he felt like he needed to start proving that he was useful, because before this, he just stood back and let Abraham and the others protect him. True, he won’t be placed by anyone as their top priority anymore, but he won’t be abandoned. Even if Abraham is so angry at him that he would want to abandon him, but the rest of the group wouldn’t allow that.
So what is next for Abraham’s group? Seems like the only logical option is to return to the church and re-join Rick’s group. But before then, we’re going to see how Carol ended up at the hospital with Beth!
Scenes from The Walking Dead, Season 5 Episode 6: Consumed
Here are scenes from the next episode of The Walking Dead,titled Consumed:
