This episode of The Walking Dead finally has Rick and the gang heading to Atlanta to save Beth and Carol! Check out this week’s episode recap of The Walking Dead titled Crossed, the episode right before the mid-season finale! Also check out Violet and Josh’s thoughts afterwards!
Don’t need the The Walking Dead episode recap for Crossed? Click here to jump directly to Violet’s thoughts on the episode!
To see Josh’s thoughts on this week’s The Walking Dead episode, Crossed, click here to get directly there!
Episode Recap of The Walking Dead, Season 5 Episode 7: Crossed
This week’s episode of The Walking Dead finally continues where the story of Four Walls and a Roof left off–when Daryl made it back to the church. The episode begins with Sasha chopping up pews, and Tyreese taking apart the church organ with Daryl. They are using these items to reinforce the church. Why? So Rick and a few people can head back to Atlanta to save Carol and Beth. Rick is hesitant, but he feels obligated to save Carol. Meanwhile, Gabriel seems to be mourning the loss of his church. Rick kisses Judith goodbye and tells Carl he will be back soon. Michonne also seems to be staying behind to guard the children.
As the group heads to Atlanta, Carl makes the final reinforcements on the church. Gabriel, seems bent on cleaning up the church–to an almost obsession. Carl talks to the preacher, and asks him to “pick one”–a weapon to use for defense. Carl insists he needs to learn protection, but Gabriel wants to keep his head in the sand. He eventually chooses a machete, and decides he needs to rest. He goes to his office and takes a nap.
Michonne knocks a while later, and asks if he is ok. Michonne tries to help, relating to him, but he is bent on “resting”. Resting turns out to be breaking through the floorboards in his office, sneaking out beneath the church, and heading away. He seems to have a destination in mind, and on the way he is jumped by a woman walker. He pushes it off, and nearly bashes it with a stone, but suddenly decides not to.
On the road, the group has taken a delivery truck, and Sasha seems stuck in a haze, mourning Bob’s death. Tyreese tries to sympathize, but Sasha will not snap out of it. They reach an abandoned warehouse, and Rick proposes a plan which will be stealthy, but will have a lot of death. Daryl and Tyreese oppose the plan though. They propose a plan of taking some cops hostage and bargaining for their people. Rick isn’t sold at first, but the backup of Daryl backing the hostage plan convinces Rick.
So they begin their plan. Noah fires random shots to draw cops. They find Noah, but the group jumps the cops. The cops surrender. They cuff the cops, but another cop pulls up, and lays down some fire. The captured cops jump in the car, and they drive off. Sasha is able to hit a back tire. The group chases the car down, which stopped. They see two of the cops fleeing, but Daryl is suspicious of the other, and remains behind to look for him. The cop gets a jump on Daryl, and they begin duking it out. Daryl is in peril, as walkers that at some point were melted to the pavement chomp at him. Daryl uses this to his advantage though, and grabs the skull of one, whacking the cop. Rick shows up and aims his gun squarely at the cop. In a very tense moment, Daryl is able to break Rick’s trance, telling Rick, “Three is better than two”.
The cops and the group are taken to a warehouse, and one of the cops tells Rick and company that they are the “black sheep” cops, and that Dawn won’t bargain for them. Another cop though–Lamson, says that the plan will work. He admits he just wants peaceful resolution, and to survive.
Inside the warehouse, Rick and company are about to head out to confront Dawn. Rick wishes Lamson well, and treats him pretty nice for a hostage. In the course of their interaction, Sasha overhears the conversation and learns that Lamson’s first name is Bob. This immediately puts a connection between her and him, and they begin talking. Lamson tells a story of a fellow cop who went on a mission that he swapped with before the full outbreak, and that he is only alive because of that switch. He tells her that the fellow officer is one of the men melted to the pavement outside. He wants to put it down, but Sasha says they aren’t going outside. But she does offer to walk him to a window in the warehouse, and she will snipe it with her rifle. She takes aim and we see him step back a few paces. This isn’t good. He charges at her full speed, and her head smacks the glass, knocking her out. Lamson takes off running.
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Beth visits the unconscious Carol. Meanwhile, Dawn and another cop are arguing about searching for Noah. This cop then decides that the patient they brought in–Carol–should be taken off life support. Beth overhears the conversation, and speaks up. Dawn orders the cop to turn off the machines, and see if the woman can make it through on her own. The cop leaves, and Dawn then blames Beth for “killing” Carol. Dawn then in a twist gives Beth the key to the drug locker, so that she can get medicine for Carol.
Beth visits Doctor Edwards, and asks what medicine would be best to save Carol–if there was a way to get her medicine. Edwards realizes that Beth has the key, and thinks that Dawn is playing Beth in some way. He tells Beth Epinephrine is what would be the best guess. He wishes her luck as she leaves.
She has another orderly fake a coughing fit, which gives her time to sneak in for the medicine. She grabs what she needs and heads to Carol’s room. She applies the IV with the drip.
Back with Abraham’s group, he is still kneeling where he left off last time we saw him. Tara is filling water and dubs their group “GREATM”–all of the first initials of their names. Rosita tries to snap Abraham out of his stupor, but he nearly gets violent. Maggie “calms” him with her gun–aiming it at him. Things aren’t looking great for GREATM.
Glenn, Rosita and Tara head out for water, while Abraham still kneels, Eugene is still unconscious and Maggie stands guard. On the way to the creek, everyone is a little snippy. They finally find the creek, and it is more of a mud puddle.
Rosita is able to come up with a water filtration method though, which she learned from Eugene. She also tells a little of her back story, and how she met Abraham, and that he asked her to come on this special mission. Glenn then spots fish in the creek, so the group heads back to some walkers they saw trapped under an electrical pole and scrounge for supplies. They are able to make a makeshift fishing net, and most importantly–a yoyo that Tara is really excited about.
Maggie confronts Abraham again, and tries to wake him up. She asks him, “Did you want me to shoot you?” He finally speaks, saying, “I thought I did, but I didn’t”. Eugene also finally wakes up, and Maggie rushes to help him. Meanwhile, Abraham finally drinks. Meanwhile, Glenn, Rosita and Tara head back, and they are in high spirits, trying to make the most of their situation.
Josh’s Thoughts: The Walking Dead, Season 5 Episode 7: Crossed
We finally get to move on to see what happens after Daryl returns from Atlanta! That took forever! I really wish it didn’t take this long to get to where the show is now. I thought a lot of this could have been taken care of in a couple less episodes. At least we are finally getting to the climax of the first season though.
So, Rick had a pretty good plan it sounded like. It was brutal though, so we can see that Rick’s humanity has lessened a lot since the start of the show. He talks about slitting throats and such as if it is nothing. Tyreese and Daryl both seem to have retained their humanity to some extent though, with their plan.
I am curious to know Dawn’s plans with Beth. Clearly Dawn gave her the keys as a trick. I am guessing that Dawn hopes another cop finds her giving medicine to Carol and uses that as an excuse to get rid of Beth. When Dawn tells Beth that she thought she was weak, but learned that she is strong, it almost felt like a threat to me, rather than a compliment. I have a feeling Beth is about to get knee-deep in trouble.
It was nice to see GREATM finally have some enjoyment in this forsaken world. Abraham seems to finally be on the mend, and it looks like a lot of that is Rosita’s doing. Since Abraham has someone to love, he finds life worth living again. He is probably pretty ticked off at Eugene still though. I do wonder when they will meet back up with the rest of the group though. Hopefully they head back this episode.
One of the biggest questions I have though is regarding this Lamson. Firstly, is his name really Bob? That was such a coincidence that his name is the same as the dead boyfriend of the distraught Sasha, and that happens to be the person that interacts with him the most. I wondered if he had picked it up somewhere, and heard some of Sasha’s loss to use as leverage. Oddly, that cop did seem like, “one of the good ones”, so I am curious as to why he decided to take out Sasha. I guess he could still be a “good one”, but since he didn’t know this group very well, he figured if he had his moment for escape he might as well take it. Still, unless Rick or someone in the group can nab him before he escapes, that could be big trouble for the group.
The other big question is, where is Gabriel going? He seems to have a specific destination in mind, and is not just wandering aimlessly. I have to wonder if he is working for a bigger group. Originally when we first met him, I thought he was working for the cannibals, but that theory seems debunked now. But, maybe he works for other people that we haven’t met yet? Maybe he coaxes people into his church, and another group comes and takes those people. It seems really amazing that this church has stood so long untouched, and filled with so much food.
This is the mid-season finale, and Rick’s group has gotten pretty big. I have a feeling we lose at least one member of the group today, if not a few. I think the loss(es) will mainly come from Rick’s group, but wouldn’t be surprised to see GREATM run into trouble too. I don’t see Michonne, Judith or Carl dying yet, but that doesn’t mean trouble can’t start when Rick and the group return. I have a feeling whatever Gabriel is up to will be the springboard for the second half of the season–but we might have some “pre-bloodshed” to really crank up the stakes, leaving us wanting revenge for whoever this new villain will be for the second half. This is all just a guess, so we’ll see how accurate it is!
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 5 Episode 7 of The Walking Dead: Crossed
Finally, we’re getting back to Rick’s group. Not only that, but we’re continuing the storylines of Beth and Carol at the hospital, and Abraham’s group. This is the kind of episode I like, where we see what’s happening with all of the groups, rather than focusing on just one for the entire episode. These kinds of episodes actually make me feel like the story is getting somewhere.
Although, now that Daryl has returned with Noah, and informed the others about what happened, Rick’s group has split off, with Rick leading most of them on a crusade to save Beth and Carol, leaving only Carl, Michonne, Judith, and Father Gabriel back at the church. Even so, the episode was still able to follow all of the groups, and made me feel like I was getting to know certain group members better.
For example, this is the first time that we’re hearing anything about Rosita’s backstory. She’s usually just kind of off in the background, ready to fight. But this episode, she was her own person, not just blindly following Abraham anymore.
We also got to see a brother-sister dynamic between Tyreese and Sasha that we’ve rarely seen before. In fact, I’d almost forgotten they were brother and sister. It’s sad that both of them ended up losing the person they loved in this zombie apocalypse, but at least Tyreese was able to give Sasha some advice that actually came from first-hand experience, because, as he said, he’s been there. Not that his advice really helped her in the end though, since Bob’s death is still so fresh in Sasha’s mind. To us, it’s been weeks, but to her, it’s probably only been a day or two. Then after capturing Lamson, and learning that his name is Bob, I think that’s what caused her to drop her guard and be more trusting of him, even though she shouldn’t have. That’s the only explanation that I can come up with for her not being more careful, is because his name just happened to be Bob. Okay, so he had seemed fairly trustworthy up to that point, but really, you have to expect that anyone in that situation is going to try to find a way out. So, yeah, that was really dumb on Sasha’s part.
Alright, so it looks like we’re gearing up toward a pretty exciting mid-season finale! It’s all going to come down to a big fight to save Beth and Carol from the hospital. My question is, how does Abraham’s group fit into all of this? Will they return to the church, learn what Rick is up to, and head out to help? It seems like it might be too late by that point. Also, what is Father Gabriel up to? Will he run into Abraham’s group? I don’t know what’s in store for this episode, but I’m hoping it doesn’t let us down!
Scenes from The Walking Dead, Season 5 Episode 8: Coda
Here are scenes from next week’s The Walking Dead episode titled Coda:
