“Conquer” gave us a heap of great acting and character moments, sprinkled it with a bit of action – courtesy of Daryl and Aaron – and a triumphant return; but it did little more than make the wait for Season 6’s premiere all the more painful.
There was a lot here that we wanted to see more of – particularly the long-awaited return of Morgan – and quite a few scenes that would have benefited from a closer look – like Glenn’s hide-and-seek with Nicholas – which means the writers did waste a lot of their extended time with the finale.
We didn’t need drawn out shots of Nicholas walking in the woods, but we did need more dialogue with Glenn; then maybe we wouldn’t have had to shout at the screen in frustration when he decided not to pull the trigger on Nicholas’ very punchable face. It also would have been nice to see Glenn get out of that dire walker-trio situation when he seemed to be done for. Of course, the camera cutting right off him at the exact moment he is about to die means that Glenn is safe, so that tense atmosphere faded into nothingness almost instantaneously.
Let’s backtrack a bit though and look at that awesome cold opening with Morgan. Morgan has somehow focused all his energy into becoming a bad-ass real life Donatello and is using his bo staff with the same flair and fluidity as Michonne uses her katana. We are introduced to the very creepy ‘Wolves’ group here, as two members – one of which is seemingly the leader – attempt to steal from Morgan. The conversation between Morgan and the leader was perfect edge-of-your-seat TV, with the leader calmly telling Morgan that he is basically dead already. Morgan’s swift take down of the ‘leader’ and another ‘Wolf’ was a great way to lead into the credits, showing us that Morgan has left his crazy days – from ‘Clear’ – behind him and become a worthy, potential addition to the group; someone who very well may become Rick’s right-hand man now that Daryl has other things on his mind, Abraham is still struggling with his own relationships, and the writers seem to be – and I hope I’m wrong – painting Glenn with the same brush they used to mishandle Tyreese.
The key members of our group all talking about what needs to be done at the ‘forum’ Deanna plans to hold was great, watching them carefully consider fallout and whether or not anyone needs to die is a big part of the reason why this show succeeds. Decisions are – mostly – adapted well into the world that has been created for The Walking Dead, and the lead up to those decisions are considerations which feel very real in the context.
What doesn’t feel real is the continued bore-fest that is Father Gabriel and his betrayal-redemption arc. Deanna’s goofy son Spencer asking Gabriel to close the gate without even watching him do so, and Gabriel being dumb enough to think it wouldn’t bounce back open, is not just completely idiotic, it just doesn’t make sense. Not to mention that no one noticed the gate was still open until Rick hours later.
Aside from the lack of thinking here, the gate being open did serve a nice purpose. Through carelessness and general nativity the threat of walkers (and more) will always find a way into Alexandria whether Deanna likes it or not, and for that reason they need Rick and his group, warts and all.
Carol’s fake out has consistently been one of the most entertaining parts of Season 5b and her threatening Pete in a cold, silent way was perfect. Carol remains the stand-out character from this and last season, continuing to be handled well and developed into something beyond what many of the other characters are. Though her not expecting her threat to Pete to result in any drunken, sword-wielding backlash does seem a bit nearsighted and out of character; unless she wanted Pete to change Deanna’s mind for them – at the expense of poor Reg.
Daryl and Aaron held up their brunt of the episode with some excellent scenes, unknowingly exploring the Wolves and their genius traps while on a trail of an ill-fated poncho-wearing mosquito hater. Undoubtedly the episode’s best scene was them bonding over being stuck in a car while a horde tries to get at them. Morgan showing up at just the right time and saving them, coupled with Daryl’s realisation that this man is looking for Rick, was great and served the larger purpose of Aaron accidentally leaving photos of Alexandria – and Rick and Carl – behind; photos which were discovered by the sinister Wolves, setting up a potentially deadly conflict for the Season 6 premiere.
Sasha thrown into an almost-deadly confrontation with Father Gabriel towards the end seemed thrown in to add to some last-minute tension so the show could cut between them, Carl and Nicholas in the woods, and Rick and the Alexandria-invading walkers; though if anyone were to die I thought it may have been Sasha at the hands of Father Gabriel, completing the full heel turn the show has been teasing. Instead, Maggie walks in on Sasha holding her rifle to Gabriel and ends up praying with them both. It’s a cheap way to speed Gabriel’s ‘redemption’ but serves to free up the last few minutes for the awesome closer.
Hardly a tense cliffhanger, we see Pete slit nice old Reg’s throat open while raving about how Rick is the bad guy. This is obviously enough to send Deanna over the edge and finally throw her towards Rick’s line of thinking and Rick doesn’t hesitate one bit in pulling the trigger, blowing off Pete’s head right when Morgan shows up. The episode – and season – ends with Rick and Morgan staring at each other. This is a nice change of places here, as last time Rick and Morgan saw each other it was Morgan who was losing his mind. Rather than Morgan just showing up, the writer’s had the good sense to make the reunion a vague affair until next season.
One scene that would have been nice though is spending a bit more time with Daryl and Aaron as they tell Morgan that the man he is looking for is actually a part of their group.
“Conquer” was great in that it wasn’t predictable. Everything had been building up to a bloody conflict between Rick and Alexandria, or the Wolves and Alexandria; but the finale staved off the latter and saved it for some deeper exploration next season. The worst mistake The Walking Dead could have made is to introduce the threat of the Wolves and have them defeated a few episodes in to season 6, like what happened with Terminus. Instead we can, hopefully, look forward to Rick and Alexandria being on the defense this time as the dynamic between them now is such that Rick may have to train people up to do battle with the Wolves; and having Morgan by his side for that is incredibly exciting.
Review Score: FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Hightlights:
– Everything Morgan
– Aaron and Daryl in the car
– Michonne, Carol, and Abraham speaking for Rick at meeting
– Glenn beating on Nicholas
– Rick killing Pete and Deanna green-lighting it
– Rick popping a walker
– Saving The Wolves conflict for later
Lowlights:
– Nicholas’ punchable face
– Not showing Glenn dealing with walkers
– Not showing Aaron and Daryl telling Morgan about Rick
– Maggie didn’t tell anyone about Father Gabriel?
– Father Gabriel’s suicide attempts
Episode MVP: Rick/Morgan
Walker Kill of the Week: Daryl (triple walker kill with a chain)/ Rick (strangling a walker so hard it’s brain pops)
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