Hungry for The Walking Dead to Return?

WARNING: If you haven’t watched the first half of season five of AMC’s The Walking Dead, then this article definitely ISN’T for you! I don’t care if you never plan on watching the show or if you can’t handle the sight of blood. You never know—you might randomly get sick one day and end up watching every season of it on Netflix. It would be wise for anyone who has not seen the show to avoid this article entirely.

It’s been about a month since the premiere of the midseason finale of AMC’s The Walking Dead, a popular and high-action TV show that follows the lives of characters trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. Looking back, it was definitely an interesting season. The show has evolved substantially throughout the years, and it was fun to see its new development in the first half of season five. Personally, I can’t wait for the second half of the season to premiere since there are some burning questions on my mind. I’ll discuss a few of those later but will have to wait until the show returns on February 8 to get my answers.

I was on Twitter the other day when I happened to see a picture of the cast of season one, and it made me realize that the show has gotten progressively darker with each season. Season one followed the lives of ordinary (and fairly innocent) Americans trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. I’m pretty sure none of the characters even tried to kill each other, which seemed to be a problem in seasons three, four, and especially five. I think the show is doing a great job of portraying the moral decay that would happen in a fallen society overrun by zombies. After all, four significant characters died in this part of the season—Gareth (played by Andrew J. West), Bob Stookey (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.), Beth Greene (Emily Kinney), and Dawn Lerner (Christine Woods)—and three of them were killed by other characters. Bob is the only exception since he was destined to die after being bit by a zombie, but even after that happened his leg was still eaten by cannibals (yet another example of how dark the show has gotten).

Fans all across the world, including myself, are wondering where the show will go in the second half of season five. It’ll be interesting to see how the events from the first half of the season affect the rest of the show. In particular, season five has left me with five major questions so far.

  1. What will Father Gabriel bring to the show?

Seasons two, three, and four of The Walking Dead each had a variety of new characters to add to the show’s cast. Season five, however, only introduced one new major character. His name is Gabriel Stokes (played by actor Seth Gilliam), and he was a pastor before the zombie apocalypse broke out. Rick and the group saved him from a zombie and then used his church for shelter during this half of the season. We know almost nothing about him besides his mysterious and cowardly behavior which, to me, was honestly a little annoying. Since I myself am a Christian, I also didn’t like the cliché and negative way he represented Christianity, but Hollywood seems to have a knack for doing things like that. Surprisingly, there’s still something about his character that I really like. It could be his innocent demeanor or his wicked cool goatee, but I think it’s his personality, which is drastically different from the personalities of everyone else in the show. This is just a prediction, but I have a feeling he’s going to give the second half of season five an interesting twist with his presence.

  1. Will Sasha still be insane?

Although she’s been on The Walking Dead since season three, we still know almost nothing about Sasha Williams (played by actress Sonequa Martin-Green). While her brother Tyreese’s character has been given the chance to grow and develop through various plotlines, it seems like the writers of the show just left her in the dark. They finally gave her some attention by giving her a love interest, Bob Stookey, in season four, which I thought was just plain awkward. Some fans probably enjoyed it, but after Bob’s death in the beginning of season five, Sasha sort of went insane. I can’t be too hard on her, though, since losing a loved one is horribly depressing. However, she basically ended up treating everyone like a jerk, especially her brother, who was giving her a lot of support. She did become a bit nicer after a reconciliation with her brother, but that didn’t stop her from her blunder in the seventh episode of the season. She let her guard down around a police officer from Grady Memorial Hospital and ended up with a face full of glass due to her foolishly optimistic new view of life. I wonder how Bob’s death will continue to affect her in the second half of season five.

  1. Will there be a new villain on the show?

When the midseason finale drew to close, The Walking Dead didn’t have a meddlesome “villain” who could potentially bring disaster upon our favorite characters in the future. In my eyes, the show has had five major villains: Shane Walsh (seasons one and two), the Governor (seasons three and four), Joe (season four), Gareth (seasons four and five), and Dawn Lerner (season five). In the beginnings of season five, I had hoped that Gareth the crazy cannibal would become the season’s leading antagonist. That hope was crushed when Rick violently killed with a machete, which was honestly a little disgusting. After his demise, Beth met Officer Dawn Lerner at Grady Memorial Hospital. Although I thought she was a bit of a psychopathic control freak, her character, like Gabriel, was something unique that the show hadn’t seen previously. She also died, however, after killing longtimer Beth Greene as the midseason finale dramatically came to a close. What kind of villain will enter the show next, and when?

  1. How will Beth’s death affect the group?

The very last scene of the midseason finale featured some dramatic music as the entire cast reunited outside of the hospital. It wasn’t a happy moment, though. I think it’s the most depressing part of season five so far. Maggie Greene, Beth’s half-sister, was separated from Beth back in the midseason finale of season four. Although Maggie had never acknowledged the fact that Beth had disappeared until the midseason finale of season five (thanks to the writers, who seemingly forgot about that whole side of the story), it was still heartbreaking to see her break down crying when she saw Daryl carrying Beth’s body out of the hospital. This was especially hard to watch since she had been told that Beth was alive earlier in the episode and was expecting to reunite with her after their time apart. The preview for the second half of season five included a clip of Maggie sitting by herself crying, so I think it’s safe to predict that she’ll be an emotional train wreck all the way into season six. She won’t be alone, however, since everyone else in the group of survivors seemed to be devastated as well. Daryl was especially affected since he and Beth had formed a strong friendship back in season four, so he might be a little bitter and depressed for a while. Beth’s death will definitely cast a dark shadow over the second half of season five since, especially since many fans saw her as a symbol of hope and goodness.

  1. Where is this show going?

I’m honestly having some serious doubts about this show and have been for quite some time. Don’t get me wrong; I love The Walking Dead, but in a way the plot seems utterly pointless. Are the characters just going to keep traveling around Georgia, meeting new characters and dying periodically? Honestly, that’s how the show has felt to me so far. I’m afraid the writers are going to cap the show off with some cliché ending where the characters are living somewhat peaceful lives in a safe haven that is surrounded by a world that is still imperfect and dangerous but beautiful in some artsy way that will emphasized substantially. I think an ending like that just seems predictable and unfulfilling. Will the apocalypse ever end? The show seemed to be heading in that direction since Eugene came into the show in season four. He had claimed to be a scientist who knew that a cure was in Washington, D.C., but that proved to be a hoax in the biggest plot twist of season five. As of now, the show has no plot other than surviving and moving from place to place. I really love this show, but part of me is afraid it might be going nowhere.

What did you think of season five? I hoped you liked it and enjoyed this article! Now all we can do is wait until the show returns on February 8—with some thrilling new surprises.