The fourth season ended on a slightly weaker note than many expected, so there were more than a few people wondering if the stay in Terminus would end up feeling endless.  So much for that problem.  When a show is as popular as The Walking Dead, the writers can afford to do something unconventional with a season finale/premiere combo.  Making the premiere into the kind of wall-to-wall destruction that many wanted is a good way to get the gang back together and ready for the next stage.

 

This episode was all about survival, and what a person is (or isn’t) willing to do in the name of it.  It wasn’t long before the suspicions about the folks at Terminus were confirmed, in a scene that was easily one of the most disturbing yet seen on the show.  Just because Rick, Daryl, and Glenn were likely safe from the chopping block, that didn’t mean Bob was safe as well.  Having even one of Team Grimes in jeopardy made it all the more worrisome.

 

It’s just the latest escalation of the human-on-human violence that has been the key aspect of The Walking Dead since the third season, when the zombie threat was just a means of applying constant pressure to fuel the inhumanity.  Rick has definitely turned a corner, and as with the parallels drawn in “A”, it’s a fine line between doing what is necessary and going way over the line.  And given that we saw the backstory for Terminus, and the events that drove them to collective madness, it’s not hard to see the question lingering in the space above the characters: could Team Grimes be driven to the same excess?

 

Rick’s reception for Carol was indicative of how much things have changed.  When they were safely behind walls (or so it seemed), someone with Carol’s calculated approach to community management was a threat to the peace.  Rick felt he had to put her outside the walls.  Now that their own sanctuary is gone, and no new safe haven has emerged, Carol’s mindset is valued and welcomed.  It wasn’t the fact that Carol helped keep Judith alive, because Rick had no idea that was even a possibility at that point.

 

Equally important to the overall narrative is that Terminus was not the gang that took Beth.  This leaves the very uncomfortable notion that the folks who preyed on Terminus were the ones who took her.  Hopefully this is not the case, but if there’s any chance she’s on the waiting list for rape and murder, that community better look out.  If Rick doesn’t annihilate them, Daryl certainly will.

 

I was wondering if the mixed reaction to the pacing of the fourth season was going to mean a slowdown in the upward ratings march, but I should have known better.  The Walking Dead continues to defy the odds by gaining viewers each and every season premiere.  The show exceeded 17 million viewers for this episode, which is incredible for a cable network series in its fifth season.  With the show already renewed for a sixth season (as if there was doubt), I would expect even more unconventional storytelling as the season marches on.