PREVIOUSLY ON . . . THE WALKING DEAD
The Walking Dead, the zombie drama that had a particularly brutal and eventful fifth season, returns for Season 6 on AMC on Sunday (9 p.m.), Consider this your Coles Notes to Season 5: a binge-watching meal replacement that breaks down its highlights and lowlights to give you maximum premiere pleasure. And beware, there are spoilers ahead.
Where We Left Off A season that began with Rick’s entourage locked in a shipping container at the hellhole called Terminus ended at Alexandria: the pristine, fortified subdivision that was not quite as idyllic as it first seemed. They found a clean, too-orderly place where neighbours shared cookie recipes and held dinner parties, a place governed with stern idealism by the wise if naive former politician Deanna. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Carol (Melissa McBride) and others were unsettled by this apparent illusion, not surprising after what they endured on the other side of the wall. But in the closing moments of the season, walkers had breached the gates, a drunken Pete had slashed Reg’s throat with Michonne’s sword, and a distraught Deanna abandoned her commitment to justice and pacifism, ordering Rick to kill Pete.
Best Episode
Episode 8: “Coda”: The mid-season finale was a devastating one. A tense mission to rescue Beth (Emily Kinney) from a hospital/prison/cult in Atlanta culminated in her semiaccidental death. It was the climax in a streak of bad luck for our survivors, with every nugget of hope being demolished. It followed the revelation that Eugene was lying about his top-secret mission to Washington, D.C. And then in Episode 9, a desperate trip to Noah’s hometown ended in the death of Tyreese.
What’s Next?
The big question is: Can Team Rick keep on living in Alexandria? For how long? They have had to flee every previous place they’ve attempted to settle, including a maximum-security prison. So their chances at long-term stability seem slim. Besides, a season of Rick and Carol and Abraham et al. trimming lawns and fixing toilets hardly makes for gripping drama. When the survivors start living, that’s the end of The Walking Dead.
New Characters
Abraham (Michael Cudlitz): The burly, mustachioed military man seemed overly cartoonish at first, but Abraham brings serious muscle to the gang, a testosterone-fuelled replacement for gentle giant Tyreese. Morgan (Lennie James): We first met him in the first season and again in Season 3, when Rick found his friend mourning his wife and son, and losing his sanity in a heavily boobytrapped house. In Season 5, he returns, determined to track down Rick and re-enter what’s left of society. Deanna (Tovah Feldshuh): Every season needs its voice of moral authority and in Season 5 that was Deanna. It will be interesting to see how her position changes after her husband’s murder as she faces her own crisis of faith. The Wolves: Feral psychos who trap people in a food warehouse and allow them to be attacked by walkers. Morgan evaded them and rescued Daryl and Aaron from this fate. Expect to see more of them in Season 6.
Extra Credit If you love The Walking Dead, try . . .
The Road: The book, not the movie. Cormac McCarthy’s slim, postapocalyptic novel is wrenching but impossible to put down. Fear the Walking Dead: The companion series about the start of the zombie apocalypse just finished its first season. It featured less action and fewer zombies, but its characters started coming to grips with the tough choices they’ll face in this new world. Falling Skies: Another just completed series in which Noah Wyle ( ER) is the Rick-like character who leads his ragtag band of survivors in a war against invading aliens. The Strain: Vampires rather than zombies are the enemy here as Dr. Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll) and Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley) and others fight to save humankind.