{"id":38469,"date":"2014-10-20T23:25:10","date_gmt":"2014-10-21T03:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=38469"},"modified":"2023-01-08T23:29:54","modified_gmt":"2023-01-09T04:29:54","slug":"the-walking-dead-season-5-episode-2-strangers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/20\/the-walking-dead-season-5-episode-2-strangers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 2: Strangers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>When we last saw Rick Grimes and his group, they were on top of the world and counting their victories over their losses, for once. It took us four seasons, but by god we finally are meeting Rick Grimes from the comic books. He\u2019s cautious, he\u2019s relentless, he knows he can take anything on in this wasteland, and he\u2019s always on his toes. When he meets new character Gabriel Stokes, he is more than happy to converse with him, all the while ordering him to raise his arms as he checks for a concealed weapon. Never change, Rick. And what\u2019s thrilling is that along with Rick, the show\u2019s writers are now taking on one of the more unsettling storylines from the comics.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also glad we know where the group stands with Rick. Abraham is trying to convince everyone that Washington is the best bet for safety and a cure, but no one is willing to follow him unless Rick gives his approval. It\u2019s about time we see loyalty within the band that Rick has rescued time and time again.<\/p>\n

Now that everyone has come out of Terminus fairly in tact, and everyone has to settle in, there are still a ton of unresolved issues that have to be settled or confronted at one point or another. One of the more interesting and apt confrontations involves Rick and Carol getting together to talk it out in the woods. Rick\u2019s response is very reasonable and logical for what\u2019s occurred over the last few months. He sent Carol out of the prison, he left her behind to fend for herself, and she still came back to save their lives. Rick\u2019s request to follow her was also very apt. Let\u2019s face it, Carol isn\u2019t joining up with Rick again, Rick<\/strong> is joining up with Carol<\/strong>. Her allowance that the group can all form together again is the merciful hand that belongs to Carol before she lost Sophia.<\/p>\n

Speaking of before Sophia died, the shot where Daryl emerges from the woods with the squirrels at gun point reminded me a lot of the first time we saw him on the series. Whether intentional or not, it was a great callback to the first time Rick ever met Daryl.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m still very uneasy about Tyreese. He seems to be on a mission for Carol to be punished for what she did to Karen and David, however minute the punishment may be. I\u2019m just not sure why he wants to bring up Karen and David, yet wants to forget Mika and Lizzie. Why are Karen and David\u2019s lives worth talking about and not two little girls, one of whom almost murdered Judith in cold blood? Speaking of mercy, it was quite gratifying to see Maggie just outright forgive Tara for her role in the death of her father. After everything that was said and done, Tara simply was not a murderer, and she was engulfed in the false promises of the governor, which she assumed would help her keep her niece safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cStrangers\u201d is the introduction of the character from the comic books Gabriel Stokes, played by Seth Gilliam. He\u2019s an enigmatic and unusual man who is strictly devout to Christianity, almost to a fault. I think if Hershel were alive, he\u2019d definitely be jumping in to defend father Stokes at every turn. What\u2019s funny about the group\u2019s initial meeting with him is that Stokes has no idea what the group has been through. His joke about luring them in to a trap to steal their squirrels unfortunately digs him in to a hole he has a difficult time getting out of. One of the more recurring themes of the series has been that religion is mostly a shield against the real world, and how it really does nothing but throw a drape over what\u2019s actually occurring on the outside.<\/p>\n

We saw it with Hershel, and now we\u2019re seeing it with Stokes, who not only refuses to kill a walker, but has no idea what dangers have been lurking outside with the cannibals and the psychos with the eye patches. \u201cStrangers\u201d is a great follow up to \u201cNo Sanctuary\u201d not only for its exploration of Stokes, but how closely it veers to the Hunters storyline from the comic books. Like most of the adaptations of storylines from the comics, it\u2019s exactly what we\u2019ve read, but just completely remixed to fit the overall arc. I am saddened to see who ultimately falls by the wayside adding to the roster of the deceased, but it does prove Rick\u2019s point to Carl once and for all. No one is safe. And it only takes a second.<\/p>\n

Lastly, who else was psyched to see Rick get his silver watch back? Just me? Okay, then.<\/p>\n

Until Next Week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we last saw Rick Grimes and his group, they were on top of the world and counting their victories over their losses, for once. It took us four seasons, but by god we finally are meeting Rick Grimes from the comic books. He\u2019s cautious, he\u2019s relentless, he knows he can take anything on in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,17],"tags":[64,477,856,1079,1132,1221],"class_list":["post-38469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-halloween-horror-month","category-tv-tomb","tag-adaptation","tag-horror","tag-robert-kirkman","tag-the-walking-dead","tag-tv-show","tag-zombies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38471,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38469\/revisions\/38471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}