The Walking Dead – A (Episode 16 Review)

Is Rick still the leader of the group? This question was posed at the beginning of the season, and “A“ has sought to conclusively answer it: he sure as hell is. This season’s finale took another cue from the comic books by incorporating key points from issue #57 into the show, most notably Rick’s teeth-as-a-weapon bit. Overall, the finale felt like one of the best paced and strongest episodes of the season, especially of the latter half. From start to finish, the episode had intensity and emotion as we saw several characters struggle with themselves and against others. Unfortunately, for a The Walking Dead finale, it really didn’t have the impact the finales usually do.

Davi jay – The Walking Dead _ Season 4, Episode 16 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

As Rick, Carl, and Michonne ventured toward Terminus, their night took an unexpected turn as Joe and his group (with Daryl) ambushed them at gunpoint. Joe made it clear that they were to kill Rick and rape both Michonne and Carl before killing them off too. As tensions built, Daryl finally stepped into view and saw what was going on. This point was possibly the weakest of the episode: Daryl offered himself up in place of his friends. The sentiment of his actions is understandable, but how would that have really worked? Self-sacrifice in that manner is illogical and awfully cliché at this point in time. Daryl knows Joe and those men already well enough to know that he can’t “take the place” of someone else they are looking to kill. Regardless, the obviously useless action served its uselessness by provoking Joe to order his men to beat Daryl to death on account of Daryl lying by calling the prisoners “good people”.

And then we saw Rick return to the badass he was always known to be. He begins by trying to headbutt Joe and his gun away from his head, but in doing so also sets off the firearm, which disorients him for a moment. As Joe begins to retaliate, he taunts Rick into standing up, which was the last bad decision he ever made. As Joe attempts to restrain Rick, Rick proceeds to tear out his jugular vein with his teeth. Yeah, that happened, and no words could do that beautiful moment justice. Everyone in the area is stunned for a moment, shocked at what they just witnessed, which allowed our heroes to get the upper hand, as Michonne killed the man holding her at gunpoint with his own gun and Daryl got the advantage against his assailants. Part 2 of Rick’s day of badassery involved brutally and repeatedly stabbing the man (even after death) who had been attempting to rape Carl.

Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) – The Walking Dead _ Season 4, Episode 16 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

The aftermath of these events steered Carl away from his father, having witnessed what horrible things he was willing to do to keep everyone alive. Michonne, being Carl’s new best friend, told the story of the beginning of the end of the world from her perspective and the two shared a moment in mutual self-hatred. Carl’s “I’m just another monster” was upsetting to see, especially in such a young kid. He has been forced to do horrible things and never learned the kinder side of life, leaving him less adept at switching gears in comparison to his dad, who can feed a baby and tear out someone’s throat within 5 seconds of each other.

Alas, the group arrived at Terminus, and it was even creepier than its first appearance. After some greetings and “security checks” on Rick’s group, they were permitted to enter Terminus and were about to be fed. That is until detective Rick noticed some things. The man getting them food looked to have a pocket watch in his pant pocket, one member nearby was wearing riot gear, another Daryl’s old poncho, and another had the bag that Rick had taken from a dead man in the episode Clear in season 3. He acted quickly, smacking the plate away from the man, holding him at gunpoint, and pulling out Hershel’s pocket watch to question where he had gotten it from.

A skirmish ensued as the group ran for safety, hearing cries for help in nearby storage containers and running past human remains (the speculations about Terminus appear to be spot-on). Eventually the group was surrounded and surrendered to a nearby railway cart, which happened to be housing Glenn and the rest of the group he was with. Rick never skipped a beat, seemingly already prepared for a counter-strike on his captives, citing (unfortunately, not verbatim) a line from the comics.

Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs), Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) – The Walking Dead _ Season 4, Episode 16 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

Overall, “A“ (titled after the label on the railway car the characters were forced into) was a powerful and moving episode with much better pacing than has been seen recently. Unfortunately, it seemed more like a strong episode than a season finale. This would have been a fantastic episode to lead into the finale or even just one episode of a season, but after so much buildup, Terminus didn’t really deliver so far. Instead of saving a bit of magic for the end, the writers need to be more consistent. The previous episodes were certainly good, but the payoff for the wait was a little disappointing. Regardless, CrypticRock gives this episode a 4.5 out of 5 stars for some fantastic comic book parallels, meaningful drama, and anticipation of just how Rick will prove that the inhabitants of Terminus truly are “screwing with the wrong people”.