The Walking Dead Ep. 516, Conquer

The Walking Dead, Season 5, Episode 16: Conquer

TV rating

TV-MA

ZPAA rating

Teens and up

Offensive content

Lots of zombie beheadings and half-headings with a surprising variety of weapons; gory entrails hanging out of a human who was eaten by a zombie; human-on-human violence several times with some gore; betrayal; smoking half a cigarette.

Synopsis & Review

After Rick's "I need to take over because you can't handle reality" speech from last week, the proverbial poop hits the fan. Alexandria leader Deanna plans to have a town meeting about the situation, specifically that Rick had a stolen gun and was pointing it at people. People have a whole day to plot, scheme, and otherwise prepare. Carol eggs on disgruntled husband Pete in an obvious ploy to make him hostile at the meeting. She does some more Lady MacBeth-style conniving, even in Rick's group. Glenn follows someone outside the walls and winds up fighting for his life. Fr. Gabriel goes off the deep end much further than Sasha has been going, which is bad for both of them when she comes to him for help. The town meeting winds up as more of a pro-Rick rally than anything else which I found a bit disappointing.

Meanwhile, Daryl is off hunting for new people to come live in Alexandria. He and Aaron get caught in a trap set by another group of crazy evil survivors, the Wolves. Daryl and Aaron show a lot more community spirit than the people left in Alexandria, surprisingly enough.

This episode is a mixed bag. I felt like the political back and forth in Alexandria over Rick was just plot mechanics designed to put him in charge rather than a natural story line where he wound up in charge. Glenn's battle was more interesting but also a bit unbelievable. Daryl's plot line was the most interesting by far but I worry the new villains are just a rehash of previous villains.

My enthusiasm for the series is waning. I have the summer to decide if I'll bother renting the next season as it comes out or not.