The Walking Dead Review: “What Happened and What’s Going On” (5×09)

I was aching for an episode featuring the entire group after the break, and must admit I never really latched onto Tyreese. But by the time his inner news radio reached a fever pitch and he told the ghosts to “turn it off”, I was sold.

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for those not caught up on “The Walking Dead”

After a long mid-season hiatus, “The Walking Dead” returned with a beautifully disorienting episode. Its structure and story will likely make it one of the most divisive episodes this season.

In the aftermath of the brutal showdown at Grady Memorial Hospital, the episode opens on our group of survivors at a makeshift funeral mourning their recent loss. Flashes of sobbing and digging are intercut with shots of the group’s past failed home sites.  New recruit Noah informs Rick that the dearly departed songstress Beth Greene wanted to help him get back to his home, a gated community that was fortified when he last left. With the hope of finding a much needed shelter and extra help, Noah leads Rick, Michonne, Carl, Glenn, and Tyreese to scout the location.

The group quickly discovers that the entire neighborhood has been long ago invaded by a sinister force, with only walkers roaming the area now. After happening upon the breached location in the fence surrounded by dismembered body parts, Michonne desperately pleads with the group to find a place to settle down. “This is what making it looks like now!” she says, knowing too well the effects of spending too much time out in the elements. (Side note: why doesn’t Danai Gurira have an Emmy nomination for this role yet?) They need to find a safe haven and fast.

The episode, like much of the season, hammers home the themes of day to day survival. More specifically, what types of people are built to survive in a brutal landscape where death stalks you at every moment. Tyreese is someone perhaps not built to withstand the “kill or be killed” mantra of this new world. In an interesting bit of back-story, we learn his father forced him to listen to news radio, in order to learn about all the atrocities in the world. After being exposed to the evils of war and genocide, Tyreese used the news reports as a way to separate himself from those problems.  But now that he lives in the type of world he always wanted to distance himself from, it has begun to wear him down.

Perhaps that’s why he didn’t notice the young zombie lurking behind him on the trip to Noah’s house. It just took one moment while Noah lamented his dead mother for the walker to attack. It took just one bite for the gentle giant’s fate to be sealed. What followed Tyreese’s walker bite is a dreamlike framing device unlike anything we have seen over the past five seasons.

Director Greg Nicotero is at his absolute best in this episode. As fever takes over, and Tyreese begins to hallucinate, the action switches between disorienting top-down camera angles and fuzzy POV shots.  Spirits of the dead flood his vision as Beth, Bob, Lizzie, Mika, Martin, and even the freaking Governor beckon him towards death.

Now normally, having dead characters reappear is a complete cop out. But this time it works beautifully. Tyreese is able to see a part of himself in each of the characters. The Governor chides him for not understanding the cost of living (“The bill must be paid”), Martin reminds him that he couldn’t kill even when baby Judith’s life was in danger, Lizzie and Mika appeal to the kind father within, and Bob disturbingly recites Tyreese’s line from earlier in the episode: “It went the way it had to, the way it was always going to”. Oh, and Beth sings, obviously.

Chad Coleman is one of the lucky actors on the show to go out with a bang. He has never been better, and gets a gripping monologue to prove it. He refuses to give up his humanity, even in death. His declaration to his ghostly antagonists that “people like me can’t live” is perhaps the truest moment the character has ever seen on the show.   Perhaps this is where giving Tyreese a big goodbye episode falters.

The character has never been handled well from a writing standpoint. He is unevenly constructed and his actions throughout the past seasons often contradict themselves. It’s a shell of the fully realized comic character. Had this sudden and unfair death occurred to a more beloved survivor, I would have been reeling. But I think it’s safe to say most viewers realized the writer’s painted themselves into a corner with Tyreese. We knew the big softy’s time was up sooner rather than later.

Coleman’s performance combined with some beautiful cinematography makes up for the low impact death. Hands down one of the coolest shots in “Walking Dead” history is when the Governor steps into the foreground and projections of the train track to Terminus slide over him. Equally as awesome is when the camera becomes Tyreese’s POV as his friends battle to save him from surrounding walkers. Nicotero also got one final payoff moment when we realize the opening funeral scene was not for Beth but Tyreese. Gut. Punched.

Overall, this was a great episode that dared to experiment with new forms of storytelling for the series. It did feel a little odd being the mid-season premiere. We still didn’t get to check in with most of the characters after the hospital incident. And at least for me, the death was robbed of impact due to previous mishandling of Tyreese. I really appreciated the artistry, but I hope we return to badass Carol and the rest of the gang next week.

Closing Observations

• Thank heavens we have finally left Georgia! This is actually the first episode of the series to take place outside of that state. As the group deliberates heading to DC in search of safe infrastructure, they make a passing mention of Richmond, Virginia. It would be a safe bet that the Alexandria Safe-Zone is the next major location for the survivors.

• The group passes a sign reading “Wolves not far” and the zombie torsos in the crashed car had “W” carved into their foreheads. Is this foreshadowing a new antagonistic group?

• There was definitely foreshadowing of a certain feared comic book villain with that close-up of Glenn holding the baseball bat. The barbed wire surrounding Shiltwire Estates could also signify his appearance. He has to come across the barbed wire somewhere right?

• I really appreciated the fact that Danai Gurira’s monologue was so fierce it attracted nearby walkers.

• Walker Kill of the Week: Rick just barely manages a headshot on a lady-zombie lunging at Noah. Pieces of rotting flesh and blood fly towards the “Tyreese-cam”. Brilliant.