‘The Walking Dead’ Retro Recap: ‘Conquer’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

When we last settled in to discuss the tail end of season five of the AMC series, The Walking Dead, we talked at length about how the penultimate episode and the finale worked in tandem to explore quite the important question that sometimes crosses our mind. Specifically, how do we enact change in our world when we feel as though no one is interested in doing so, but us. In fact, these episodes go into such great detail on the matter, that the prior story took the time to inform us of the fact that there is a wrong way as to how to go about that, which was important to showcase. All so that we don’t make the same mistakes as Rick Grimes did in that tale, and we can instead… embrace the right way to handle this.
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Which is precisely what the season five finale showcased. For ‘Conquer’ was a time of reflection for Rick Grimes. Since he was aware of his mistake and found great regret in his actions. Because deep down, violence wasn’t what he wanted, he wanted a safe space for his family, and he wanted everyone to thrive and start over and build the right world. Which prompted Rick to head home and be honest with Michonne about all the lies and secrets he had been keeping, as a down payment on that future and he decided he would show at the very meeting that was going to determine his fate, but the universe had other plans on the matter. Largely because a sour grapes Gabriel left the gate unlocked, forcing Rick to hunt for the dead that got in.

Plus, Gabriel really went to some dark places here, as did Sasha, and even Glenn ran into some trouble with a panicked Nicholas and all of those plot threads and worries, brought forth the answer in question. Because eventually, Gabriel and Sasha were shown kindness and understanding by Maggie, and Glenn chose to be the bigger man when he saw what Nicholas really was… and Rick, he fought the dead quietly and brought their corpses to the meeting in question before giving a powerful speech on the dangers of this world and how they need to understand that the world has changed and they have to adapt to its new rules. And all of this informed us… that the way forward in changing hearts and minds, is through understanding, and kindness, and exhibiting empathy and educating others. Because only then do we lower walls and connect with people and change them. 

But of course, while that would have led to a supremely uplifting finale, wherein the heroes started over in a beautiful manner… this is The Walking Dead we are talking about here and there’s always that one idiot that makes the future difficult. Which in this instance was Pete, who broke out and got drunk and stole Michonne’s sword and cut Reg’s throat with it. Which in turn, prompted Pete to die at Rick’s hand. Giving rise to his leadership in this community all while hammering home Rick’s lessons. But as an added bonus, there was more to this ending than that brutal gunshot. For the closing moments of this tale saw Morgan Jones return to Rick’s life, with Aaron and Daryl no less. Reuniting old friends after years and setting the stage for a new danger in season six… the Wolves.

For they popped up in this tale through Morgan and Daryl, and Aaron’s journeys and they caused all kinds of trouble. Since Morgan was forced to knock them out to survive the day and of course, he also had to step in and help Daryl and Aaron escape their little funhouse of the dead. But what’s worse, is that they have all the information they need on Alexandria, and it is only a matter of time before they arrive. But in the meantime, we can celebrate one solid and epic finale. One that did a great job of answering the grand question hanging over the end of this tale, all while entertaining us and terrifying us and well, now that we’ve reached the end of season five, it’s onto the sixth season… and all the pivotal, and intense, and controversial moments it has to offer. Until next time.  

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