Written by John Edward BetancourtIt was a wild season for The Walking Dead as we saw the Rick Grimes gang be shoved out into the world with no sense of direction or purpose and to top if off the group was still splintered with Beth missing. That storyline alone would lead to two of the most devastating deaths on the show in ages, and also brought this intrepid band of survivors to an oasis filled with hope at last. But will the safety in Alexandria last? We find out in the Season Six Premiere, but before that arrives let's look back at the group's adventures and heartaches from Season Five. Episode One: "No Sanctuary" Immediately following the Season 4 Finale, we pick up with the group still trapped at Terminus, and trouble is already brewing for Rick as Gareth's lackeys pull Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Bob from their train car to slaughter them for food. But it turns out that Carol is near and saves the day, laying waste to Terminus, and helping everyone escape before being reunited and welcomed back into the group by Rick. Episode Two: "Strangers" Back on the road once again the group finds sanctuary in a church after helping out a jittery priest named Father Gabriel. As they catch their breath, Gabriel lets them know of a food supply that Rick and a group bring back to the church. It seems that all is well, but that's far from the case. Carol and Daryl are separated from the group when Daryl discovers Carol trying to leave and then spots a car similar to the one that nabbed Beth, taking Carol with him to pursue it and it turns out Bob was bitten in the food raid before being kidnapped by Gareth and the Terminus survivors. They plan to hunt Rick and his group, and they have already started their hunt by capturing Bob and cutting off and eating his leg. Episode Three: "Four Walls and a Roof" The showdown begins between Gareth and Rick when the Terminus survivors return Bob to the church. As Rick takes a squad to dispose of them at night, Gareth arrives at the church to exact his revenge. But his plans go awry when Rick returns and kills Gareth in brutal fashion. Following the end of Gareth the group is split when Abraham takes some of the group to head to Washington D.C., while the rest stay behind to wait for Daryl. He returns shortly after Abraham leaves, with a mystery person in tow... Episode Four: "Slabtown" Beth awakens to discover that the car she encountered at the mortuary has brought her to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, where she finds a group of survivors, mostly made up of Police Officers and people that owe those officers a debt for being saved. She figures out quickly that this sanctuary is anything but, it is ruled by a tyrant known as Dawn and it seems that no one has ever repaid their debt, meaning she may be trapped here for some time. Especially after her attempted escape with Noah, a man she has befriended there, ends in failure for Beth but success for Noah, and to make matters worse, Beth sees an unconscious Carol being wheeled into the hospital as well. Episode Five: "Self Help" Following an accident on the road to Washington D.C., Abraham's group is doing their best to secure some kind of transportation to head to the nation's capital. But there seems to be complications all along the way, including the demon's from Abraham's past and the fact that in a moment of panic, Eugene reveals he isn't a scientist and knows nothing of a cure, prompting Abraham to beat him senseless. Episode Six: "Consumed" Carol and Daryl arrive in Atlanta at last, and begin to scout for Beth's location. Along the way we learn much about these two, especially their pasts and the hardships they have suffered before being robbed of their weapons by Noah. They eventually figure out that Beth has been taken to Grady Memorial, and they also cross paths with Noah again, saving his life but alerting Dawn's police force. Their attempt to hide leads to Carol being hit by a car, sending her to Grady Memorial with Beth and sending Daryl and Noah back to Rick and the group to arrange a rescue party for Beth. Episode Seven: "Crossed" Rick and a vast majority of the group head to Atlanta to figure out how to bring Beth home. As they formulate a plan, Abraham works to come to terms with everything that has happened, and Beth works to save Carol's life since a show of strength from Beth has nearly doomed her friend, and Father Gabriel escapes the church to get a better look at the world as it is now on his own. Upon arriving in Atlanta, Rick and the gang encounter some of Dawn's crooked cops and capture them, planning to use them as bartering chips. But one of them has ideas of his own, and knocks Sasha out in order to escape. Episode Eight: "Coda" The escaping officer has been dealt with, and Rick and the group have a plan to rescue Beth from Grady Memorial. As they prepare to put their plan into action, Abraham and the D.C. gang return to the church just in time to save Michonne, Carl, Judith and Gabriel from walkers that the good father brought back to the church in his travels, prompting all of them to help Rick in Atlanta. But the mission in Atlanta ends up going more smoothly than expected as the come within seconds of Beth being returned to them. But things go horribly wrong, and Beth is murdered in cold blood by Dawn, prompting Daryl to put Dawn down as well. The episode ends in brutal fashion as Abraham and everyone else arrive at Grady Memorial, just in time for Maggie to see Daryl bringing out the body of her baby sister. Episode Nine: "What Happened and What's Going On" Following the death of Beth, the group decides to help fulfill her last wish and take Noah home to his walled community in Virginia. The road trip however turns out to be a fruitless effort when they discover Noah's community has been decimated and in the process Tyreese is bitten by a walker and has his life flash before his eyes as the others race against time to try and get him care...and fail, burying the second person of their group in several days. Devastated, the group makes a decision to try for Washington, D.C. on the chance that there may be people, supplies and hope waiting for them there. Episode Ten: "Them" On the road to D.C., the group finds that bad has gone to worse as their vehicle breaks down and they are forced to walk on foot without any supplies. Slowly their morale begins to break down and to make matters worse, a gift of water in the middle of the road means someone is following them. Just when it seems that this may be the end of the road for the group as walkers descend on their shelter, a freak storm saves them all and the person who has been watching them...reveals himself. Episode Eleven: "The Distance" The stranger who has been tailing the group, identifies himself as Aaron when he meets Rick and lets the group know that he is from a town known as Alexandria where they have managed to survive the entire crisis to this point and tries to convince them to check the community out for a chance to live there. Rick is of course suspicious, but agrees to travel there on his own terms, leading to near disaster when he chooses his own route to take to the city. But it turns out that Aaron didn't lie and Alexandria is real and the group enters the city. Episode Twelve: "Remember" The group meets the leader of Alexandria, a former United States Senator named Deanna so she can learn more about their experiences out in the world of the dead before they are given a pair of homes to live in and finally get a chance to catch their breath. But their past experiences leave the group on edge, they don't know if they can trust these people and that only gets worse when Tara is nearly killed on a supply run thanks to the careless attitudes of the men in charge of the supply run. It leads to Rick realizing these people have never dealt with the harsh realities of the apocalypse and that it will be up to Rick and his people to either teach them...or rule over them. Episode Thirteen: "Forget" Now settled in, the group quickly discovers that they are having major trouble acclimating to some semblance of civilization after spending so much time out in the horrors of the world since Rick, Daryl and Carol continue to discuss being ready to seize the city in secret and during their meetings, they discover walkers with the letter "W" carved into their foreheads. But none the less they try their best, showing up a party thrown in their honor and all of them continue to take jobs in the community in an attempt to get back to a sense of normality. Episode Fourteen: "Spend" As life in Alexandria continues on, the group begins to not only settle into their new roles in the community, they actually manage to take charge. One by one they are quickly recognized as the best in their fields, especially after Abraham saves the construction crew from a walker attack. But while they look like heroes, trouble is brewing when Glenn and a group go out to get parts for the city's power grid, and cowardice and carelessness costs Noah and Deanna's son their lives and to make matters worse, Father Gabriel warns Deanna that Rick and the group are not what they seem. Episode Fifteen: "Try" The tension in Alexandria continues to build as Deanna investigates what happened to her son, only to get two different stories from the parties involved. But as she mourns, more trouble is brewing for Aaron and Daryl are finding more corpses with the mysterious "W" carved into their foreheads and Rick has discovered that Pete is beating his wife, Jesse. Rick's attempt to protect her backfires when he and Pete come to blows, their fight spilling out into the street and the fury inside Rick is exposed to the people of Alexandria as he scolds them all for being weak before Michonne knocks him out. Episode Sixteen: "Conquer" Deanna has decided that following the incident between Rick and Pete that the town needs to discuss what is to be done with Rick. As the debate begins, a bigger threat exposes itself to Aaron and Daryl as they track a potential addition to the city and stumble across a trap set by the people carving the letter "W" in walker's foreheads. They are known as the Wolves and thankfully Morgan is there to save both men, but not before the Wolves get pictures of Alexandria. Meanwhile Rick's fate is essentially decided when he takes down a pair of walkers that snuck into the city and gives an impassioned speech to the people as to how good they have had it and how dangerous this world has become. As if on queue, Pete arrives shortly after Rick's speech is concluded and in a drunken stupor kills Deanna's husband. It is enough to send Deanna over the edge and she has Rick execute Pete, at the exact moment that Morgan, Daryl and Aaron arrive.
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