The Walking Dead: No Sanctuary is the season premiere of the 5th season and has Rick and company trying to escape Terminus and its murderous inhabitants. It opens up with a quick flashback showing Gareth from Terminus locked in a train car with others and torturous screams in the background. Alex states to Gareth that it was a mistake to put sanctuary and directions on all those signs because it just led others to them and created this predicament. Gareth responds that they were just being decent human beings but Alex scoffs at that notion as the screams continue in the background. What happened to them back then plays a huge role in their current treatment of Rick and crew, who aren’t huddled hopelessly in the train car but doing their best to create weapons in order to be prepared for the train car door to be opened. A voice commands them to back away from the walls but they’re surprised when the top of the train car is opened and tear gas is tossed inside leaving them all disoriented before the men are marched out. They’re led like cattle to slaughter as they’re lined up to have their throats slit one by one. However, before they can get to Glenn, Bob tries to appeal to Gareth. Bob says this can be fixed and begs for Gareth to spare them. Rick doesn’t feel the same, and when he tells Gareth about all the weapons they left behind he makes a point to tell Gareth those are the weapons he intends to use to kill him. Suddenly an explosion occurs outside followed by gunfire, which puts an end to the slaughtering as they rush to go see what’s occurring. The crew may have originally come to Terminus believing it to be a sanctuary but apparently not everyone has fallen victim to that belief. But will this intrusion give Rick and others the opportunity to escape or will this just lead to an even bigger problem for them?

I couldn’t wait for this episode considering the way last season ended with Rick declaring that they were, uh, messing with the wrong people. It wasn’t just that electrifying declaration that had me excited, I also felt there were some things that were left unanswered that I wanted to see addressed at least, if not partially resolved. And this episode didn’t waste much time going full steam ahead in showing the brutality of the residents of Terminus while hinting at what caused them to change this way. And if you forgot how graphic the Walking Dead could be you would remember in the first 5 minutes even without any walkers being shown. There wouldn’t be a lack of walkers once this episode would cut to Tyreese and Carol walking along railroad tracks with Judith when a walker approaches them. Tyreese doesn’t want to take care of it since he’s not ready to kill again so Carol dispatches it. Carol explains to him that he’ll have to eventually do so again especially considering she has no plans to stay at Terminus once they reach it. This is good advice since they happen to come across the Million Walker March heading towards Terminus and they have to hide temporarily. This sequence of events would lead them to discover that at least Michonne and Carl are being held hostage there and it’s not actually a sanctuary, and so they would jump one of the Terminus residents out on a mission.

♫ This Walker’s On Fire! ♫

This episode wasn’t just filled with action but had some nice story progression too. There was a message shown in the contrast of what changed the residents of Terminus compared to Rick and company now, and despite this being done many times in ways, it did have a different feel to it by the end when everything was revealed. Eugene’s plan would also take center stage at one point giving hope going forward or at least a potential course of action for the crew. Surprisingly, Beth wasn’t brought up so her fate is still up in the air. But there were many resolutions in this episode and so anything could lie ahead for the crew this season, and I’m looking forward to it all.

SUMMARY

The Walking Dead: No Sanctuary is an excellent start to the season with plenty of intense action to satisfy even the most desensitized the Walking Dead fan. From start to finish, every action sequence kept me on the edge of my seat and it never let up. There was plenty of story and character development, although Tyreese shows again why he shouldn’t be anyone’s first choice to watch out for children. However he did serve as a contrast to the damaged mentalities of the residents of Terminus and the justifications for their actions. I don’t know how much of an afterthought Beth will be going forward but she definitely was here. Aside from that, this season is off to an explosive start and that gives me a lot of confidence that this will be a very eventful season.