It went the way it had to. The way it was always going to.
Someone is digging what appears to be a grave. A picture of a house. Maggie crying by the side of the road. Noah cries on the ground. We hear Gabriel giving a eulogy. We see the gang running down a street in Atlanta looking for cars to use. Photographs of twin boys. The prison. Noah talks to Rick about how Beth was going to go with him to Richmond. A shot of abandoned Woodbury. Rick talks to the group about taking Noah to Richmond. Glenn asks what they will do if Noah's neighborhood in Richmond isn't safe anymore. Michonne says they will keep looking for someplace that is safe. We see the group on the road drive past a sign reading South Carolina. We see Mika and Lizzie covered in blood smiling. Mika says, "It's better now." Blood drips on the picture of the house from the beginning of the episode.
Rick asks Noah how far out to their destination. Five miles. Rick uses the walkie talkie to tell Carol. Rick's group (Rick, Michonne, Noah, Tyreese, and Glenn) is going ahead. If they don't come back by a certain time Carol and her group will go looking for them. Noah tells Tyreese that his plan to trade the cops for Beth was a good plan. He tells him it worked but, "Just something else happened after." Which is true. Maybe if Beth hadn't tried to stab Dawn she would still be alive, Tyreese responds, "It went the way it had to. The way it was always going to." Tyreese tells Noah about how his dad you used to tell him it was his duty as a citizen of the world to know what is going on around the world. They listened to the news to face it. Paying the high cost of living is what his dad called it. Noah tells him he still has a mom and a couple of twin brothers (the photographs from the beginning). As they get closer to their destination Rick tells Tyreese to pull over. They will go on foot through the woods. Noah tells them they don't need to but Rick wants to be cautious.
They park by some wrecked cars. A zombie bangs on the windows from inside one of the cars. They pass by a skeleton in the woods. They see barbed wires all over the trees in the woods. Michonne asks Noah if his people did it. He said they always wanted to, so they must have put it up. Rick ask if they have spotters or snipers. Noah says that they built a perch on a truck that is sometimes in the front. Glenn looks around and says there is no spotter today. Noah bangs on the doors to his community but no one comes to open it. Glenn climbs up the wall to look over and his expression says everything. He shakes his head no. Noah climbs over the wall. The houses are burnt. Burnt corpses lie on the lawns. A zombie makes its way towards them. Noah falls to the ground crying. The settlement is abandoned. Tyreese tells Noah it is alright. He is part of their group now. Rick tells Noah he is sorry. Rick wants to scavenge for supplies. Michonne goes off to kill the zombies coming towards them. Rick talks to Carol over the walkie and tells her it's gone. Tyreese stays with Noah will the other three go do a sweep.
Rick tells Glenn that Dawn didn't mean to shoot Beth. He could see it on her face. But he wanted to kill her anyway. They came to Richmond for Beth because she wanted Noah to get home. It could have been a place for them too. Glenn tells Rick “I was thinking about that guy in the storage container, back in Terminus,” he says. “How I made it stop.” Things were okay after losing the prison because he got Maggie back. Losing Washington and losing Beth he wouldn't make them stop. "We'd run right by." And he would have shot Dawn whether it was right or wrong. Michonne interrupts him and says that they need to stop. "You can be out here too long."
Tyreese tells Noah how he stepped into a crowd of zombies to fight them until they took him because he was angry about all he had lost. But he survived and was able to be there for Judith later on and save her. That would not have happened if he had just given up. He chose to live. He tells Noah this isn't the end. Noah stands up and runs away from him. Tyreese follows. Noah runs up to his house. Tyreese says he doesn't want to go in there but Noah says he needs to see it. Tyreese agrees and says he will go first. Tyreese pounds on the house and waits. Then he goes in. We see Noah's mother on the ground, her head is bashed in. Noah covers her body with a blanket. He whispers to her that he tried to get back sooner. Tyreese hears zombie sounds coming from behind a closed door. As he walks toward it he finds one of Noah's brothers dead on his bed. He looks at the photographs of the twins on the wall. The zombie twin sneaks up behind Tyreese and bites him on the arm. Tyreese kicks him away and Noah kills his brother with a model airplane. Noah tells Tyreese to hand on and he will get the others. Tyreese is losing a lot of blood.
We can hear radio noises. A man with a British accent (Andrew Lincoln) is giving the news. Sixty-eight citizens of the republic have died in four deadly attacks. Those responsible are making their way unfettered across the republic. Tyreese shakes as he covers his wound. Martin appears and tells him that he tried to warn Tyreese. Tyreese is the kind of man that saves babies. Does he think that Gareth and his group would have followed them if Tyreese would have just shot him or cut him up like Sasha eventually did in the church? Maybe Bob wouldn't be dead and maybe Beth would still be alive. Bob appears and says it is bulls#$%@. Things happened they way they were supposed to, just like this. The man's voice can be heard again over the radio relating how the violent attacks continue. Martin says that if Tyreese hadn't lied maybe the bill would have been paid. "The bill has to be paid." says the Governor. "You have to earn your keep." He asks Tyreese if he remembers that he told the Guv that he would do his part to earn his keep. Zombie sounds and radio static are heard. We then see Lizzie and Mika again. They are covered in blood. They tell Tyreese it is better now. The Guv says it is not better now and as he approaches Tyreese he turns into a zombie. Tyreese struggles to fight off the zombie. He puts his already bitten arm in front of the zombie and as it bites him he bashes it in the head with a rock. The zombies blood drips on the picture of the house (the same image from the episodes opening).
Michonne suggests to Rick and Glenn that they use some garage doors to close up the break until they can get them back up. Rick says there are no sight lines because they are surrounded by forest. That is probably why they were attacked. Michonne says they could cut down the trees and use them to build the wall up. She leads them to the break in the wall. They find the bottom half of several bodies on the ground. Just the bottoms and some tire tracks. The walls are crumbling as is Michonne's dream of staying there. Glenn says it doesn't matter. Whether Rick, Glenn, or Daryl had shot Dawn. It doesn't matter. Michonne wants to go to Washington now. Eugene may have lied about the cure but Eugene did the math and figured out it was the most likely place to survive. There may be people there. They are close. It could be a chance. "Instead of just being here. Instead of just making it. . . Don't you want one more day with a chance?" Rick says they should go to Washington. Noah screams for help. He is trapped by two zombies. They kill the zombies. Noah tells them Tyreese has been bitten at his house.
Radio static. We see Beth playing a guitar and singing. Images of the prison and Woodbury flash by as we hear Judith cry. Beth sings about a struggling man having to move on. She tells Tyreese it is okay. Bob also says it is okay if he doesn't want to be a part of it. Martin tells him being a part of it is being now. He has to open his eyes. Lizzie tells him he doesn't have to. Mika says it is better now. The Guv says he didn't know what he was talking about when he agreed to earn his keep. The Guv made him see it. Tyreese didn't adapt or change. Then he mocks him for forgiving Carol. This is all there is. Tyreese struggles to stand up. He tells the Guv he didn't know who he was talking to when he said he would earn his keep. "But I know who I am. I know what happened and what is going on. I know." Everything that the Governor was is dead and it's not over. He forgave Carol because it is not over." He didn't turn away. He kept listening to the news so he could do what he needed to do to help. "I'm not giving up. People like me, they can live. Ain't nobody got to die today." The Governor pushes him to the ground. Lizzie and Mika take his hand and pull on it. Then we see Rick pulling his hand and Michonne cuts off his arm.
We see Rick and Glenn helping Tyreese down the street towards the gate. This image is juxtaposed with the earlier shot of Rick and the group looking for cars. They break the chain on the doors and zombies come towards them. They put Tyreese on the ground as they fight off the zombies. As they carry him back towards the car we get flashbacks of scenes from Tyreese's life. His real conversation with Martin in the cabin, the house where Lizzie killed Mika, Sasha killing Martin, Rick beating up Tyreese, and the Governor telling Tyreese he has to pay the bill. They ignore any zombies that come towards them. rick tells Tyreese to hold on. Beth sings as they carry him to the car. Rick calls Carol on the walkie and tells her to keep Sasha and Carl away from this. They bump into one of the cars in the wreck and all of the torsos from those bodies they found earlier come tumbling out. They have X carved into their foreheads. The voice on the radio says there are reports of cannibalism. Tyreese tells them to turn it off. Bob asks if he is sure. Beth tells him it is okay. Lizzie and Mika says it is not just okay, it is better now. They all smile at him. Tyreese leans his head against the window and dies. Outside the sun is shining.
A dead Tyreese is place in the grave that we saw being dug in the beginning of the episode. Gabriel gives his eulogy. Everyone from the group takes a turn putting some dirt over his body. Sasha looks like she is in shock. Rick finishes covering the grave.
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| R.I.P. Tyreese Williams |
Final Thoughts
- I was actually surprised that Tyreese lived this long. I figured he would die soon. It all started with his encounter with Martin from Terminus earlier this season. Martin had a point when he said that those who can't kill don't last very long. Tyreese was really lucky that he survived as long as he did since he lost his ability to kill. He also seemed to become the moral compass for the group and on this show that equals death. See Dale and Hershel.
- Tyreese spent this episode listening to ghosts telling him that he had to pay for his crimes or that everything was meant to be and it was okay. He needed to choose. Should he live or die? For a while there I thought he would live. As soon as he said he wanted the radio to be turned off you knew he chose death. He no longer wanted to be a citizen of this world.
- I like the way this episode was shot with the crosscutting of images at the beginning to foreshadow events that would occur throughout the episode. I also like the filters they used to give it the look and feel of a dream.
- The song Beth sings is "Struggling Man" by Jimmy Cliff.
Lyrics:
Every man has a right to live
Love is all that we have to give
Together we struggle by your will to survive
Then together we fight just to stay alive
Struggling man has got to move
Struggling man, no time to lose
I'm a struggling man
And I've got to move on
As the sun lights the day and the moon lights the night
Struggling man keeps reaching for the higher heights
So we plan for tomorrow as we live for today
Like a flower we bloom and then later fade away
Struggling man has got to move
Struggling man, no time to lose
I'm a struggling man
And I've got to move on
Struggling man has got to move
Struggling man, no time to lose
I'm a struggling man
And I've got to move on
Struggling man, struggling man
Struggling man, struggling man
Struggling man, struggling man
-Are the xx on the zombie foreheads the same x mark that Morgan is following on the trees?
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