The Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 14 "Spend"

This is the beginning.

Father Gabriel walks into the makeshift church in Alexandria. He puts a piece of plastic in a Bible. He looks over and sees a basket of strawberries left by someone named Rosemary. He walks back to the Bible and starts ripping pages out.

Daryl is on his new motorcycle. He heads out with Aaron. Noah and Reg meet at a gazebo. Noah called this meeting. Noah wants to start meeting in the mornings so Reg can start teaching him how to build things. He wants to make sure the walls stay up. He wants to know what Reg knows so he can take care of Alexandria until he gets old. Reg pulls out a journal and tells Noah he writes everything of note down. He rips out a few pages and hands it to Noah. He tells Noah there will be a lot to remember. "This is the beginning of this place." Noah should record that and everything Reg is going to teach him. Eugene is with the patrol group. Noah offers him a gun but Eugene rejects it. He doesn't want to go with them but Aidan says he has to because he knows what they are looking for and he doesn't want to come back with the wrong thing. Noah hands him the gun. Tara asks Noah about some girl Holly he was talking to. Is this Holly a possible new love interest for Tara? Or Noah? Maggie and Glenn kiss goodbye. Reg says the power grid was a prototype and is surprised it lasted this long. Glenn says they will be back with what's needed. Deanna thanks him. Aidan puts on a mixed CD of very loud dance music.

Rick walks by Jessie's garage. He sees her cleaning up her sculpture. Someone destroyed it. Rick asks if she has any enemies or if she knows of anyone who hates owls. He will look into it and ask around. He tells her about the broken window theory. "You keep the windows intact. You keep society intact."
She says it was just an owl and he replies he has to do something today.

When the patrol groups arrives at their destination Glenn wants to find out where all of the exits are in case something goes wrong. Nicholas says he plans on going out the front. Tara tells Noah to look out because of an approaching zombie. Noah shoots it in the head. Aiden is impressed with Noah's aim. Then Aiden says they should do a perimeter check just like Glenn suggested. Tara and Eugene walk together. Eugene tells Tara he is not combat ready and protests about being there. She tells him he needs to pull his own weight and he says he already pulled his own weight. He got them to DC. Tara counters that he didn't get them there the group got him to DC. He tells her that without him none of them would be there because they would not have thought of going to DC. She asks him if he is really that much of a coward. As Glenn and Noah walk around the building towards the front they see a large group of zombies milling around. They will not be going out the front. At the entry point Glenn bangs on the door and makes Aiden wait a bit to see if any zombies come. They enter carefully with flashlights. A metal cage rattles and zombies can be heard. Glenn thinks the zombies must be stuck behind something or they would be attacking them already. They find the zombies behind a chainlink fence. Aiden says that Glenn knows his stuff. Tara and Eugene start inspecting boxes. Eugene find the one that has what they need.  A zombie in riot gear walks up behind Aiden. He starts to shoot it but because it has armor the bullets don't do anything. Glenn tells Aiden to stop shooting because he notices the zombie has grenades on its vest. Aiden doesn't listen and shoots the zombie it blows up.

Glenn gets up from the explosion. He looks around for everyone. Aiden is pinned to the wall. Nicholas says he is dead. The zombies behind the cage are now loose. Eugene is okay but Tara has been injured. Eugene keeps saying that there is a walker and Glenn tells him to kill it. Another walker attacks him and Glenn kills it. Noah comes up and kills another zombie. Glenn tells Noah and Eugene to go to the office. He will get Tara and take her there.


Carol walks down the stairs in her house and opens up the hall closet. She finds Sam hiding there. She asks him what he is doing there. He tells her he didn't say anything about the guns and asks her if she has anymore cookies. She says no and tries to kick him out. She doesn't care about his problems. He asks her to make more cookies. She says no. Then he asks if she could teach him to make the cookies. She says if he wants the cookies he is going to have to steal the chocolate for them and bring her an extra bar.

Tara has serious head trauma. One of the first aid kits was in Aiden's bag and the other is in the van. Eugene says they need to get her out now. Aiden can be heard yelling, "Help! Somebody!" Nicholas thought he was dead. Glenn says it will take three of them to get him. Nicholas wants to leave him behind. Eugene tells them to go save him because that is was Tara would do. He will stay with Tara and keep her safe. Glenn orders Nicholas to fire a flare in one direction while they head in the other and fight off the zombies.

Abraham is outside working with a construction crew. They are gathering materials to build more walls. His heart starts to beat rapidly and he takes deep breaths. A woman screams that there are roamers and everyone grabs their guns and starts shooting them. The woman falls in front of the zombies and one of the men orders everyone back. Abraham runs up and asks, "What about Francine?" The others run back but Abraham runs towards her and gets her into a safe location. He turns to the zombies approaching with a smile on his face. He and Francine start shooting the zombies. Abraham kills zombies with a smile on his face. The others start to shoot at the zombies to keep him alive.

Pete (Jessie's husband) comes over to Rick's house bringing beer. Rick declines the offer. He says he saw Rick at Deanna's party. Rick says no one saw or heard anything about the owl. Pete says he is sorry Rick lost his wife. Pete says they have lost things other things they are fighting like hell to hold onto. Rick says he sees that. Pete tells Rick to bring in his kids for a check up. Pete tells Rick that they should be friends (he says this in a super creepy way like when he was on the porch that first night). They kind of have to be friends. Rick agrees. Rick looks down at his wedding ring.

Eugene talks to an unconscious Tara. He says he takes no responsibility for this she knows what he is. "You should have listened. All of you should have listened." He peeks out the door looking terrified. We see he is carrying Tara. A walker approaches him and he shoots it. He shoots at zombies as he makes his way to the door. Glenn and the others get to Aiden. Glenn tells him everything will be okay and to stay quiet. They try to pull him out and he screams. Glenn needs Nicholas to help. The flare is burning out and soon the zombies will be there. Aiden says, "Nick don't leave me." Noah shoots at zombie as they try to pull him out but he is stuck. Nick whispers to Aiden, "You left them. We both did. That's who we are. I'm sorry." Nicholas leaves and Glenn tries to pull Aiden free. Aiden tells Glenn, "It was us. The others before. They didn't panic we did. It was us." Aiden tells Glenn to leave. The zombies approach and eat Aiden alive. I was surprised that neither Glenn nor Noah shot him in the head so he wouldn't have to suffer. Maybe they didn't have the time.

Abraham gets mad at one of the men. He asks if they just leave people behind to die. The man says they have a system. Then Francine punches him. Way to go Francine. I hope she becomes a bigger part on the show. One of the men wants to leave in case more zombies come. Abraham says screw that and asks if Francine is still good. She says they still have a few hours of daylight left. Abraham takes charge. He assigns some look outs. "We have a wall to build."

Glenn and Noah catch up with Nicholas. They get surrounded by zombies. They all get into the revolving door at the entrance of the building. They are now stuck in there surrounded by zombies on all sides.

Back in Alexandria the leader of the construction crew, Tobin, is telling Deanna, Reg, and Maggie what happened with Abraham. Abraham saved Francine's life. Reg says that make Abraham a hero not necessarily qualified to lead a construction crew. The man says they are all still out there and Abraham is leading them. Better than he ever could. Deanna says that settles it. When Abraham gets back they will make it official. Tobin says Deanna won't regret it. Maggie says that Tobin is right. Abraham is more than qualified. Deanna tells Maggie that she has put another person from her gang in charge and Maggie has vouched for them. It is becoming a pattern. Of course it is becoming a pattern. Rick and his gang are all qualified to lead and survive in this world. Her people are not. Maggie says, "We know what we are doing. That is why you wanted us here. . . You wanted a future. You need us for that." Deanna agrees. Maggie goes down to finish some plans.

Sam shows up at Carol's house with the chocolate he stole. She tells him that when the cookies are done he is to leave and never come back. She tells him he did half the work so he only gets half of the cookies. She sounds angry and annoyed with him. He asks her if she was always a good cook. She tells him they are not talking. He asks her if she liked cooking before. He tells her they don't have to be friends but they don't have to be quiet. She tells him she liked cooking because it distracted her when she got sad. He tells her when he gets sad he breaks things. She asks what kind of stuff and he just shrugs. She asks him if he broke his owl statue. She asks why. "Why are you here?" He asks her why she stole the guns. She says, "Sometimes you need to protect yourself." He asks if he can have a gun. It's not for him. Carol asks him twice who he wants the gun for and he runs out of the house.

Nicholas suggests that Glenn and Noah shoot their way out since they have the guns. Glenn points out that Nicholas has the ammo. Noah says there has to be a way. Glenn looks like he is trying really hard to think of a plan. A car horn honks. Eugene drives up with the techno mix playing loudly. He bangs on the van door and tells the zombies to come get him. Many of the zombies leave. Glenn tells Nicholas and Noah to keep the doors steady because he is going to break the glass. "We get out. We push out. We get the rifle we're good." Glenn bans on the glass. Nicholas says it won't work. Glenn tells Nicholas to trust him it will work. Nicholas pushes on the door and makes his way out.  The door by Glenn and Noah opens and the zombies grab Noah's leg and start to pull him out. Noah tells Glenn, "Don't let go." He looks terrified. Glenn tries to hold onto him but the zombies pull Noah out. The door closes behind Noah. Glenn watches as the zombies eat Noah. Glenn looks traumatized. He shakes.

Eugene drives slowly and Nicholas runs up to him and tells him to move over because they are leaving. Nicholas tells him he either goes back to Alexandria with him or he stays and dies with his friends. Eugene reaches for his gun and he and Nicholas fight over it. Nicholas knocks Eugene to the ground and gets in the van. At that moment Glenn runs up and pulls Nicholas out of the van and onto the floor. Then he starts punching Nicholas until Nicholas is knocked out. Glenn tells Eugene to help him get Nicholas in the back of the van. Eugene asks where Noah is and Glenn just looks at him with a face that says it all.

Carol knocks on Jessie's door. Pete answers. She asks if Sam is okay. Pete asks why wouldn't Sam be okay? She then asks to talk to Jessie but he tells her now is not a good time.

The car ride back to Alexandria Eugene looks sadly at an injured Tara, We see that on the first page of Noah's journal he has written, "This the beginning."

Gabriel wants to speak to Deanna privately. He tells her that Satan disguises himself as the angel of light. He tells her Satan is here. He is grateful to be there but she made a mistake letting in the others. "Rick and his group they're not good people. They've done things. They've done unspeakable things."  Deanna tells Gabriel that Rick told her they have done things to survive. Gabriel says they cannot be trusted. They are dangerous. "The day will come when they will put their lives before yours and everyone else's and they will destroy everything you have here." Gabriel says that Satan disguises himself as the servant of light and Rick and his group don't deserve this. Deanna thanks him. Maggie overheard the entire conversation. The van is heard outside and Glenn yells that he needs help.

We see Rick looking down on his wedding ring. Carol walks in and tells him that Pete is hitting Jessie. Maybe Sam too. Rick asks Carol if Sam told her. She says he didn't have to. Carol tells Rick she knows how this will go with Pete. She tells him he is going to have to kill Pete.

R.I.P. Noah

Final Thoughts
- Noah's death reminded me of Dale's death. It was sad and horrifying. I am sad to see Noah go. I thought he would stay. I think this death is going to affect Glenn the most. He was responsible for Noah. It also seemed like he and Maggie were adopting Noah in a way.
- I feel that the phrase "This is the Beginning" not only refers to Noah's view of Alexandria but as a reference to the end of Alexandria as its citizens know it. When Rick and his group show up somewhere they destroy it (see Hershel's farm and Woodbury).
- Can someone take out Father Gabriel? After all Rick and his group did to help him and he is selling them out?! He let his whole congregation get eaten by zombies! He is not innocent. Everyone who has survived this long in the zombieocalypse has done something terrible to survive.
- I don't like that the rule in Alexandria is that when zombies come it's everyone for themselves.