AMC’s The Walking Dead
Season 5, Episode 7: “Crossed”
Directed by Billy Gierhart
Written by Seth Hoffman

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “Consumed” – click here
* For a recap & review of the mid-season finale, “Coda” – click here
Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green), Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman), and Daryl (Norman Reedus) are doing work. She continues to grieve harshly over Bob, taking out frustration on wood she’s splitting. They’re setting up defences outside Father Gabriel’s (Seth Gilliam) church.
Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) are discussing who owes Carol (Melissa McBride) more, plus the plan for heading to Atlanta. The sheriff says goodbye to little Judith and Carl (Chandler Riggs) before heading off, leaving Michonne to look after them. Gabriel can’t stop blaming himself for what he did to his congregation, fruitlessly rubbing at the stained blood on his church’s floor. On the road, Sasha keeps grappling with Bob’s brutal death. She gets comfort from her brother, who’s “been there.”

Elsewhere, Glenn (Steven Yeun) and the others contemplate their next move. Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) is near catatonic due to what he did to Eugene (Josh McDermitt) following the tragic revelation. Tara (Alanna Masterson) wracks her brain while Maggie (Lauren Cohan) watches over a comatose Eugene. Rosita (Christian Serratos) doesn’t dig her man’s childish behaviour. He just about goes into a rage on her, prompting Maggie to draw her gun: “Sit down or I‘ll put you down.” He goes back to his knees in the road.
In the city, Rick and the others start to make their plan to infiltrate the hospital, using Noah (Tyler James Williams) to hopefully let them get in without much commotion. They run through “best case” / “worst case” scenarios, should things go wrong. Tyreese worries about a gunfight, suggesting they capture a couple people to make a trade. Sheriff Grimes wants to go in his way, but Daryl thinks Tyreese has the better plan— the one that minimises death.

At the hospital, Carol is being taken off the machines helping her because Dawn (Christine Woods) and her cops want to conserve energy. Beth tries her best to help Carol, and it only backfires. Dawn does start to see Beth isn’t weak. That doesn’t translate to anything getting better for our girl. She at least has Edwards (Erik Jensen), to whom she goes with the key she was given by Dawn for the drugs. She finds out what she can from him to hopefully help Carol.

Maggie waits at the firetruck keeping Eugene comfortable, chastising Abraham for his selfishness. She manages to get through to him eventually. Abe picks up a bottle of water she offers. In the woods, Rosita, Glenn, and Tara search for clean water— they end up using a technique Eugene taught Rosita, to help filter water to boil. They get to know one another better. Rosita talks about how she and Abraham wound up together. They also see fish breaching the water, too. Something to eat, once they fashion themselves a net out of jacket liners. There’s hope yet.

“It’s never going to get
any better than this”

Noah helps his new pals lure a couple cops. Now they’ve got hostages. A car comes in hot to rescue them. A brief gunfight ensues, and they’re able to shoot out the car’s tires. They have to chase the cops on foot past an obliterated zone full of walkers burned to fleshy puddles. Daryl looks in a destroyed camper marked FEMA when he’s jumped by a cop. He’s pinned to the ground about to be fed to a chomping walker. He gets hold of a zombie head, rips it off, and uses it to clobber the cop off him. Rick arrives and Daryl has to convince him not to gun the guy down, using him as a third hostage.

At the hospital, Beth causes a distraction to get drugs for Carol. She injects her friend and holds her hand. She hopes this will save Carol, rather than having to watch another person to whom she’s gotten close die. Back at the church, Gabriel has pried up the floorboards and escaped. First thing he does? Step on a fucking nail. He can’t seem to manage this new existence. Nevertheless, he keeps going. He hasn’t been out there on his own since the fall of society. He can’t properly defend himself, unable to smash a walker’s head when he sees her wearing a crucifix.

One of the cops— Bob Lamson (Maximiliano Hernandez)— knows Dawn well. He also claims to want “peaceful resolution.” He’ll try to work with Rick’s people, so that nobody’s killed. After Rick and others head for the hospital, Sasha lets her guard down while watching over Lamson, listening to him talk about his past. He knocks her out against a window, cracking her head, and slips away.
Solid chapter in Season 5. Everything’s getting more intense the closer our survivors get to saving Beth and Carol from that hospital. And it’s been great to see the human side of Abraham, his vulnerability, instead of solely the ass kicker in him.

“Coda” is next time.