The episode is notable for images that are lucidly expressive of people’s sensory apprehension of their world.
The episode primarily focuses on two separate runs for supply—storylines that exist to create more forks in the narrative road toward the mysterious Negan.
A minute doesn’t pass by during “The Same Boat” where a life isn’t threatened.
The episode plays out during its first half as an elegantly staged prelude to an invasion.
By the end of the episode, it feels as if only Rick’s motley group of survivors has moved closer to a better tomorrow.
The episode is by and large a necessary, if not exactly radical, pressing of the reset button.
It’s almost jarring to now see it follow so closely in the comic book’s narrative footsteps.
In one of the unlikeliest moves of the show’s run, “Start to Finish” completely pushes pathos to the sidelines.
“Heads Up” culminates with no less than three cliffhangers.
The episode pauses the season’s forward momentum to engage in a bit of character shading.
Throughout, the episode seems almost hell-bent on having audiences eavesdrop on either the least necessary or redundant conversations imaginable.
The episode abounds in articulations of the choices people make in this world to stay alive and to stay sane.
Tomorrow, around water coolers the world over, the conversations will be about whether The Walking Dead’s most cherished character is in fact dead.
It should come as no surprise that Rick’s evolution parallels The Walking Dead’s trajectory n its full scope.
The series feels as if it’s half-heartedly leeching off of the style and themes of The Walking Dead.
One of the first things we see in the astonishing and consistently thrilling finale of the show’s fifth season is a rabbit’s foot.
Much like the virus that makes the dead come back to life, there’s no clear, clean way to get rid of society’s ills.
To call “Spend” an emotionally exhausting experience would count as an early qualifier for understatement of 2015.
Rick is seemingly also showing new colors, getting a bit more comfortable with the Alexandria folk and paying especial attention to Jessie.
The episode’s title reflects the caution felt by the show’s heroes in trying to adapt to life before the biters, and, of course, Woodbury.