AMC’s hit show is taking a step in a violent direction
Caution, spoiler alert! If you have yet to catch up on the latest season of AMC’s The Walking Dead than you are in for a shock- or treat, depending on your lust for gore, blood, and violence.
Season five is easily the most gruesome season to date, and we are only half-way through. This is not surprising, as even actor Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes) warned in an interview with Entertainment Weekly back in September that “brutal is the word for season five.”
He was not lying. The season begins with our beloved fierce crew as captives within the ominous confines of the sketchy compound named Terminus, seemingly be set for slaughter by the cannibalistic gang led by a sinister man named Gareth, who lures the innocent into their layer by promising salvation.
We quickly learn the true motives of the flesh-eating living within the first scene of the first episode, which had left us suspended since last season’s finale. In the scene Rick, Glenn, and other captives are lined up on their knees, waiting to be bled. It’s a scene that shifts slaughterhouse practices under a new light.
This, however, is just a taste (pun intended).
Our crew escapes in an epic battle that contests with any we have seen yet. Yet, even though they get away, the chilling, chilling cry “You’re either the cattle, or the butcher,” from the Terminus man-eaters echo’s into the following episodes.
The horror of Gareth’s gang continues to threaten our apocalyptic heroes into the next episode titled “Strangers,” which, to spare the gory details should be renamed “Bobecue.” Poor Bob.
One thing that is for sure is that fans of the graphic novel are praising the unsettling style of season five. This is especially true with the violent development of Rick Grime’s character. A major criticism expressed by novel fans of the AMC adaptation has been disappointment with a mopey Grimes, who is seemingly unfit to live in an apocalyptic world, let alone- be a leader in one.
Rick’s character is less humanized in the graphic novel, firm and ruthless. In the show Grimes has been depicted as more feeble and much weaker emotionally. That is, until now.
The Terminus cannibals finally meet their violent, bloody demise that imbrues the interior of a sanctified church, at the hands of non-other than a machete wielding Rick Grimes. The scene is anarchy; Rick’s acceptance of his necessary brutality is as brilliant as it is vicious. It seems as though Rick has found his way upon the path of his graphic novel counterpart.
If it is possible, expect the extreme violence to not subside through the remainder of the season. Traction gained from the shows fan base, who are now screaming for more, will most likely mean that any route the plot takes in future seasons is sure to leave a bloody, ruthless trail.