The Walking Dead’s fifth season has been an effective blend of life on the road, tense character drama, and growing pains inside perceived sanctuary. After several hours of building some fantastic tension, ‘Conquer’ closes the season more with a wimper than a bang.

Beginning with Morgan was an effective way to build tension. We had no idea of his mental state since we last saw him and he’s been on Rick’s trail for some time now. Him meeting the new wolves characters was also great, thanks to a suitable tense conversation around the fire. It was a great way to introduce the next major threat for the fall and bring a sinister and foreboding tone right off the top of the hour. Morgan’s skills using the bow-staff were incredible and offered a fight scene unlike anything we’ve ever seen on the show.

Michonne and Rick’s conversation brought the circularity of the season to light, an effective way to show that Rick hasn’t really changed. He’s often pigheaded and a little troublesome but here he was the most wrong he’s ever been. A coup isn’t the answer. Although Carol perceives the residents of Alexandria as children and its hard to argue with her, Glenn questions about whether or not Rick really wanted to kill these people from the start sure seem a lot more grounded in reality. It seems to both Carol and Rick that killing them all was the only option from the start.

Maggie had a few scenes displaying that she has become quite the leader. Her talk with Deanna reminded me of Hershel’s best moments with Rick, and indeed she is taking after her father. She’s still a little too emotional to have full clarity, but hell she’s good at Rick a little more sympathetic even when he doesn’t really deserve to be anything but the bad guy.

The visual motif of the night has to go to Sash lying in the pile of bodies. She feels more comfortable here, to her the dead are less demanding than the living.

Carol’s maternal metaphors didn’t stop as the finale progressed. Her second scene with Rick had her guiding his hand in subtle ways, but showed that she was ready to finally take a back seat. She’s a little too manipulative for her own good, and hell that’s what got her kicked out not even a season ago, but somehow here and now Rick is less able to see it.

HOLY SHIT. Don’t trust Del Arno Cans. The scene with the trap trucks was the highlight of the night. Every moment Aaron and Darryl loomed closer to the latches on the trucks I could feel shivers in my spine. When the trap was triggered and the shit hit the fan. There was this rush of sensation for what these two men are doing, and how close they’ve become over such a short time. All of their scenes owned the night for me.

We had to be treated to a scene of Pete being his one note character self. He got real fired up in what seemed like an unnatural beat for his character. Pete ended up being a one note character played louder and louder each week without much dimension or real pain in his character. A wasted opportunity.

The rest of the episode felt really way too convenient and rushed. We have Morgan finding Darryl and Aaron. Something terribly convenient but ultimately believable thanks to the few visits we paid to Morgan over the season. Elsewhere though, things were a little harder to digest.

Gabriels attempted suicide and eventual mercy at the hands of Sasha would have been alright had Sasha been able to actually make a rational choice and overcome what she had been struggling with. Instead, we got Maggie magically appearing in the scene despite having just been part of the “Tribunal.” I don’t understand how she was able to slip away or why she was needed in the scene at all, but I digress.

Nicholas and Glenn’s showdown was tense and well motivated. I bought the entire fight on principle, although I struggle to see how these two men are allowed to venture outside the walls one after the other without anyone so much as asking a question.

The door being open was nothing more than a deus ex machina that ultimately pushed this finale into an incredibly sloppy few final minutes. Rick being the only one to notice this gigantic oversight was a ridiculous way to prove his point. The fact that it suddenly became nighttime was very unclear didn’t help the matter either, and the tribunal (with Maggie magically missing) interruption with the zombie body that Rick could have got ANYWHERE had everyone ready to listen to his speech. The further interruption of Pete would have been fine – had he not killed Reg. But again, it felt too convenient that he immediately killed Reg just so Rick could kill him. Does this usher in a new era for Alexandria?

And what does it mean for Morgan, a seemingly reformed killer, to see his friend kill an innocent man before his very eyes… Sadly we have to wait until the fall to find out.

That’s it for The Walking Dead Season Five!

Sorry this was late, I was at ECCC all weekend and didn’t catch the finale until this morning. Had to go dark to avoid spoilers.