After FAR too long of a hiatus, one that left us without our fill of zombies, violence and stunning deaths, The Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 9 opened on a somber note.
Viewers flashed from a funeral (for Beth… right?!?) to blood dropping on a framed portrait of a small home – and to Rick and company deciding to deliver Noah to his family’s place in Richmond, Virginia.
We then saw Mika, sister Lizzie by her side, sweetly saying, “It’s better now.” But to whom? WTH was going on?!?
On the way to Richmond (via station wagon) with Glenn, Rick and Michonne, Noah attempted to make Tyreese feel better about Beth’s death. He told him he made the proper call in suggestion a trade with Dawn.
Noah also said he had a mother and twin brothers waiting for him.
Or at least he hopes he does.
In response, Tyreese talked about the way his dad had forced him listen to the news on the radio, no matter how distressing the stories. Facing those harsh truths was just “paying the high cost of living,” he father used to say.
Then, approximately two miles from the group’s destination, they pulled over, parked amid some destroyed vehicles and began walking the rest of the way through the woods. Because "just in case," Rick explained.
And he had cause for concern: Shirewilt Estates was no longer the safe haven Noah recalled. It was filled with walkers and bodies. Noah was in tears, Michonne lost all hope and Rich debated with Glenn whether or not it mattered that Dawn had been killed.
We need some place to stop, Michonne argued.
But Noah first got away and apologized to the corpse of his mother. Tyreese, meanwhile, got bitten by a turned sibling.
After Noah killed his brother, Tyreese began to see visions: of Martin, of Bob, of The Governor… from there, Tyreese was forced to stick his wounded arm in yet another walker’s mouth so as to dispatch the creature.
Michonne, meanwhile, was losing it. She suggested a trip to Washington because Eugene did at least say it offered the best shot at survival. She pleaded with Rick (“Don’t you want one more day with a chance?”) and he agreed.
Before they could leave, however, they ran to try and save Tyreese. But he was so far gone. He imagined Lizzie taking his hand (although it was actually Rick, so that Michonne could hack it off) and then he asked that the radio be turned off in the car. Tyreese was done paying the cost of high living.
Go back and watch The Walking Dead online to realize: that funeral at the beginning was for him.