The Walking Dead: Season 5 (Blu-ray) – Series Review
After the nonviolent zombie movie Maggie we decide to suit up again to fight off many of the undead hordes that roam around in The Walking Dead. We meet up once again with Rick Grimes and the rest of the survivors, who find themselves in yet another pickle. That being said, with the box art stating: “The new world’s gonna need Rick Grimes”, we knew Rick would pose an even more important role throughout the fifth season.
After hoping to find solace in Terminus, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his followers get united with the group that houses Eugene (Josh McDermitt), the man who seemingly has a plan to rid the world of the zombie virus, and they immediately find themselves in a new predicament. Close after entering Teminus, the safe haven for survivors, it was clear that this wasn’t such a safe place after all. Those who inhabit the encampment immediately lock up those who come to find shelter and slaughter them one at a time, to serve as a food source. It soon turns into a case of kill or be killed but there is hardly any room for a fighting chance, seeing the captors have prepared everything quite well. When Carol (Melissa McBride) appears on the scene, the rest of the group will get their chance to escape.
Of course it was clear from the start that the entire group had to get out of there, as otherwise the fifth season would be a very short one, except if the captors decided to chew on one character per episode. Nonetheless, when they make it out (we’ll keep it a secret if everyone made it or not), their captors still pose a threat for the survival of the group and they will also mark the minds of many of the survivors.
It’s clear that most of the survivors who still roam the earth had to do many awful things in order to survive. They had to go through filth, the guts of many of the living dead and they had to leave friends and family behind and perhaps even kill other people in order to live another day or simply out of precaution. Whilst some of these actions may seem vile and brute, for many it was just a means of getting through another day. These ‘feelings’ will stand in the middle of the fifth season showing how ‘badly’ marked some of the survivors are, as well as how deformed some people’s image of the world has become. Brute actions seem to have become standard for some, whilst (other’s moral compass might not always agree.
Overall the story is still one big storyline, but with many of the characters getting their own moments to shine. In combination with a lot of separate adventures of smaller groups of the cast of survivors, it makes for another rowdy season. Just like in the previous seasons, some characters will disappear and new members will join the ragtag team of survivors. That being said, the story still follows the same steady pace as always and thus there will be a healthy mix of action, drama and suspense to keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time.
Character (d)evolution is an important aspect of the series. Every every small victory feels like a huge battle has been won, whilst every bad action will also mark the characters. Andrew Lincoln plays the part of a man, scarred by everything he had to do so far, perfectly and due to the events in Terminus he has an even more grim look on everything around him. Josh McDermitt starts blossoming slowly into a functional human being, albeit still in his very ‘stiff’ self. The rest of the cast puts down superb performances, even the new characters, as well as those who only get mere moments of screen time.
The box set offers a decent amount of extras, such as the making of, or how certain costumes were made. Especially for some of the ‘special’ zombies you’ll see in this season it’s quite fun to see how much effort has been put into making a convincible living dead. Other special features are short sequences about some of the characters, namely those who made their exit during this season. Overall there’s a lot of extra content to explore, if you aren’t fully saturated after watching the sixteen episodes of season 5.
Conclusion
The Walking Dead Season 5 shows us that after five seasons the story is still going strong. Not a single moment is dull and every scene is devised in a proper way, to keep things entertaining. As always the series will grab you by the heart, not only due to metamorphosis of the world but due to the characters we get to see, know and love onscreen. It hurts when they get taken away from us but we also join in celebration when victories are achieved.
The Walking Dead: Season 5 (Blu-ray) - Series Review,
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