Hershel is dead but that doesn’t mean he’s gone.   It’s clear from the flashbacks and what is going on in Rick’s mind, that the kindness, wisdom and morality of Hershel have left a lasting impression on the Sheriff.  During those flashbacks, which dated back to the early days at the prison, Hershel is telling Rick about how much his leadership is needed.  Even more than that, Carl needs his father to teach him how to make a life in their new world.  He tells Rick that Carl may know how to shoot a gun, but the boy is losing his way and only his father can show him the way back.  He thinks Rick should start farming and should teach Carl how to plant vegetables and take care of pigs.  The prison is their home, for now at least, and making it a little better by raising and growing their own food is a good way to start making a life there.

Rick, Carl and Michonne are walking towards Terminus and are taking their time.  They sit at a campfire and joke about how hungry they are.  The three leave the fire to check their snares, hoping they’ve caught something for dinner.  A rabbit has been trapped and Rick shows his son how to tie the snare in a way that keeps the animals from getting away.  As they start back to camp, they hear a voice screaming for help.  Carl runs towards him but Rick stops him, telling him to stay away.  As they look on, they see a man in a clearing, beset by walkers, who dies before their eyes.

They decide to continue on and Carl asks his dad what they’re going to tell everyone when they arrive at Terminus.  Rick says that they’ll tell whoever they meet who they are.  Carl then asks “Who are we?”  That’s the same question they’re probably asking themselves, and one the viewers are beginning to wonder about.   Along the road, they find a truck and use it as a place to rest for the night.  As Carl sleeps inside the vehicle, Rick and Michonne talk about what to expect when they arrive.  Rick figures that the people there must have some system they use to allow people in, just as he did for new members of the group at the prison – the three questions that he asked everyone.

Their quiet moment is interrupted by Joe and his hunters who come from nowhere with Joe putting a gun to Rick’s head.  They’ve found the man they were looking for and want retribution for the death of their friend.  Joe says to Rick, “You screwed up asshole.  You hear me?  You screwed up.”   Before they can start their beat-down, Daryl steps forward and tells Joe that these are good people and Joe should let them go.  He offers his own blood for Rick’s.  Joe, following his own code, declares Daryl a liar and sentences him to death for violating the cardinal rule.  Joe explains to Rick that they’ll beat Daryl to death, then have the girl, then the boy, then they’ll shoot Rick.  Only after all this will the score be settled.   The others begin to kick and punch Daryl while Rick and Michonne sit helplessly by.  Another goon takes Carl out of the truck and attempts to rape him.  Rick can’t take any of it anymore and pushes his head back into Joe’s face, causing his gun to go off, then gets up and punches Joe.   Joe starts to fight with Rick and Rick bites Joe in the throat, walker style.   Michonne picks up Joe’s gun and shoots two of the stunned hunters.  The one with Carl puts a knife to the boy’s throat but then realizes he’s outnumbered.  As Daryl stomps the last of his attackers to death,  Rick takes the last one’s knife away and guts him.The next morning, Rick is leaning against the truck, covered in blood.  Michonne is inside with Carl in her lap.  Daryl approaches Rick with some water to clean up his face.  Daryl begins to apologize for being with the hunters.  He tells Rick that he didn’t know what they were; sure they were bad, but they had a code, a simple, stupid code.  Rick asks if Beth is dead and Daryl says that she’s just gone.  That’s when the hunters found him and he went along with them.  Rick tells Daryl that none of this is one him.  “You’re back with us here, now.  You’re my brother.”  Daryl takes a second, then tells Rick that what he did last night, anybody would’ve done.  “Something happened.  That’s not you.”  Rick says that it is him, it’s who he is now.  “All that matters is I keep Carl safe.”  Carl and Michonne hear every word.

They start their journey again, walking on the tracks.  Rick asks Michonne if she’s okay.  She says she is and he tells her he is, too.  They’re not, of course, but they say what the other needs to hear.  Daryl says that they’re close to Terminus and will be there by sundown.  They head off into the woods to take at look at the Sanctuary from a safe distance.   Before they go ahead, Rick buries a bag with some weapons, outside the fence, telling Daryl, “Just in case.”   Rick wants them to spread out and see what they can see.  He asks Carl is he wants to go with him, but Carl chooses to join Michonne instead.  Michonne, asks Carl why he didn’t go with his Dad, but the boy doesn’t answer.  She then tells him that he never asked her how her son, Andre died.  She says the how is important, and starts to tell him about the refugee camp and the failure by Mike, the baby’s father, and Terry, her friend, to take care of Andre when things went bad.  As she came back from a supply run, she heard the sounds of the dying.  Mike and Terry were high at the time and couldn’t do much to help the baby.  When she found them,  she decided not to finish them, but to cut off their jaws and arms so that they could protect her from walkers.  “I was gone a log time.  Andrea brought me back.”  She tells Carl that she sees how he looks at his Dad and the boy finally explains why he’s been so moody and distant.  “He told me he was proud of me but I’m not what he thinks I am.  I’m a monster, too.”

The four meet back up and climb a chain link fence into Terminus.  They wander into a building where people are working and one woman is broadcasting the announcement about Terminus to anyone with a radio.  One man turns and asks the group if they’re there to rob them.  Rick says,” No, we wanted to see you before you saw us.”  The man introduces himself as Gareth and Rick introduces the group.  Gareth tells them not be nervous, the welcome wagon is a whole lot nicer.  He then asks them to allow another resident, Alex,  to check their weapons.  Gareth explains, “We’re not those kind of people but we’re not stupid either.  As long as we’re clear, we shouldn’t have any problems, just solutions.”   The group’s weapons are given back and they’re lead outside by Alex.  Daryl asks how long the place has been there and he’s told that it’s existed almost since the beginning.

When they reach Stepford Mary, she offers to fix them some plates of food.  Rick’s cop eyes begin to pick up on things that look too familiar.  He sees Maggie’s poncho, the riot gear they had at the prison and then sees Hershel’s watch in Alex’s pocket.  He jumps the guy, tears the watch from him and demands to know where they got these things.  Their answers don’t add up, but now there’s a shooter on the roof, with a rifle trained on the group.  He fires, striking Alex and the group tries to run.  They get inside one building, hear voices crying for help, and find a room filled with candles, weird circles on the floor and slogans on the walls stating things like “Never trust” and “We First Always.”  As doors start to close on them, the group runs back outside where more shooters are firing in their direction, purposely not hitting them, driving them in a certain direction.

They know they’re out numbered and outgunned, so they stop.  Gareth tells them to drop their weapons and orders them to move towards a rail car marked “A”.   He reduces the group to objects by deliberately not using their names – Rick becomes  “ringleader”, Daryl, “the archer” and Michonne, “samurai”.   He then tells them to enter the door of the car in that order.  When Rick asks about Carl,  Gareth says “Go, kid.”   The group enters the rail car and the door closes behind them.  Inside, they find Glenn, Maggie, Bob, Sasha, Abe, Rosita and Eugene.   Maggie explains to the others that these four are their friends.   Rick says “They’re going to feel pretty stupid when they find out.”  Abe asks, “Find out what?”  Rick tells hims, “That they’re screwing with the wrong people.”

None of the major characters met their death, which is perfectly alright with me.  Some very bad guys needed killing and they got what they had coming to them.  We don’t know if Carol, Tyreese and Judith have already made it to Terminus or are still on their way.  Beth’s whereabouts and welfare are still unknown.  Any doubt that the good people of Terminus are cannibals has been put to rest, though.  The Walking Dead will be back in October and that means a long Summer without our group of survivors.

Empress