The trailer for the new season of Walking Dead debuted at Comic Con and it delivered a high dose of anticipation and action for Season 5. “They’re screwing with the wrong people,” Rick says to Daryl menacingly, still in the boxcar that the group was forced into after entering Terminus at the end of Season 4. Obviously the group needs to escape the boxcar and fans got an explanation of how it happens: Bob pleads with Gareth, the creepy Terminus leader that they need to get Eugene to Washington D.C. to save the world.
The group is back together and they’re going on a road trip with explosions, numerous walker kills (including spraying a group of walkers down with a fire hose) and plenty of mistrust and threats. Rick tells Carl, “I don’t trust this guy,” and Carl says, “We’ve all done something.” There haven’t been truer words spoken from Carl because no one has escaped the situation unscathed. Everyone’s had to do morally ambiguous things to survive and this is reiterated when Gareth says, “Nothing was personal.”
One of the most satisfying parts came at the end of the trailer when Beth appears. It looks like she’s inside a compound wearing scrubs. In a quick flash sequence she’s shooting walkers, helping hold down a woman getting her arm cut off and running away from something or someone. The most dramatic part is a confrontation between Beth and what appears to be a policewoman or maybe a corrections officer. Beth says, “Every sacrifice we make needs to be for the greater good,” to which the woman replies, “In here you’re not the greater good. You’re part of a system,” and then gives Beth a little physical reinforcement. This exchange makes it seem like Beth is in a different kind of prison, but it confirms that the house she was taken from last season was a setup.
The tension is ratcheted up because there’s a new group of people who Rick and company must work with to survive and to complete a mission. The mystery of how they get out of the boxcar has already been solved in the trailer and it promises that the mystery of what happened to Beth will be solved. Now that everyone is back together, including Carole and Tyreese with baby Judith, they have a new focus that promises an exciting change of pace after the depression of last season. I know I’m counting down the days until October.
The Walking Dead Season 5 Premiere will air Sunday, October 12th at 9pm est on AMC.