Recap / The Walking Dead S05 E07 "Crossed"

Season 5, Episode 7

Crossed

Armed with insider knowledge from Noah, Rick prepares his group for a raid on Grady Memorial.

Having brought Noah back to the group and informed them of Beth and Carol's capture at Grady Memorial, the group begins to devise a strategy to rescue the duo. Rick decides to take a group consisting of himself, Tyreese, Daryl, Noah and Sasha to Atlanta in order to scout out the site, while the rest of the survivors fortify the church in case of a walker attack.

The group boards up the windows and uses the church organ and pipes as a barricade, while Michonne and Rick briefly argue over whether the latter should go. After they leave, Gabriel continues toclean up the church, still horrified at the massacre of The Hunters the night before. As Rick and the others drive towards Atlanta, Tyreese tries to console Sasha regarding Bob's death, but she tells him to drop the subject.

Back at the road near the walker herds, Eugene is still unconscious, while Abraham is sitting distraught and crying over the apparent failure of their mission. While Tara uses the last of the fire engine's water supply to fill up some bottles, Rosita attempts to give Abraham one, to no response. She suddenly shouts at him, prompting him to stand up and act threatening towards her. Upon seeing this, Maggie levels a gun at him and orders him to sit back down, which he reluctantly does. Afterwards, Glenn assumes command of the group and scouts the area with Tara and Rosita, while Maggie guards Abraham and Eugene.

Inside Grady Memorial, Beth sees Carol wheeled in and listens to the officer who found her, O'Donnell, claim that her injuries are too severe and suggests to Dawn that they should take her off life support. Intending to help her, Beth goes to Dawn, who has garnered enough respect for her after the beating that she agrees that Carol needs to be saved. She gives Beth the key to a nearby drug locker before dispatching two of the officers, O'Donnell and Lamson, to investigate a report of gunshots in the nearby area. Afterwards, Beth is able to get doses of epinephrine after consulting with Dr. Edwards, and is able to administer them to Carol to stablize her condition.

At a nearby creek, Tara, Glenn and Rosita have a conversation about Eugene's actions, with the former admitting that she has a begrudging respect for the latter using his intellect to get as far as he did. The trio discovers that the creek is polluted, but Rosita displays unmentioned skills, first by building a water filter using a technique Eugene taught her, then improvises a fishing net so that they can catch fish in the stream. After fending off a handful of walkers that come along, Glenn tells Rosita that wherever the group ends up, her skills would be invaluable. Back at the road, Maggie also forces Abraham to shape up by telling him he's not the only one who lost something that day (referring to Bob's death), and to get over himself. Glenn, Rosita and Tara arrive back at the firetruck soon after, and Eugene awakens after his beating...

Rick's five-man group reaches Atlanta and begins drawing up a strategy inside a warehouse. While Rick recommends a frontal assault, Tyreese (still acting as a pacifist) recommends taking two of the hospital's police force hostage and using them in a prisoner exchange for Beth and Carol. Daryl agrees that Tyreese's plan is the better option, and Rick agrees to go along with it. Afterwards, they discover an area where napalm hit during Operation Cobalt — still-active walkers have been fused into the road and are unable to move.

Afterwards, Rick and the others set off a trap where Noah shoots at walkers, prompting O'Donnell and Lamson to be dispatched. Upon arriving at the scene, they chide him for being predictable and not doing enough to cover his tracks, but the pair are besieged by Rick and the others, who order them to "drop your weapons on the floor and kneel". Just before they can take them hostage, though, a third officer, Licari, arrives at the scene, sees what's happening and fires at them, causing the other officers to run. Rick and the rest of the group pursue, and eventually capture, all three officers.

Back at the church, Gabriel continues to try and clean the blood from the floor, while Carl tries to motivate him to get out of his pacifist shell by offering him a machete, and by pointing out that the group had to take out the Hunters because they were cannibals and rapists. Despite this encouragement, Gabriel decides that he wants no part of the church for the time being, and decides to flee by prying up baseboards in the church to get to a cellar exit. As night falls, Gabriel sneaks out of the church, though not before injuring his foot after stepping on a nail. He makes his way out of the church and towards an unknown destination, but is attacked by a walker on the way. Gabriel manages to chokeslam the walker, but stops short of killing it after seeing it is wearing a crucifix. Undeterred, he continues on...

Rick's group brings the three officers back to the warehouse. Inside, in a show of good faith, the officers admit that Dawn is the one in charge and that virtually none of the cops like her as a leader, claiming that she's running the place into the ground. Despite that, they claim that the group's hostage plan won't work because Dawn doesn't consider the officers valuable. Lamson steps up and presents himself as a negotiator, offering to counsel Rick on how to negotiate with Dawn.

Soon after, Lamson talks with Rick about how to get what he wants from Dawn, then tells Sasha that he had Survivor Guilt from trading places with an officer who ended up embedded in asphalt like the other walkers outside when the city was firebombed. He asks for her help delivering a Mercy Kill to the walker, and points her to a window where she has a suitable sniping point. When she takes aim, though, he rushes her, smashing her head into a window, before fleeing from the warehouse, hands still tied behind his back...

Tropes:

• 0% Approval Rating: Almost no cop under Dawn's command cares for her, and it's acknowledged by her men that she's running Grady right into the ground.
• Adaptational Wimp: Zig-zagged. Gabriel decides to abandon the rest of Rick's group at the church, something he decidedly doesn't do in the comics. However, he does chokeslam a walker after he snuck out, indicating that he's Taken A Level In Badass far earlier than he did in the source material.
• Agony of the Feet: Gabriel steps on a nail that drives right through his foot as he flees the church, and he spends the rest of the episode hobbling along in pain.
• Broken Bird: Sasha.
• Continuity Nod:
  • We get to see a portion of the city where the napalm bombs hit. It's not only partially burned, but also filled with incapacitated yet alive walkers stuck in the asphalt by their melted skin.
  • Rick orders Lamson and O'Donnell to "drop your guns on the floor and kneel," the exact same words he told The Hunters just before the massacre in the church.
  • Rick is seen carrying the orange backpack that he, Michonne and Carl picked up from the hitchhiker in "Clear", and takes it with him during the Atlanta mission.
• Combat Pragmatist: Daryl takes it to the next level when he rips a walker's head off and beats Licari with it.
• Despair Event Horizon: Abraham is in one, and nearly attacks Rosita for trying to give him water. Maggie has to threaten to kill him to get him to stop.
• Evil All Along: Bob, as he reveals in the end.
• Five-Man Band: The group that ventures into Atlanta.
  • The Leader: Rick.
  • The Lancer: Daryl
  • The Big Guy: Tyreese
  • The Smart Guy: Noah
  • The Smurfette Principle: Sasha
• Four Lines, All Waiting: The various plot threads begin to coalesce, with the action following several groups of survivors throughout the episode: the Five-Man Band that sets out for Atlanta to raid Grady Memorial Hospital, Beth's actions inside said hospital as she tries to protect herself and Carol, the members of the group barricading Gabriel's church in preparation for a possible walker attack, and Abraham's group as they struggle to deal with their current situation, Abraham's despair and Eugene's injuries.
• Gut Punch: Bob revealing his name is one for Sasha.
• Heroic BSoD: Glenn's group has fallen into this, though they're nowhere near as bad as Abraham. Sasha also has it.
• Non-Action Guy: Carl tries to get Father Gabriel to step out of this, but the older man won't have any of it.
• One-Steve Limit: A Grady Mook is also named Bob, same with the group's recently fallen comrade and Sasha's lover.
• Rescue Arc: One that started in the previous episode.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Father Gabriel makes an exit out of the floor of his church so he can crawl out and abandon it.
• Suddenly Shouting: Rosita gets a moment of this, when she orders Abraham to acknowledge her. This prompts the latter to stand up and threaten her.
  LOOK AT ME!
• The Starscream: In a moment of seeming sincerity, Bob and the other cops captured by Rick's group admit there are a number of cops ready to overthrow Dawn.
• Token Good Teammate:
  • While Rick's group are not villains, their first - and clearly ideal - plan is to go into Grady and silently kill off all personnel until Dawn surrenders Beth and Carol. Tyreese takes up this role, advocating for a peaceful trade-off with as little blood spilled as possible. Daryl supports him.
  • Bob is also this for the Grady cops, according to Noah. He is apparently upfront and honest to Rick, although he attacks Sasha and escapes the first chance he gets.
• Verbed Title: Though what it supposed to mean is unclear.
• We Need a Distraction: Beth has an elderly patient fake a violent coughing fit so she can grab the medicine needed for Carol.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Maggie gives a brief, but scathing and tearful, one to the broken Abraham.
  Maggie: Get over yourself. You're not the only one who lost something today.
• Would Hit a Girl: Lamson smashes Sasha's head into a window before making his escape.
• You Are in Command Now: Glenn has taken over Abraham's group, with the former leader in a state of unresponsive despair.

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