'The Walking Dead' Recap: 'Crossed'

Last night’s episode ‘Crossed’, showed four different story-lines happening at once. With some action, it was merely a setup episode to the mid-season finale which will be taking place next Sunday. Also throughout ‘Crossed’, the symbol of the cross was used in odd places. And this episode really strayed from the comic book.

Daryl and Noah have returned to Rick and the others at St. Sarah’s Church. The group that consists of: Rick, Daryl, Noah, Tyreese, Sasha, Carl, Michonne, Gabriel, and Judith decide to barricade the church using the metal rods from the pipe organ and the wood from the church pews. Tyreese attempts to reconnect with his sister. Sasha is in a similar state as what her brother was in when he lost Karen; cold and emotionless. After, Michonne talks to Rick on the side. Michonne tells Rick he should stay and that she will go into Atlanta. “We all owe Carol,” Michonne tells Rick. Rick disagrees and states that he owes much more to Carol since he ostracized her during the days of the prison. Rick, Daryl, Tyreese, Sasha, and Noah take a car with a trailer and head towards Atlanta. Carl and Michonne finish barricading themselves in the church. Gabriel nervously scratches out to the blood stains on the wooden floor with his finger nails, baby Judith begins to cry.

In the trailer on their way to Atlanta, Tyreese tries to talk to Sasha. Tyreese tells Sasha that he was in her shoes at one point. Tyreese goes on to explain that it was better for him to euthanize Bob than Sasha. Sasha on the other hand wishes it was her that did it. Inside an empty warehouse, Rick, Daryl, Tyreese, Sasha, and Noah come up with a plan to get Carol and Beth back. Rick announces that they will go in quietly and take out the guards by slitting their throats. Daryl and Tyreese say it’s better if they try to capture a few of the guards and cops so they can use them as a negotiating tactic. The rest agree as Rick hesitates.

Inside Grady Memorial Hospital, Beth with her face bruises and blue scrubs is sweeping the floor as she eavesdrops on a conversation between Dawn and another police officer. One of the cops tells Dawn they need to take Carol off of life support because they are running out of resources and power. At this point, Carol is in the hospital bed after getting hit by a car in the previous episode. Dawn agrees and says they will take her off of it in the hopes of her surviving on her own. Beth chimes in and confronts them. Beth blurts out that the patient has only been in the hospital for one day and that the only reason the cop wants to conserve power is so he can watch films on his DVD player. The cop tries to intimidate Beth when Dawn assures her it’s for the better. After the officer walks away, Dawn gives Beth a key to the medicine cabinet. Although, they will take Carol off the machines, this is a way of Dawn saving Carol’s life. “I thought you were weak, but you proved me wrong,” Dawn says as she hands the key over to Beth. When Beth leaves, Dawn gets a radio call from another officer saying they have a lead on someone. Dawn tells them to chase after it.

On the road, we’re back to the moment right after Abraham knocked Eugene out by the firetruck, when Eugene revealed that he was lying about Washington D.C. Rosita and Maggie take out a few walkers nearby. With the little amount of water they have left, Tara pours some over Eugene’s head. Meanwhile, Abraham is still crouched on his knees while starring blankly into space. Rosita walks over to Abraham and tries to give him some water. When Abraham does not respond, Rosita yells at him. Abraham screams back and gets up. Before he has a chance to do anything, Maggie aims her revolver at him and says, “Stay down or I’ll put you down.” Abraham listens and goes back to his former position. Due to a decline in their water supply, Glenn, Rosita and Tara go on a scout to find a spring nearby. Maggie stays with Abraham and an unconscious Eugene by the truck. The three go off into the woods.

Back at the church, Carl lays out all the melee weapons they have in stock from machetes to axes. Michonne is tending to Judith as Carl lectures a scared Gabriel on self defense. Carl who has been taught well to survive in this world from his father, tells Gabriel to grab a weapon. Gabriel reluctantly grabs a machete and tells them he needs to be in his room and lay down.

In Atlanta, the same officers who reported to Dawn on the radio have tracked down Noah in an alleyway. The white crossed wagon drives after a limping Noah in pursuit. The car stops Noah at a clearing by a warehouse. A male and female laced in bulletproof cop uniform get out and pull their guns on Noah. Before the cops handcuff Noah, Rick, Daryl, Tyreese and Sasha aim their guns at the cops. Rick tells them to kneel as they tie them up. The male officer suspects Rick to be a cop by the way he conducts himself. Sasha and Tyreese hug it out. Before Rick has time to talk to their prisoners, another crossed wagon comes to their aid and starts shooting in Rick’s direction. A gun battle occurs while the wagon escapes. Rick and the others attempt to shoot out the car as Sasha takes out one of the tires. All five of them chase after the stumbling car into a burnt out FEMA location. The walkers in this area were burnt so bad they became part of the cement. They search inside the wagon and find the male and female cop running off. Rick, Tyreese, Sasha and Noah chase after those cops as Daryl stays and searches for the third. With an equipped AK-47, Daryl creeps around to a trailer marked “FEMA”. Daryl cautiously approaches the front door to the burnt out trailer when the cop attacks him. The two engage in an intense fight. The bald cop in the same thick outfit tries to kill Daryl when he presses his face close to a walker’s mouth. Is Daryl going to be bit? Daryl fighting for his life has two walkers aside of him both trying to bite. Daryl reaches and stabs his two fingers in the eyes of one walker. With his right hand Daryl manages to lift the head off of the walker and smack it into the cop. Daryl gets up, the cop stumbles aside when Rick gets the jump on him. Rick aims his silencer hand-gun at the cops face. The bald headed officer curses in defeat. Rick gives the cop the stare of death as he decides whether to pull the trigger or not. After a few intense seconds of Rick deciding to kill or spare the cop, Daryl tells Rick, “three is better than two.” Meaning it would better for the group if they had more people to exchange with. Rick puts down the gun and then gives Daryl a dirty look. Has Rick become Shane and has Daryl become the old Rick?

Miles away, Glenn, Tara, and Rosita are failing to find purified water sources. All the water is orange. However, Rosita is able to filter out some of the water with a system that Eugene taught her. At the stream, Glenn and Tara ask Rosita if she was always with Abraham. Rosita explains she was originally with another group. They were fending themselves off an onslaught of walkers when Abraham and Eugene came to their aid via the truck that is now long gone. Abraham told Rosita they were here to save the world. Abraham saw what Rosita was capable of doing and accepted her onto to their convoy. Soon after, the trio find some wet supplies hanging off a few incapacitated walkers. Heading back, the three begin having a positive outlook on the circumstance. The circumstance being no real set cure. Tara on the other hand understands that Eugene’s only tool of survival was to lie because he is weak. Glenn agrees with Tara.

A knock on a door comes when Beth asks Dr. Steven Edwards which medicine to give Carol. Knowing that Dawn gave Beth the key, Edwards hesitates and says that she is not doing it out of the kindness of her heart. Beth is keen on getting the right prescription from Edwards after he tries to withhold the information from her. The coward trait in Edwards comes out when he brings up the fact that he had to kill the doctor in order for him to stay alive. Edwards even states that Carol might not live because she’s bleeding internally. Beth ignores his negativity and continues to request the medicine. Finally, Dr. Steve reveals the prescription. I don’t remember what it was called, but it was a long name with a specific kind of dosage.

Back by the firetruck, Maggie on patrol tells Abraham to get over himself. They have “all” suffered a loss, she reiterates. She leaves a bottle of water by Abraham’s feet. Maggie then grabs the ladder from the truck and a blanket to cover Eugene’s body from the suns rays. This is her way of keeping him cool.

In Atlanta, Beth then walks down the hospital wing clenching the key in her right fist. An older male patient waits in front of a door as Beth hands off the man some tomatoes. Immediately after, the worker pretends to experience a heart attack as the officers rush to his aid. This gives Beth the distraction to unlock the medicine cabinet and take the prescription. She finds the medicine, closes the cabinet and as she walks past the worker, the elder patient tells the cops that he’s fine. Way to be stealthy Beth.

In the next scene, Beth administers Carol the medication to her veins. Beth observes an unconscious Carol as she holds her hand and says, “I just wanted you to know that I’m here.” It was a very touching moment.

At the firetruck Maggie continues to wait for the others when Eugene suddenly walks up out of his mild coma. Maggie tends to Eugene while Abraham takes a sip from the bottled water and turns his head.

At St. Sarah’s Church we find Gabriel opening up his door to a concerned Michonne. Michonne asks Gabriel how he’s doing since he mentioned he wasn’t feeling well. Gabriel thanks Michonne and tells her he’s doing fine. When he closes the door, we find out his true intention. He’s been using the machete to cut through the wood flooring so he can dig his way out of the church. After peeling off a bunch of floor boards, Gabriel manages to squeeze himself under the church. He crawls under the space until he’s outside on the outskirts of the church. He doesn’t even take the machete. Why does he want to leave?

Not too long after walking through the dense forest, Gabriel encounters a walker. The female walker attempts to bite him until Gabriel lifts her up and throws her onto of a pipe. The pipe protrudes through the undead’s stomach as it exposes her intestines and stomach. Gabriel grabs a boulder and goes to smash it on her head when he notices a cross necklace around her neck. Instead of disposing the walker, Gabriel drops the rock and walks away, leaving the growling walker trapped.

A few blocks from the hospital and within a warehouse, Rick and the others talk to their cop prisoners. Rick asks how they can get their friends back. The female cop begins talking and speaks a lot about Dawn and the rest. She says the rest of the officers have been planning to perform mutiny on her since her leadership has become unstable as of recent. The bald officer remains silent as the other male cop suggests that the woman cop stop talking. The male cop reveals himself to be Bob and says that even though he still wears the uniform, he is not a cop anymore. It seems like whatever he has done in the past under the rule of Dawn, he feels guilty for it.

Soon enough later, Bob who is tied to the wall tries talking to Sasha. The others are subsequently someplace else. Bob confines in Sasha that during the initial outbreak in Atlanta, Dawn told his partner to stand outside by the FEMA station to protect the civilians. Bob on the other hand was told to stay indoors. When the napalm strikes occurred, Bob’s partner was outside. Bob remembers seeing his friend going up in flames while getting burnt alive to the pavement. Bob then revealed that his partner is still out there as a walker, with his body stuck to the ground. Sasha tells Bob she’s a good shot. Bob shows Sasha where his friend is lying. The two walk over to an area of the building by a window. Sasha aims her rifle cross hair through the window. Bob steps back and is now standing behind her. Before Sasha can confirm that the walker is Bob’s former partner, Bob pushes Sasha as her head cracks into the glass. Sasha gets knocked out from the impact as Bob takes off, running in the opposite direction. Sometimes you cannot trust those that seem the most friendly.

As I’ve stated earlier, the cross was used a few times during this episode. At the very beginning, when the group are barricading the church and taking apart the pieces, Gabriel asks if they were going to take apart the cross as well. Then it appeared again when the cop wagons with the white cross painted on them were driving after Noah. Lastly, Gabriel avoids killing the walker outside the church when he sees that the undead corpse is wearing a cross necklace. Faith seems to be played out a lot through this season.

Daryl has turned over a new leaf and seems to be calling the shots. Daryl has become way more reasonable, making Rick look like a total ass.

Lastly, the reason this episode strayed from the comic book is because the group never went back to Atlanta. There was never a mission to save a character from a hospital and around this time in the book, Rick and the others were getting closer to Washington D.C.

Regardless, this was a great setup episode that also showed us how events have affected the relationships between certain characters. Will Rick and the rest recapture Officer Bob and will they succeed in getting Carol and Beth back? I am excited to see when the group finally reunites. Will they all go to Washington D.C. after these shenanigans end? Find out next week on The Walking Dead mid-season finale on AMC.