The Walking Dead Season 5, Episode 9

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Score Technician: Joe Hemmerling

When last we left Rick & co., some major shit had gone down. A botched prisoner exchange between our heroes and the Slabtown set left Beth dead and the gang's immediate future uncertain. Tonight the gang makes the trip to Richmond to reunite Noah (A.K.A. Steve Urkel) with his family. If you've been following along with the Scorecard's sporadic check-ins, then you know we're crushing pretty hard on this season. Let's see if the mid-season premier keeps those good vibes rolling.

• This week's episode brought to you by Terrence Malick. = +16pts 
• Someone got rid of a perfectly good grandfather clock outside Richmond. = -2pts 
• This may come as a surprise to longtime Walking Dead fans, but Richmond is not a thriving, safe community by the time the gang gets there. = +4pts 
• Noooooooo! Tyrese is bit! You do not have our permission to trade up to a younger, nerdier black guy, Walking Dead! THERE WAS ROOM FOR BOTH OF THEM ON THE CAST! = -13pts 
• Stuffing a walker's mouth with your already-bitten arm while you set yourself up for the killshot. = +18pts 
• Tyrese's dying hallucinations of fallen cast members poignantly illustrate the conflict between trying to maintain one's humanity in a savage, darkening world...but it also reminds us of the ending of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. = +0pts (A hilarious wash.) 
• Ghost Beth sings a non-Tom Waits Song. = -4pts (We don't even know who you are anymore, Ghost Beth.)
• Katana stroke deflected by handle of machete buried hilt-deep in a walker's shoulder. = +10pts 
• While struggling to get clear of a mud patch and return Tyrese to Sasha, Rick plows into an abandoned truck a few feet in front of him, out of which pours a bunch of walker torsos, each with the letter "W" carved into its forehead. = +20pts 
• So long, Tyrese. It's been a wild ride. = -6pts 

Total Score = +43pts
Season Score = +323pts

Usually the talky episodes tend to be the place where Walking Dead stalls by the side of the road, but the narrative experimentation helped to maintain the meditative pace they were striving for. On top of that, we've got some pretty serious developments: Tyrese has bitten the dust, the gang is on its way to D.C., and don't think for a minute that whoever laid waste to Richmond and left a trunk full of torsos in the woods outside isn't going to come into play later.