The premiere of the second half of "The Walking Dead" Season 5 is revered as the show's best in years, according to Forbes. Episode 9, titled "What Happened and What's Going On," was an amazing tour de force that "opened strong and finished with a bang."
As seen in the teaser video, the episode opens to a series of disjointed images. Noah, played by Tyler James Williams, and Maggie Greene, played by Lauren Cohan, were shown crying.
In addition, there were shots of what could be Beth's funeral; the prison; a skeleton somewhere in the woods; train tracks, which looked like the ones heading to Terminus; and a line of abandoned houses. In fact, even the episode's opening credits were different.
Everyone initially assumed that the episode will be focusing on Noah. After all, it was his gated Richmond community that Rick Grimes, played by Andrew Lincoln, was headed for. He was accompanied by Michonne, played by Danai Gurira; Glen Rhee, played by Steven Yeun; Tyreese, and Noah.
Unsurprisingly, Noah's community was already completely overrun. Plus, it turned out that Noah had two younger twin brothers. In a standard "The Walking Dead" fashion, loyal viewers of the show can figure out that one probably ate the other.
Things then took a dramatic turn and Tyreese, played by Chad Coleman, was put in the spotlight.
Noah's surviving zombie brother turned out to be quite the overachiever, as described by Indie Wire, as he managed to chomp off a huge chunk from Tyreese's arm. Noah kills his baby brother and runs to the others for help, leaving Tyreese to suddenly hallucinate all by himself.
Greg Nicotero's directorial prowess on the episode, especially during Tyreese's hallucination, gave it a somewhat dream-like appeal.
The one-hour episode was about Tyreese and his death after all. It neatly encapsulated everything that has been tormenting him all throughout their journey of surviving the zombie apocalypse, says The Wall Street Journal.
In his hallucination, he reunites with some of the cast who have already been killed off in the last two seasons. Mika, played by Kyla Kenedy, keeps telling him, "It's better now," which enrages The Governor, played by David Morissey, who, in turn, morphs into a real zombie. To keep the walker away, Tyreese rams his injured hand into its mouth.
Throughout the show, the audience has witnessed how good of a man he really is. He managed to live morally in a world that no longer thrived on morals. That goodness was not destroyed even when the world he lived in already was.
Michonne arrives and hacks off his arm and the team drives back to camp. Tyreese then finds himself in the vehicle with Bob Stookey, played by Lawrence Gilliard, Jr; Beth, played by Emily Kinney; Lizzie, played by Brighton Sharbino; and Mika. “It’s okay, Tyreese,” Beth kept telling him. “You gotta know that now.”