Last night’s fifth season finale of AMC’s The Walking Dead, one of television’s smash hits, left audiences, including myself, shocked and stunned. And while it definitely impressed, it also left me with questions and concerns for the series.

SPOILER ALERT – If you haven’t seen the finale than I suggest you stop reading, and come back and read this another time when caught up.

The opening rewards us with finally seeing Morgan again, sleeping in a car and making food at a fire, clearly in a peaceful and happier state than when we saw him when he last crossed paths with Rick Grimes. He’s breakfast is interrupted by a man with a W carved into his forehead, a first look at one of the gritty, vicious members of the Wolf Gang. After holding a pistol at Morgan and talking in a calm voice about how he believed that wolves were transformed into men and trying to steal his supplies, and he now, is going take everything of Morgan’s, Morgan manages to stay calm himself, warning the man to walk away. When the wolf’s friend springs on Morgan, he single handedly took on both members with just a walking stick, showing his profound new ninja skills, stunning viewers with pure awesomeness and relief. Morgan dispatches the unconscious pair into the car, honking the horn, and leaving them alive.

The scene switches to Alexandria where everyone is feeling the weight of Rick’s out of control behavior the day before. Rick is covered with bandages on his face, previously from his fight with Pete the abusive, alcoholic father. Rick and his group talk about his decisions and why Michonne knocked him out to save him. Rick tells them that he never wanted this. It’s clear though that Rick will take over the leadership of Alexandria if they try to oust him after the forum that is set for that evening.

Carol takes her mad baking skills by Pete’s new digs, who is none too happy to be separated from his wife and house. Carol wields a knife at Pete’s chin, warning him that she could easily kill him, and once again, she proves she’s one of the best and strongest characters on the show. In a scene with Rick later, she has her best line when the beat-up leader says he doesn’t want to take the place and he doesn’t to lie. “Oh, sunshine, you don’t get both.”

Meanwhile, Daryl is still with Aaron searching for new members to join their not-so-idyllic sanctuary. They quietly watch and follow a hooded man in a red poncho, but lose him and find themselves at a food factory which big huge delivery trucks. Apparently, living in peace has made the two less leery and they eagerly open one of the doors to the truck only to spring a trap where all the doors open, releasing dozens of zombies from them.

Daryl and Aaron fight for their lives in which Daryl picks up a huge chain and swings it killing three walkers simultaneously in an awesome moment of survival. The best they can do as hundreds of dead swarm is find sanctuary in an abandoned car while walkers engulf the outside of the car. A grim note in the car warns of a trap, but that’s clear by now. Daryl offers to jump out to save Aaron, and viewers breathe a sigh of relief when Aaron refuses, and says they’ll get out together. As they start to open the doors to the chomping zombies, Morgan comes to their rescue, clearing a space with his awesome ninja walking stick.

Aaron offers Morgan a home in Alexandria, but the calm traveler already has a destination in mind. Trouble is, he’s lost and when he shows Daryl the crinkled map that Abraham left for Rick, this look they share tells us Morgan will finally be reunited with Rick.

Back in Alexandria, Abraham and Eugene make up while Tara rests, and Gabriel and Sasha both consider death, finally choosing to live. Sasha has a creepy moment, laying down with the zombies in a shallow grave, culminating with going to Gabriel for counseling over her grief and anger. Gabriel had ventured into the woods, ready to face a zombie death, only to realize he fears death, and bashes the zombie’s head in. He also kills the man the zombie was eating, keeping him from returning as a walking dead. In the church, he refuses to help Sasha, throwing anger accusations at her for her mistakes. They are his way of paralleling his own guilt about locking out his flock and causing their deaths. After a tense scuffle, Sasha points her rifle at Gabriel, but Maggie walks in and stops her. Maggie clearly forgives Gabriel for trying to sabotage the group’s stay and the three pray together in the makeshift church.

But all is not right just yet. Gabriel, in his own shakiness, didn’t close the gate completely. And as Rick is ready to head the meeting, he notices and immediately goes on the defensive. As his friends go to bat for him at the meeting, Rick battles the zombies that have entered the grounds, leading to a gruesome strangulation and exploding head death.

And if it couldn’t get any tenser, Glen went chasing after that scum Nicholas in the woods, not realizing it’s also a trap. Nicholas shoots him and they embroil in a scuffle that crosses different points in the woods, involves two zombies attacking, and Glen ultimately deciding not to shoot Nicholas. As always, Glen doesn’t want to turn into “that” person, and won’t stoop to Nicholas’ level even if the jerk tried to kill him.

Back in the grounds, someone else is dying though. As Rick drops the zombie body into the meeting, they began to slowly see he was right. He tells the group that he was planning on taking over, but that he doesn’t need to. Because they’re going to change.

And then Pete comes in stumbling drunk with Michonne’s katana sword. He unintentionally slices Reg’s throat (so now Deanna’s lost her son and her husband) and Deanna finally understands Rick’s perspective and lets him provide justice.

Morgan, Daryl and Aaron arrive as the bullet flies, and it’s clear Morgan is none too happy to see the dark path Rick has descended down.

But one final scene shows up after the credits, a tactic Scott Gimple used in the season five premiere with re-introducing Morgan. We jump back to the food plant and see a zombie walking past a car with the words “Wolves not far” spray painted. It’s the red-poncho guy Aaron and Daryl were following, his Red Riding days over as the wolves killed him. Our two wolves also found Aaron’s backpack with pictures of Alexandria, Rick and Carl, foreshadowing a dark turn of events next season.

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5 stars