Crossed

"Crossed" is the seventh episode of the fifth season of AMC's The Walking Dead. It is the fifty-eighth episode of the series overall. It premiered on November 23, 2014. It was written by Seth Hoffman and directed by Billy Gierhart.

Plot
Between holding down the church and going on a rescue mission, the group is spread pretty thin. Will this be the breaking point?

Synopsis
Daryl, Tyreese and Sasha fortify the church, building barricades out of splintered pews and a stockade of organ pipes, as Gabriel watches the desecration with dismay.

Michonne and Rick, meanwhile, hammer boards across the windows. Michonne offers to go on the rescue mission to Atlanta in Rick's place, but Rick says he owes it to Carol.

Rick, Daryl, Tyreese, Sasha and Noah leave for Atlanta. As Carl and Michonne board up more windows, Gabriel furiously scrubs at the floor, trying in vain to remove the blood stains left by the massacre of Gareth's crew.

En route to Atlanta, Tyreese tries to console Sasha about Bob's death. "Don't," she says.

At the hospital, Beth drops by Carol's room and watches her lying unconscious in bed. Beth silently glares at Dr. Edwards when he arrives to check on the patient.

Elsewhere, Eugene lies in the road, still unconscious from Abraham's beating. Abraham kneels nearby, glaring silently ahead. Rosita tries to give Abraham water but he swats it away, then stands and looms menacingly over her. Maggie levels her gun at Abraham and orders him to sit.

Inside an Atlanta warehouse, Rick plans an attack on the hospital. Tyreese suggests an alternate plan: kidnap two of Dawn's officers and arrange a prisoner exchange. Rick is skeptical that the plan will work, but agrees to it after Daryl lends it his support.

Back at the church, Carl lays weapons in front of Gabriel and urges him to pick one for self-defense. Noting Gabriel's distress over the massacre, Carl reminds Gabriel that Gareth and his men were liars and murderers, and Gabriel reluctantly picks a machete.

At the hospital, Beth listens in as Officer O'Donnell suggests that Dawn pull Carol off life support in order to save resources. Beth protests, but Dawn sides with O'Donnell.

After O'Donnell leaves, Dawn privately instructs Beth to save Carol on her own and gives Beth the key to the drug locker. Then Dawn receives a walkie-talkie dispatch from Officer Shepherd about nearby gunshots and tells Shepherd to investigate with Officer Lamson.

Back on the road, Maggie stays with Eugene and Abraham while the rest of the group goes to replenish their water supply at a nearby creek. En route, Tara defends Eugene for being weak and defenseless. "He had one skill that kept him living," she reasons. "Are we supposed to be mad at him because he used it?"

Near the truck, Maggie builds a tent over Eugene to shield him from the sun. She then storms over to Abraham, who's still kneeling catatonically. "Get over yourself," she says. "You're not the only one who lost something today."

At the hospital, Beth visits Dr. Edwards and asks him what medication he would administer to Carol. He advises five milligrams of epinephrine.

Upon discovering that the creek water is polluted, Rosita creates a water filter using a technique she learned from Eugene. To everyone's surprise, Glenn spots fish in the creek.

Meanwhile, Shepherd and Lamson investigate the gunshots and find Noah in an alleyway. As they grab him, Rick's group ambushes and holds them at gunpoint. But a hospital car with another officer, Licari, screeches onto the scene and rescues Shepherd and Lamson. Rick's group opens fire and chases the officers, eventually catching all three.

Rick's group brings the captured officers to the warehouse. Shepherd explains that their hostage plan won't work because Dawn does not consider them valuable on account of their ongoing plot to overthrow her. Lamson, however, assures Rick the trade will work if they talk to Dawn in the correct manner. "Let me help you," he offers, claiming kinship with Dawn.

At the creek, Glenn, Rosita and Tara kill walkers and shred their clothes to create a fishing net. After successfully catching a fish, Glenn tells Rosita that wherever their group winds up, they're going to need her skills, and asks if she's in. "I'm in," she says.

At the church, Michonne checks on Gabriel in the rectory. He feigns fatigue and excuses himself. Alone again, he resumes his task: prying up floorboards with his machete, wanting to leave the church in secret.

At the hospital, Beth enlists an aide to create a diversion while she steals epinephrine from the drug cabinet and administers it to Carol.

Back at the church, Gabriel escapes by lowering himself underneath the floor and into a crawl space. Outside, he accidentally steps on a nail, but then hobbles undeterred into the woods.

At the warehouse, Lamson counsels Rick on negotiating with Dawn. He explains that Dawn will initially balk at the hostage deal, but will ultimately agree. Rick thanks Lamson and offers him water.

Gabriel limps through the forest and is attacked by a walker. He knocks it down and raises a stone to kill it, but then notices a crucifix around its neck. He tearfully lowers the rock and hobbles away.

As Sasha guards Lamson, he describes seeing a former colleague-turned-walker melted into the asphalt outside. Sympathetic, Sasha offers to shoot the walker to end its misery.

Out on the road, Eugene finally awakens and Maggie rushes to his side. Glenn, Tara and Rosita return with fresh fish and water. Tara has found a yo-yo.

Back at the warehouse, Lamson directs Sasha to a window and tells her where to aim her gun. As she's staring through the scope, Lamson slams Sasha's head into the window. With Sasha now on the ground, bleeding and unconscious, Lamson makes his escape.

Co-Stars

 * Ricky Wayne as Officer O'Donnell
 * Teri Wyble as Amanda Shepherd
 * Christopher Matthew Cook as Officer Licari
 * Marc Gowan as Percy

Uncredited

 * Charlotte & Clara Ward as Judith Grimes
 * Jarod Thompson as Officer Tanaka
 * Sammy Hadid as Officer Alvarado
 * Chris Harrelson as Walker

Deaths

 * None

Trivia

 * First appearance of Bob Lamson.
 * First appearance of Licari.
 * First appearance of Percy.
 * This episode marks Andrew Lincoln's 50th appearance on the TV Series.
 * This is the first episode of Season 5 to feature all credited series regulars.
 * Rick echoes himself when he tells Lamson and Shepherd to "put their guns on the floor and kneel." Same as when he told Gareth and the hunters in the episode, "Four Walls and a Roof".
 * The title of the episode, "Crossed", refers to Rosita explaining how she met Abraham and how they crossed paths.
 * It also refers to Sasha being double-crossed by one of the officers they captured, in addition to the crosses in the rear windows of the cars driven by his fellow officers of Grady Memorial Hospital.
 * It could also refer to how Rick and his group crossed a line with Gabriel by spilling blood in and desecrating his church, as well as the cross necklace Gabriel found on the walker in the forest.
 * Tara calls her group a "band of brothers", referencing the show of the same name that starred Michael Cudlitz.
 * In this episode, the full effects of the firebombing of Atlanta (as shown in a flashback in "Chupacabra") are seen.
 * The melted street walkers in Atlanta were a combination of dummies and half-buried actors.
 * The cast were unaware that some of them were real until they started moving.
 * The walker's head that Daryl ripped off was rigged so that the spine would move afterward. There were controls for the spine inside of the eye sockets that his fingers were in.

Goofs/Errors

 * When Maggie finishes putting a tent over Eugene to protect him from the sun, she then walks over towards Abraham, but Eugene's body cannot be seen under the ladder, until the next scene.