'The Walking Dead' Finale Recap - 'Conquer'

When we last left the gang, Rick had really gone off his rocker and actually needed Michonne to knock him out as he ranted and raved in the streets of Alexandria.

His deal with Jessie and Pete notwithstanding, Rick seems to be on the decline and might even be looking at banishment from Alexandria, if anyone will stand up to him.

We start off the week with Morgan, whose run-in with a W-branded man reveals a little more about that mystery...though it's about men turning into wolves so it doesn't make a lot of sense. Lucky for Morgan, he manages to fend two of the W men off.

Back in Alexandria, Rick comes to and there's a lot of discussion about what to do about him after his meltdown. Carol suggests that Rick explain that he was trying to protect Jessie from her abusive husband, and the militant pair already start planning a takeover of Alexandria if needed.

Later, Rick fesses up about the guns to Michonne. She maintains that they don't need the guns in Alexandria, but she does say that she's still Team Rick either way.

Elsewhere, Deanna and Maggie talk about the possibility of banishing Rick, but Maggie argues that he's already lost so much. Daryl and Aaron add to this conversation with one of their own out in the woods, where Aaron talks about how the town banished a few people with whom it "didn't work out."

Later, Daryl and Aaron run into serious trouble when they accidentally open up a truck full of W-branded zombies. Trapped in a nearby car, Aaron finds a note that warns of "bad people." Uh oh. Luckily, the two fight their way out and run into Morgan, who shows them the map with Rick's message.

While all this is happening, Gabriel seems to be giving up on life...he wanders out of Alexandria with no weapons and walks up to walkers saying "I'm ready." But it turns out that Gabriel isn't ready to die; instead, he's ready to finally start killing some zombies. He does kill one, but he's still clearly not okay with it. After that he returns home, but is pretty careless about closing the gate. Zombie apocalypse rule #1: always make sure the gate is locked, man.

Also venturing outside the walls are Nicholas and Glenn: Nicholas stalks Glenn for a bit then leaves the city, and Glenn pursues. But later, Nicholas fires at Glenn with a gun, sending Glenn tumbling down a hill. Add another point to the "Glenn getting seriously hurt" column.

That leads to a fistfight, which of course is interrupted by a couple of zombies that Glenn is left to fight off.

As the meeting in Alexandria starts, we watch as Rick and Glenn fight off the two big dangers of their world: Glenn takes Nicholas out with a rock to the head, while Rick finds the unlocked gate and starts taking out the walkers that got in...one of them extra gruesomely with his bare hands.

It's an interesting juxtaposition with Michonne, Carol and Abraham defending Rick in the meeting, basically saying that he's the person that everyone could hope to be. Abraham points out that the Alexandrians aren't aware of what's going on outside the walls, but Rick knows.

There's also a juxtaposition between Glenn and Sasha, as Glenn holds a gun to Nicholas' head while Sasha gets in a fight with Gabriel and holds a gun to his.

On Sasha's end, she holds off and forgives Gabriel after Maggie stops her, and Maggie offers him her hand after Gabriel breaks down crying. Glenn also spares Nicholas, and the two help each other back to Alexandria.

Rick shows up at the meeting with a dead walker and it seems as though everything might be settled...until Pete shows up with Michonne's sword and ends up slitting Reg's throat when he intervenes. Deanna actually tells Rick to kill Pete, and Rick puts a bullet in his head without a second thought.

It's at that moment that Morgan shows up at the door, recognizing Rick immediately even through the beard and the craziness.

So it seems that Rick has, one way or another, taken control at Alexandria and proved that he knows what's best (though whether or not that's actually true remains to be seen). Even Michonne straps her sword back on insteadof putting it on the wall. He may have done so just in time: we see a couple of short scenes with the Wolves slitting throats and basically herding purposefully-made walkers, and a van that says "Wolves Not Far."

We'll have to wait until next season for the Wolves mystery to play out, but in the meantime we should be able to enjoy The Walking Dead spin-off "Fear the Walking Dead" due out this summer. Check out the first trailer here!