‘The Walking Dead’ Recap: Season 5, Episode 5 – ‘Self Help’

“The Walking Dead” finally opened the door on the backstory of Sgt. Abraham Ford in “Self Help.”

The gang also learned more about Dr. Eugene Porter’s scientific background as they faced a wall of walkers.

Here’s our recap of “The Walking Dead” Season 5, Episode 5, “Self Help.”

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The Present

Abraham, Eugene, Rosita, Tara, Glenn & Maggie, On The Bus: As Abraham drives the gang down the road in Father Gabriel’s old bus, we get our first indication that there’s a romantic connection between the redhead and his female traveling companion. Rosita sweetly plays with Abraham’s hair and offers to give him a trim later. In the passenger section, Tara looks over at Eugene’s mullet and quips he needs a trim too. “The party’s getting a little long in the back,” she says. He declines. As they motor on, Glenn and Maggie turn to Eugene for details on his world-saving mission – how long will it take? After a complex answer involving missiles and weather patterns gets too technical, Glenn asks, “Why the hair?” “Because I like it,” Eugene notes. “And no one is taking scissor or clipper to it any time soon,” Eugene says, adding that T. Brooks Ellis, the director of the Human Genome Project, once told him his hair made him look like a “fun guy.”

Cruising down the road in peace can’t continue, though. This is “The Walking Dead” and it’s time for the next bump in the road. Pop! There’s a loud bang and the bus slides, skids and flips, quickly attracting back road walkers.

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The Past

Abraham, In A Supermarket: With a tin can as a weapon, Abraham beats a man to the brink, and then steps on his throat, killing him. Behind him, there are several bodies on the supermarket floor.

The Present

Abraham & The Bus Gang, A Road: “Eugene! Eugene!” Abraham screams as everyone tries to recover from the crash. Mullet man is there, alive and in the back of the bus, but they all need to evacuate immediately — the hinges are on fire. With walkers all around them, it’s Glenn who comes up with the escape plan. Tara stays back to cover Eugene while Maggie, Glenn, Abraham and Rosita take down walker after walker. Inside, Tara and Eugene cautiously begin their exit, when a walker busts in through the side, coming straight for Eugene. Tara saves him, and then gives Eugene some important advice. “I know that it sucks and it’s scary, but it’s time to be brave,” she says, handing him a small knife. He’s terrified as he gets out of the bus, the road swarming with walkers, but then, something changes in Eugene. His new friend Tara is about to be attacked and Eugene springs into action, killing a walker and saving Tara.

“Check Eugene! See if he’s hurt,” Abraham shouts now that the threat is over. Abraham’s own hand is bleeding — badly. Eugene is fine, and he has an idea – they are only 15 miles away from the church. They can go back. “We don’t go back,” Abraham insists.

The Past

Abraham, An Abandoned Store: “Ellen,” Abraham shouts, looking for a woman. She’s by the cash register and she turns around slowly. A redheaded boy and young girl standing behind her look up at Abraham. This is clearly his family, and they are terrified.

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The Present

Abraham & The Gang, An Abandoned Library: It’s night time and the group has found shelter. Tara uses an old tin can to get water out of the back of a toilet, and puts it over a fire in a trashcan to boil and purify it. Rosita stitches up Abraham’s cut up hand. “I’m gonna take a sweep,” he says, heading to the window for a heart to heart with Glenn. “It’s plain as potatoes to me now. You get it,” Abraham says, noting Glenn is on board with their mission. “The world’s gonna change, right?” Glenn asks. “You’re damn right,” Abraham states, adding he’s ready for bed, after he gets some “a**” (something Glenn says he was fine not knowing).

“Abraham, he’s watching again — over there, in the self-help section,” Rosita says as she and Abraham engage in a little library lovemaking in front of Eugene’s watchful eye. It’s Tara who stops Eugene’s gawking. “Dude!” she says. “I enjoy the female form and I consider this a victimless crime that provides both comfort and distraction,” Eugene says by way of explanation. Tara is less than impressed, and tries to change the subject, turning things to when he saved her life and killed that walker. “If I did, then you provided the context for doing me so,” he explains. “I was screwed either way. So I went with the choice of helping someone.” His honesty prompts a zombie apocalypse pep talk from Tara – he can do it, he can take on this world and the walkers. What comes next though is not the response Tara is expecting. “The bus crashed ’cause of me. I put crushed glass in the fuel line,” Eugene blurts out. He can’t survive on his own and he feels if he doesn’t fix things, the group has no use for him. Tara protests. “We have each other’s backs. It’s how it works,” she says, urging Eugene not to tell anyone else about what he did to the bus. “You know you messed up. You’re trying, but dude, you can’t do something like that again,” she says, before they fistbump.

Cuddled up on the floor, Maggie says she is feeling guilty. Their friends are back at the church. But, she’s also feeling positive. This mission changes everything. “It just feels really good having this, because it’s not about what was. … It’s all about what’s gonna be,” Maggie says. “Don’t feel guilty about that,” Glenn says, giving her a kiss.

The Past

Abraham & His Family, An Abandoned Store: “I stopped ’em. You don’t have to be scared now,” Abraham tells Ellen. Seeing him covered in blood, she is terrified. He’s changed. The two children cowering behind her are scared of their dad.

The Present

Abraham & The Gang, A Town: “It’s not infected,” Rosita says, looking at Abraham’s cut up hand. “You been going to nurses school on the sly?” he asks her. “Roger and Pam taught me,” she replies, adding that it might be a good idea to stay at the library today and rest up so they have more strength on their mission. Rosita’s suggestion turns into an argument. When Maggie walks over suggesting the same thing, Rosita flips and chooses to side with Abraham. They’ll keep going. As luck would have it, they have a vehicle with fresh water available – a firetruck is just outside the window.

Eugene climbs into the cab with Abraham, and a bit of luck follows the group – the engine starts! As they pull out of the drive, the fire station door just happens to open. But, moments later a new twist. The engine cuts out and a tire rolls past them, fresh out of that open fire station door. That movement can only mean one thing – someone’s here! Walkers. Dozens of them exit the fire station. Flight isn’t an option so it’s time to fight. Smash! Slice! Cut! Abraham and the gang do what they can, but there are a lot of walkers and they need help. And it comes from above. Eugene gets on top of the firetruck, turns on the powerful hose and kills rotting walkers with the water (their skin is so weak, it breaks apart under the power of the stream).

“I’ve been to eight county fairs and one goat rodeo, I’ve never seen anything like that,” Abraham says, laughing. Eugene finally smiles.

The Past

Abraham, A Facility: It’s day when Abraham wakes up from his slumber to an empty room. Ellen, A.J. and Becca are gone. “Dont try to find us,” reads a sign on some cash register paper (Ellen even left out the apostrophe in don’t).

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The Present

Abraham & The Gang, The Open Road: The firetruck worked just long enough to get them a little further down the road, but it broke down and Abraham is now trying to fix it. Seated on the back of the truck, Eugene is reading H.G. Wells’ “The Shape of Things to Come.” It’s Maggie who walks over for a chat – about the mullet. “I think you like it for a reason. You’re not the person people think you are. You don’t want ’em to know who you are,” she says sweetly, in a teacher-like voice. “You’re not like everybody else. I think a lot of people in your position probably would have given up, but you didn’t,” she adds. A chat about how Eugene isn’t like Samson from The Bible though, is interrupted when Glenn smells something bad.

“Whatever’s making that stench, isn’t anything nice,” Abraham says. Walking down the road together, everyone stops when they see thousands of walker on the road and in the farm fields ahead. It’s not a safe route. Glenn advises a detour, but Abraham won’t have it. They’ve gone back and detoured too often. “We can’t go back,” Abraham states. But this time, Rosita isn’t standing by him. “No,” Rosita says, siding with everyone else. “They’re right.”

Furious, Abraham grabs Eugene, dragging him back to the truck. The gang rushes in to stop him. It’s at this moment that Eugene breaks. “I’m not a scientist! I am not a scientist!” Eugene screams. “I lied. I’m not a scientist. I don’t know how to stop it. I’m not a scientist.”

Shock! The gang can’t quite believe it. “You are a scientist, I’ve seen the things that you can do,” Rosita says. “I just know things,” Eugene replies. “I know I’m smarter than most people,” he adds. He lied at the beginning in order to get people to get him to D.C. where he figured he could survive. That would be a bonus for them too, he reasoned. “People died, trying to get you here,” Rosita says, still trying to make sense of the news. Eugene rattles off the list of people who died along the way — Stephanie, Warren, Pam and Rex among others. “I lost my nerve as we grew closer, for I am a coward,” he continues, noting he tried to slow them down. “But at this moment, I fully realize there are no longer any agreeable options. I was screwed either way,” he adds. “Again, I am smarter than you,” Eugene begins again, looking at Abraham, trying to explain himself further, but he’s cut short. Abraham stands up and begins punching his companion in the face. Eugene falls to the ground. The gang run over to help Eugene. His whole world blown apart, Abraham heads a little further on in the road, falls on his knees and sobs.

The Past

Abraham, A Road: Ellen didn’t make it. Neither did the kids. Finding their remains crushes Abraham, who tears off his dog tags and throws them on the ground. Devastated and distraught, he takes out a gun and is about to shoot himself when Eugene comes running down the road, screaming for help. Standing up, Abraham takes out his pain on walkers. “Thank you,” Eugene says, after he’s safe. But Abraham starts to walk away. “Wait! Wait up! Stop. You can’t leave,” Eugene says. “Why?” Abraham asks. “I have a very important mission,” Eugene says.

“The Walking Dead” airs Sundays at 9 PM ET/PT on AMC.

— Jolie Lash