"No Sanctuary" is the fifth season premiere of the post-apocalyptic horror television series "The Walking Dead", which aired on AMC on October 12, 2014. It was written by showrunner Scott M. Gimple and directed by Greg Nicotero. In the episode, Rick Grimes' (Andrew Lincoln) group struggles to figure out a way to escape Terminus, whose inhabitants have resorted to cannibalism to survive. Concurrently, Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride) devises a plan to rescue Rick's group after learning they are in danger.
The episode featured several recurring guest stars, including Lennie James, who makes a brief uncredited post-end credits appearance as Morgan Jones, in his third overall appearance in the show. This episode was critically praised; most applauded its action, story progression, emotional aspect, and Morgan's return, although several viewers were disturbed by the graphic nature of the episode. Upon airing, the episode hit series-high ratings, with 17.29 million viewers; the episode also garnered an 18-49 age bracket rating of 8.7. The show achieved its previous series-high ratings during the fourth-season premiere, "30 Days Without an Accident", which garnered 16.11 million viewers. The episode is considered by critics and audiences to be one of the show's best, citing the fast-paced action, dark themes, and performances by the lead cast as high points.
Plot.
In a flashback, the Terminus residents are held captive by a group of rapists and murderers whom they had let into Terminus while it was a true sanctuary. Gareth, Alex and Mary vow to escape, learning the message that "you're the butcher, or you're the cattle."
Gareth has captured most of Rick's group in a train car at Terminus. Rick encourages the group to fashion makeshift weapons such as a zipper used as a wire saw to carve a wooden blade as they relate their experiences that led to Terminus, and Gareth's men throw a flash bang into the container, and knock most of them out, and Gareth has Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and Bob secured in a butchering room to be bloodlet so that they can be fed to the Terminus people. Sam and three other captives have their throats slit and killed before Gareth arrives, asking about a gun bag that he had seen Rick carrying. Initially, Rick doesn't answer until Gareth threatens him with a knife to Bob’s eye. Rick tells Gareth that the bag contains multiple weapons, one of which is "a machete with a red handle," which he vows to kill Gareth with.
Carol and Tyreese, caring for Rick's infant daughter Judith, are following the tracks to Terminus but hide from a walker herd. They hear a firework set off nearby and follow the noise to a cabin, manned by Martin (Chris Coy), in radio contact with Terminus and using the noise to direct the walker herd away from the train yard. Carol and Tyreese learn that Rick's group is captured inside, and the two subdue Martin. Carol goes to help free the group, while Tyreese stays to take care of Judith.
A camouflaged Carol approaches the train yard, and she ignites a propane tank near the fence that explodes, creating a breach for the walkers to enter, causing the citizens of Terminus to panic. After cutting his restraints off with the wooden blade, Rick kills the two butchers and the group heads to another room filled with weapons. Using this opportunity, Rick and his group overpower and kill several of their captors outside. He leads the others to where he buried his gun bag, insisting that they retaliate despite the concerns from the others. During their escape, Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Bob release a man while searching for their friends who has gone insane in captivity. The man declares that his people and the Terminus residents are now the same before a walker kills him and Glenn puts them both down.
Meanwhile, Carol finds and confronts Mary. Mary tells Carol the history of Terminus, that the group held them captive for weeks before the residents escaped and retook their sanctuary, imprisoning the leader of the hostile group in a train car (the man who went insane). Carol shoots Mary in the leg, and Mary pleads for her life insists that the members of Terminus did what they had to do, but Carol leaves her to be overwhelmed by walkers, escaping harm thanks to her camouflage.
At the cabin, Tyreese and Martin get into an altercation when Martin manages to reach Judith and threatens to choke her. Tyreese gains the upperhand and beats him unconscious. Carol makes her way to and reunites with the group, who have rescued their friends and made it to the forest. She then leads them to the cabin, where Tyreese and Judith are waiting. Ultimately, Rick decides that the group will get as far away from Terminus as possible. As the group travels the tracks, Rick smears one of the Terminus signs with mud to read "no sanctuary".
In a post-credits scene, Morgan finds the altered sign some time later. Morgan then begins following symbols carved into the trees.
Production.
"No Sanctuary" was written by executive producer and series showrunner Scott M. Gimple, and directed by executive producer and special make-up effects supervisor Greg Nicotero. Nicotero is expected to direct three additional episodes in the fifth season. "No Sanctuary" marked the first episode that featured Michael Cudlitz, Josh McDermitt, Christian Serratos, Alanna Masterson, and Andrew J. West as series regulars; they reprise their roles as Sgt. Abraham Ford, Dr. Eugene Porter, Rosita Espinosa, Tara Chambler, and Gareth, respectively, from the fourth season.
Several cast and crew members warned the audience of the graphic content of the episode. Prior to the episode's release, certain scenes were reported to have been cut from the official broadcast, having been deemed too disturbing. The scenes remaining in the episode have been met with comparable observations by the show's actors. Steven Yeun, who portrays Glenn Rhee, said: I remember a couple of scenes I would look over at what was going on in the scene and I would be like, ‘What the eff? What are we doing? How is this legal? It's grounded and real, too; it's not like torture or gore for no reason. It's literally, that is what would happen and we are trying to show it. It would not work on network television, let me tell you that. Lauren Cohan, who portrays Maggie Greene, made similar comments regarding the episode, saying some of the scenes were "so disturbing", she did not think they would make it on TV. The series' composer, Bear McCreary, tweeted to parents of young children: "Do not let children watch "The Walking Dead" tonight. Or ever again. I'm very serious", as he is aware of the show's younger fans. Despite his warning, McCreary said that "No Sanctuary" was his "favorite episode in years, and, [in my honest opinion], the scariest score I've ever done." Series creator and executive producer Robert Kirkman stated that the episode's opening presented to the audience the threat that the characters face, although he said, "[It] actually adds a tremendous amount of value to the story, and so that’s what justifies these great lengths that we go to to, you know, disgust the audience." Gimple said that there was concern of the graphic nature of the episode, but both he and the network eventually felt it was necessary for the episode's plot, and that it contained meaning within the story. He also stated that the disturbing acts of the people in Terminus was important to convey the terror of "institutional evil", saying: ;templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" / ;Seeing such a pronounced, bloody, horrific thing being done by men who are completely dispassionate about it, and who are merely just having another day at the office, that this is their version of “time to make the donuts.” I think there’s something terrifying about that "institutional" violence. "Institutional evil", I think, is the scariest stuff. And as they go down the line, and we see that there isn’t a personal stake in it, I think we become very cognizant of, well, these aren’t people we can talk out of this. They don’t really have much emotion to it. This is almost like dealing with a machine. It’s very, very terrifying — these people are no longer really people. And I think it was important to portray that very early in the season.
"No Sanctuary" can be seen as a transitioning stage for Rick Grimes, who has accepted his brutality whilst retaining his humanity, after attempting to live a peaceful life in the fourth season. Andrew Lincoln, who portrays Rick, said: "there's something about getting dirty, sweaty and bloody that feels right." The episode also featured several reunions in the group - siblings Sasha and Tyreese and baby Judith with Rick and Carl - that were organized by Carol Peletier, who enabled the events that helped the group escape Terminus. Gimple noted that Rick would not respond positively to Carol's return had she not be responsible for assisting in their escape and reuniting him with his daughter. He also believed that the reunions reinforced Rick's motivations in his actions: "for the survival of his children and the sake of love." "No Sanctuary" also displays Tyreese's aversion to violence, and his reluctance to step up, despite being "almost the most powerful" among the primary characters. Kirkman believed that his ability to become violent to survive, such as killing all the walkers outside the cabin with his bare hands, terrifies him, which could be seen as his weakness; Kirkman stated that this will be explored throughout the fifth season.
The episode introduced a "Then and Now" structure, which utilizes flashbacks that bookend the episode; flashbacks were used in previous seasons of the television series, and were sparsely used in the graphic novels the series is based on. Although Gimple stated that this feature would not be seen throughout the season, he said, "We definitely play with time this season. And we’ll be jumping around a little bit, but I believe this is our only Then and Now." Kirkman noted that the audience "[knows] so much more about Gareth and all of those people because of those two very minor scenes." Gimple knew the backstory of Terminus while the characters were traveling there in the previous season, and stated that it echoes what happens next to Rick's group. The writers wanted to divulge and formulate the "whole story" of Terminus that affects the characters of the show; he related the stories of everyone in their universe to "walking ghosts of Christmas Future and ghosts of Christmas Past to [the] characters."
The episode featured the return of Lennie James as Morgan Jones in a brief uncredited post-end credits cameo. It marked his third appearance in the show, after the pilot, "Days Gone Bye", and the season three episode "Clear". Gimple explained in an interview with "The Hollywood Reporter" that Morgan's appearance was the "beginning of something" for the character, but would not state further; he instead said, "Looking at him, how he's dressed, how he's acting — it's not a 42-minute episode there — but you get some hints about where he's at. I would look at that carefully." In an interview with "Entertainment Weekly", he also noted that Morgan was "definitely dressed better than the last time we saw him. He looks pretty well put together. You know, he’s not talking to himself. I would say that, just laying eyes on him, it looks like a different Morgan." Kirkman stated that Morgan was possibly following Rick's trail, as Rick left him a map in "Clear". He also said that the post-credits scene was used not only to surprise the audience, but to also "[sequester the] story of this episode...into its own contiguous piece."
"No Sanctuary" featured several homages to various horror films. The episode's opening scene involved primary characters Rick Grimes, Daryl Dixon, Glenn Rhee, and Bob Stookey being brought to a slaughterhouse and lined up over a trough with other Terminus captives, who are violently hit over the head with baseball bats before their throats are slit to drain their blood. Nicotero said during an interview in the aftershow "Talking Dead" that the scene was inspired by the film "Alien" (1979), particularly the "chestburster" scene. "[Director] Ridley Scott they had blood tubes hooked up and nobody knew what was going to happen...When they rolled