The Walking Dead The Complete Fifth Season   Starring: Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Chandler Riggs, Danai Gurira and Melissa McBride Distributor: Entertainment One RRP: £TBC Certificate: 18 Release Date: 28 September 2015

After the season four finale, Rick and the group remain outnumbered, outgunned and awaiting to discover their fate at the hands of their captors at Terminus. Are these survivors overcautious new friends or an unnerving new foe? No matter the result, the group knows now more than ever they will need to fight the living if they wish to survive in the world of the dead...

After last season's on the move plotlines, which saw our heroes separated into smaller groups, each making their way towards Terminus, this season plays out over a number of new locations. We start of in Terminus as Rick and co learn the truth behind the residents that have welcomed them with open arms. Then we move onto a church which partly overlaps with a conflict with both the residents of Terminus and the residents of Grady Memorial Hospital, before everyone is once again reunited as they arrive at one of the locations of the comic book series, Alexandria.

It's a roller-coaster ride, as you'll be expecting, and we meet several new regular cast member, lose a handful of well loved characters and there's even the return of not one, but two cast members who you may have thought weren't coming back.

Fans of the show will love how this season pans out. And, if like me, you're also a follower of the comic book series, then it's entertaining to see the elements that overlap.

As this season progresses, Rick becomes darker and darker. This is not surprising given the amount of crap he's had to deal with, but when they enter Alexandria it doesn't take long before they start to realise that the people there have been incredibly lucky. Their security could easily be compromised and Rick starts to see the residents more as naive children. The residents of Alexandria are a lot like Rick and co and the start of the show's run and to place them side by side now just shows how far Rick has had to slide from the old way of life.

I think that one of the aspects of the show that keeps it fresh is that almost any of the characters could (and do) end up being killed. There's real jeopardy here. I still remember how heart-wrenchingly sad the scene in season two was when the barn door opened and we find that Sophia has become one of the walking dead. Similarly, in this season there are a number of painfully sad deaths which see some of the more well loved character bowing out.

Extras include an audio commentary for episode 5; The Making of The Walking Dead (57 min, 26 sec which looks at various aspects of this season including Terminus; underwater foodbank; the church set; filming the elevator shaft scenes; the fire truck; the scene with the van hanging off the bridge; the zombies which have been melted into asphalt; the shooting of the mid-season finale; Tyreese's hallucinations; ravine and barn; shooting the walker that is killed by a flare gun; the skinny strung-up zombie that breaks free from it's bounds; Alexandria welcome party; revolving door; and Rick and Pete's fight); Walkers in the Water (5 min, 18 sec look at filming the underwater foodbank scenes); Deleted Scenes (6 scenes which can only be played as a single feature); Inside The Walking Dead (1 hr, 17 min which looks at numerous elements of this season); Making of the Walking Dead (2 min, 53 sec, which looks at the return of a character); The Making of Alexandria (9 min, 45 sec which shows how Alexandria was created - it's a real town in which the houses will go up for sale once the show moves on to another location); Beth's Journey (4 min, 21 sec look at Beth's time on the show); Bob's Journey (4 min, 54 sec look at Bob's time on the show); Noah's Journey (4 min, 26 sec look at Noah's time on the show);) Tyreese's Journey (6 min, 53 sec look at Tyreese's time on the show); A Day In The Life Of Michael Cudlitz (7 min, 59 sec video diary with the actor who plays Abraham); A Day In The Life Of Josh McDermitt (7 min, 57 sec video diary with the actor who plays Eugene); and Rotters In The Flesh (4 min, 37 sec look at the melted napalm zombies).

For those that have being following the series from the start, season five moves the story ever onwards and the show is just as fresh and exciting as it was in its first season.

9

Darren Rea