What We Learned From Tonight's The Walking Dead

Tonight's episode of The Walking Dead on AMC was pretty intense...and in addition to just moving the plot along, we got some answers to questions that had been dogging us since the start of the season.

Like what? Well, read on...

The markings on the trees

They marked their path so they could get back, Gareth tells Bob.

Back to what -- well, even Gareth doesn't know, but it doesn't much matter since he and his people won't be ambulatory again anytime soon.

So...that's what the marks on the trees were for, apparently. We're guessing that means, if Morgan follows them, he'll end up at the church.

So...is that who's with Daryl?

The characters don't know any more about "tainted meat" than we do

Like in the comics, the cannibals had no idea whether tainted meat would prove fatal -- which lumps them right in with us. We asked earlier today whether it would even matter if Bob had been bitten, and the comments thread beneath our article ranged from "of course, you moron" to "of course not, you moron."

Well, we'll never find out. At least not from this group. They weren't given enough time for any potential "poisoning" death to happen.

Father Gabriel's sins

It's revealed that, like in the comics, Father Gabriel chose to turn away parishioners who were trying to get into the church.

He tortures himself about it to this day, and that guilt helps him do the right thing despite his reservations a couple of times in this episode.

Tyreese's forgiveness is bigger picture

Why didn't they really follow up with Tyreese's forgiveness of Carol much? Well, it seems as though it was all part of a bigger picture. He gives Sasha a piece of helpful advice about forgiveness...and even though she doesn't take it, it does help to inform why he's been making some of the decisions he's been making this season.