‘Walking Dead’ Season 5 Spoilers: Is Eugene Dead? Episode 7 Pulls Storyline Together Before Midseason Finale [RECAP]

The battles are never ending on “The Walking Dead.” With only one episode remaining until the Season 5 winter finale, Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) group had to charge head-on to get Carol (Melissa McBride) and Beth (Emily Kinney) from the Atlanta hospital at which they were being held.

Episode 7, “Crossed,” kicked off with Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Noah (Tyler James Williams) back at Father Gabriel’s (Seth Gilliam) church. Everyone agreed Beth and Carol had to be rescued; however, the church had to be secured for those staying behind. This time it wasn’t Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman) hanging back to take care of baby Judith and Carl (Chandler Riggs). Michonne (Danai Gurira) took one for the team and remained at the safe haven with Carol, baby Judith and a slowly unraveling Father Gabriel.

Rick, Tyreese, Daryl, Sasha And Noah

In Atlanta, Rick hatched a plan to take out Dawn (Christine Woods) and the rest of the cops in charge. But not everyone supported Rick’s plan. After the bloodshed from the Terminus cannibals, Tyreese wanted to try to get Carol and Beth back without killing anyone else. Rick promised him his plan would work, but Daryl agreed they should use a different method -- a prisoner exchange.

The group used Noah as bait to lure some of the hospital cops into the street. That part of their plan was a success; however, the two cops who arrived had backup and messed up part 2 of Rick's plan. Rick’s group was forced to fire shots and run down the cops -- who almost killed Daryl. In the biggest nail biting moment of the episode, one of the cops let a melted asphalt walker almost chomp on Daryl’s face. Daryl was only able to escape after sticking his fingers into the eye sockets of another walker, ripping its head off and using it to bash the cop in the head to knock him off balance.

Noah identified one of the cops, Bob Lamson (Maximiliano Hernández), as a good guy. The other cops argued Dawn never would go for the prisoner exchange, especially since they were unhappy with her and had been considering their own uprising.

“Let us go and we’ll take care of Dawn ourselves,” the female cop tried to plead.

However, Bob Lamson told Rick the plan would work, explaining his only interest was a “peaceful resolution.” Rick went to speak with Dawn and left Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) behind with Bob Lamson. The cop told her a sob story about seeing one of his friends as a walker on the street, saying it could have been him. Sasha, still emotional from the loss of Bob Stookey (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.), told Bob Lamson she’d put his former friend out of his misery. But Bob Lamson had ulterior motives. When Sasha raised her gun, Bob Lamson charged from behind and hit her against the glass window, knocking her unconscious.

Beth And Carol

At the hospital, Dawn was hoping Noah would screw up and they’d be able to recapture him. She sent cops out on the street to look for him; however, Beth had concerns other than Noah. Another one of the officers believed Carol was a lost cause and wanted to remove her from the machines. Beth immediately began to argue when she overheard the officer talking with Dawn. But Beth’s words only led Dawn to officially remove Carol from the machines.

“You just killed that woman,” Dawn told her when the other cop left. “Who do you think I have to side with?”

Dawn surprised Beth though when she told her it was up to her to “save that woman” aka Carol. She handed over a key to the drug locker, something to which Dr. Steven Edwards (Erik Jensen) didn’t even have access.

“I thought you were weak,” Dawn said to Beth. “You’ve proved me wrong.”

Beth was able to get the drugs into Carol’s system, but Carol had yet to wake up.

Abraham, Eugene, Glenn, Maggie, Tara And Rosita

Episode 7 also caught up with Abraham’s (Michael Cudlitz) group. Last time “Walking Dead” viewers left them, Abraham had knocked Eugene (Josh McDermitt) out after learning that he had lied about knowing the cure for the zombie virus. Fans were left uncertain if Eugene was alive or dead.

Eugene was still unconscious when the storyline returned, and Abraham was struggling with the loss of the mission. Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Glenn (Steven Yeun) wanted everyone to return to the church, however, because moving Eugene could potentially worsen his condition.

With nothing left to do but wait, Maggie stayed behind with Eugene and Abraham while Glenn went with Tara (Alanna Masterson) and Rosita (Christian Serratos) to search for water and other supplies to help them. Glenn, Tara and Rosita were able to catch some fish and find a yoyo, and by the time they returned Eugene was just waking up, apparently in quite a bit of pain.

Carl, Michonne, Baby Judith And Father Gabriel

As Rick’s group worked on their mission and Abraham’s crew waited, Carl tried to teach Father Gabriel how to defend himself. Father Gabriel wasn’t interested though, appalled at the horrific acts in which he had watched the people take part since arriving at the church. When Carl badgered him to choose a weapon, Father Gabriel finally picked up a machete. However, he had no plans to use it to defend himself. Instead, the priest locked himself in his private room and used the weapon to pick up the floorboards. With Michonne and Carl distracted by baby Judith, Father Gabriel snuck out of the church through the basement.

Once on the outside, Father Gabriel hurt his foot after stepping on a nail. But even though he was injured he had no plans to return. He took off for the woods without any weapons or supplies.

What was your favorite part of “The Walking Dead” Season 5, episode 7? Tweet your thoughts to @AmandaTVScoop.