The Walking Dead season 8 episode 5: What's wrong with Father Gabriel? The cliffhanger explained

*Major spoilers for The Walking Dead season 8 episode 5 follow*

This week’s episode of The Walking Dead season 8 caught up with two unlikely characters thrown together for an intriguing outing that followed on from last week to improve upon the opening three.

The episode caught up with Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) who, last we saw, was stuck inside a crate surrounded by hundreds of walkers with no one for company but Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). They ended up working together to escape, battling their way through the horde disguised by the scent of a walker’s innards.

After making it back to the Sanctuary, Negan had Gabriel imprisoned and, at the very end of the episode, as Eugene went to visit his old Alexandria pal, he discovered him looking rather feverish leading many to believe he’d been bitten.

As Eugene tells him he'll bring him a medic, Gabriel refuses, telling Eugene they need to get the doctor to the Hilltop for Maggie. This seems to link back to the beginning of the episode - viewers see a flashback of Gabriel in prayer saying he doesn't want to die without a purpose. Perhaps this be the priest's purpose before he succumbs to a walker bite and dies?

Whether or not Negan knows he got bit (if, of course, he did) is unclear but after what happened with Sasha, it’s unlikely he’d be willing to take any bets of letting him inside.

With this in mind, perhaps Negan's question of whether anyone had ever gotten sick from rubbing a walker's guts all over themselves is going to be answered - maybe The Walking Dead has introduced a new illness to the show eight seasons in and Gabriel's fever is a reaction to "gutting up."

The Walking Dead season 8 airs every Sunday in the US on AMC with the UK premiere arriving the following evening on FOX. It will also be available on NOWTV

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