Tales of the Walking Dead episode 5 spins a twisting yarn where Davon must reconstruct his memory - here's how his story connects to The Walking Dead's missing Heath, and how his timeline plays out... in chronological order this time. Grieving pet owners, undead time loops, proto-Alphas and glimpses of the future - now Tales of the Walking Dead episode 5 is dipping into psychological thriller territory. Jessie T. Usher swaps superhero speedsters in The Boys for creeping corpses, waking up handcuffed to a zombie in a forest while an entire village hunts him down.
Sadly, our protagonist has no memory of how he got into this predicament. As the episode progresses, Davon gradually pieces recent events together until finally recalling what happened over the past seven weeks. Tales of the Walking Dead episode 5 then dives between a series of disorientating flashbacks interlaced with present events in the exact same locations. Predictably, Davon's episode isn't easy to follow.
Rather than starting in the middle and simultaneously revealing the past and future as Tales of the Walking Dead episode 5 does, here's Davon's miscarriage of justice explained in full chronological order, and why his backstory connects to The Walking Dead's infamously missing Heath.
What Was Davon Doing Before Tales Of The Walking Dead Episode 5
Seven weeks before Tales of the Walking Dead episode 5 begins, Jessie T. Usher's Davon is traveling through a woodland in the vicinity of Madawaska, Maine. He's seemingly alone and heading toward Montreal, implicitly seeking to reunite with family that may or may not be alive. Despite carrying a gun, the kindhearted Davon refuses to shoot a mysterious assailant, but the mysterious assailant has no such qualms, and leaves Davon bleeding with a significant leg wound. As well as a family photograph, Davon's personal possessions include a "PPP" keycard, which previously appeared in The Walking Dead after Heath vanished. This clue might imply that Davon was once employed by the Civic Republic Military - the helicopter group confirmed as Heath's kidnapers.
Davon's Past Seven Weeks
The injured Davon is picked up by sisters Amanda and Nora, who have established a walled community away from civilization. They kindly offer their new guest a replacement leg and a fresh pair of glasses. Amanda teaches Davon something philosophical about killing fish, while he and Nora grow romantically close over piano lessons and oddly-shaped strawberries. Unbeknownst to Davon, Amanda's son Arnaud is already eyeing him with suspicion.
While minding his own business reading one day, Davon hears a boy's voice coming through an air vent. Following the sound, he discovers Nora's young son Garen and another child chained up in the basement, but is interrupted by Amanda - who knows about the little captives - before he can raise the alarm. The pair handcuff themselves together during a scrappy fight that ends with the community's leader falling into acid, but then the real culprit wanders in - Amanda's son, Arnaud. The teenage terror knocks Davon out cold, then presumably runs outside to tell the other villagers their newcomer is a murderer. A dazed Jessie T. Usher staggers outside carrying Amanda's body and weakly crying for help, but collapses in the forest.
Davon's Timeline In The Walking Dead Episode 5
Tales of the Walking Dead's episode 5 present timeline then begins proper, with Davon fleeing the angry mob while still hallucinating due to his head wound. These wild visions help Davon recover his memories, since the past seven weeks have now become completely muddled. The imagined voice of a zombified Amanda leads Jessie T. Usher's protagonist back to his old house, then down into the basement where a zombified prisoner is now rotting. Although Davon's unreliable mind sees Amanda attacking him at this point, Tales of the Walking Dead implies its episode 5 hero was captured by angry villagers while exploring the basement, because he's next seen tied up outside by the angry mob.
Escaping a vehicular execution, Davon finds where Garen is now being kept, remembers the rest of his recent timeline, and pieces together that Arnaud is the true murderer, leading the baying villagers to turn their hatred toward Amanda's unbalanced son.
How Davon Is Connected To The Walking Dead's Heath
As well as the family photo Davon keeps in his boot, Tales of the Walking Dead very briefly shows a keycard marked with "PPP" among his treasured possessions. The exact same card was picked up by The Walking Dead's Tara Chambler when she discovered Heath had disappeared, drawing a direct link between the main show and its latest spinoff. Tales of the Walking Dead episode 5 never specifies exactly where in the franchise timeline Davon's story is happening, so it's entirely possible that he leaves Amanda's community, is somehow involved in Heath's vanishing, and drops the PPP card behind either intentionally as a sign or by accident. Alternatively, the PPP card may represent some kind of identification that means Davon works/worked for the group who captured Heath. Since Angela Kang (The Walking Dead showrunner) has confirmed Heath was taken by the CRM, Jessie T. Usher's Davon could feasibly hide a connection to the Civic Republic.
Tales of the Walking Dead continues Sunday on AMC.