{Note: The writer initially had an impulse to recap this entire episode of The Walking Dead in the form of an homage to THE KID MERO and similarly exuberant web scribes. While better judgement prevailed, certain fragments of the beginning survived and are presented without alteration.}
SO OK LEMME GET THIS STRAIGHT IT WAS CAROL WHO SET THOSE PLAGUE-RIDDEN MOTHERFUCKERS ON FIRE AFTER MURKING THEM. OK. THAT’S A PERSON YOU WANT TO KEEP UNDER A ROOF WITH YOU. RIGHT. IT SOUNDS REAL SAFE. BUT SERIOUSLY…CAROL? IS THIS SHOW’S ENDGAME TO FUCKIN MAKE ME FINALLY LIKE RICK GRIMES BY MAKING EVERYONE ELSE ALL TERRIBLE AND SHIT, AND/OR MUUUUURRRRDDDDEEERRRRIIING THEM?
I MEAN I SORTA GET IT THIS SHOW IS LIKE SUPPOSED TO BE MAD NIHILIST AND SHIT AND ROBERT KIRKMAN THE COMICS CREATOR GUY SEEMS ALL DETACHED FROM ACTUAL HUMAN CHARACTERIZATION BECA– USE SOME NERDS IS JUST LIKE THAT BUT THIS SEEMS MAD DUMB FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF EVEN IF YOU DON’T LIKE A MOTHERFUCKIN CHARACTER(S) YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND/RELATE TO THEM ON SOME LEVEL AND THIS SHIT WITH CAROL MAKES NO GODDAMN SHITFUCKIN SENSE. I KINDA LIKED CAROL BUT THIS ALL THE WAY RUTHLESS PRAGMATISM SHIT IS A RANDOM-ASS TRANSITION.
{Here the recap resumes traditional form.}
Sorry for blowing the major “twist” of this episode right off the bat but it made me mad and seemed incredibly stupid, even for this show.
We start off back where we ended last week, with Tyreese angrily demanding revenge for his dead lover and fighting off those trying to calm him down, including Daryl and Rick. The former chills him out momentarily, the latter doesn’t take to getting hit and breaks his hand on Tyreese’s face. Real constructive, that. Shit does eventually calm down. Rick gets bandaged up and pep-talked by Hershel, as is Hershel’s wont (but it’s way less annoying ever since his leg amputation). Hershel has some almost poetic moments – watching several lone walkers on a plant-gathering run in the woods and finding their movements “peaceful,” delivering a monologue about risking one’s life that on paper probably sounded terribly portentous but is given an impassioned reading by actor Scott Wilson.
The virus is raging in full force. This divides the prison community into three camps – the infected, the “exposed” who might be infected and the completely uninfected. Carol is guarding the quarantine area for the infected, which I didn’t view as suspect at the time because of her cry-face moment after locking in a particularly sad Woodbury refugee.
Glenn appears to have the virus, so that’s kinda sad. I guess if there was a character I still actually cared about personally other than Daryl (the god), it would be Glenn/Maggie (Glaggie?) and Tyreese and pre-cold/crazy Carol. Oh, and Sasha and Bob seem pretty all right. Especially Bob, because he was D’Angelo on The Wire and WHERE’S WALLACE? WHERE THE FUCK IS WALLACE, STRING? STRING!
{Ed. note: The writer got slapped several times before he promised to stop going on tangents.}
This is kind of a slow, baggy episode – one that become more and more common in the series’ second and third seasons. In other words, it’s a giant red flag for those who watch this show closely. It’s usually terrible news. And indeed, most of it doesn’t really go anywhere and serves only as prelude for the climactic set-piece on the road.
Along the way there are some decent character moments. The interplay between Tyreese and Sasha is particularly sweet, and Hershel’s daughter Beth has finally become something other than an annoyance.
BUT THIS SCENE ON THE ROAD, THOUGH. Daryl, Michonne, Tyreese and Bob are driving to find a supposedly unexamined cache of medical supplies, at a veterinarian’s college. Daryl, behind the wheel, is startled by the sudden sound of words on the radio amid a sea of static. This causes a collision with a few lone walkers in the road. And then it’s a lot more than a few. Like around several thousand.
While the chief excitement of this scene, obviously, is the zombie-kill-palooza that results – rest assured, Michonne and Daryl are in full effect as far as that’s concerned – the bit with the radio is fascinating. It’s a deepening of the show’s mystery, which seems often to be given short shrift in the interest of zombie splatter or epic pontificating about moralism. It reminds me of the blown opportunity that occurred with the mysterious phone calls Rick was receiving in season 3 – which turned out just to be hallucinations. That should’ve been another community, or something along those lines.
(At this point, the ‘stans of the comic are saying, “BUT LIAM IT’S IN THE COMIC SO IT HAS TO BE GOOD RITE LOL?” And Liam is responding, SHUT THE FUCK UP. GOOD ADAPTATION IS NOT JUST SHALLOW FAN SERVICE.)
Back to the road attack. Clearly, the crew can’t handle themselves against this many zombies and has to run for cover. Tyreese, still in a glass case of emotion over Karen, decides to straight up take on a whole horde of zombies with just his hammer. This is obviously suicidal, and Daryl, Michonne and Bob leave him behind. Ordinarily, I’d be like, “Oh look, The Walking Dead is letting a black or Latino character die.” But this one was understandable.
And then it doesn’t end up mattering, because we come back from commercial and somehow Tyreese has wandered back to the road, covered in undead brains and guts, totally shell-shocked. The group wanders deeper into the woods, their original destination further away than ever.
The episode ends quietly, with Rick – having done some basic detective work and figured it out for himself – asking Carol if she killed Karen and Dave. (Who was Dave? The other earliest plague victim besides Patrick in the premiere. Why do I know nothing else about him? Because this show has no fucking clue how to have supporting or bit parts other than redshirts.) She simply says yes, and walks away, and Rick does nothing.
Based on the amount of goofing off I did in this recap, you can tell that I wasn’t particularly engaged this time around. This episode had none of the dark intensity or all-around quality of the premiere, nor did it have the furious pace of the episode that followed, “Infected.” It wasn’t bad, just a clear drop from the prior two episodes.
I suppose I ought to make peace with the fact that this show will always be frustrating on some level. Such is the pity, and I’ll see y’all next week.