I think the producers of The Walking Dead may be claustrophobic. Or maybe they are all Eagle Scouts, or they like getting tans. Either way, these days The Walking Dead shies away from buildings at all costs. They spend all of their time in The Great Undead Outdoors, living one with nature, surrounded by trees and creeks and rabbits and logs. Remember how The Walking Dead started out in the shell of a dead metropolis? Taking a trip into Atlanta used to be a big deal! Now we are lucky when Rick and Carl hang out in a house for an afternoon.
Yeah, after last week's big Carl Pudding Episode, we got a big Short Story Collection Episode, which caught us up with the rest of the group that escaped the prison. Some of them have been with the show for years and some of them are so new and indistinguishable I had to look up their names. (Do you know how dumb I felt looking up a guy's name only to learn that it's Bob? BOB.)
Luckily for us, The Walking Dead seems to know we only care about these folks to watch them for a few minutes at a time, so each act break switches us to a new set of characters. This works in the show's favor because we don't stick around with one character long enough for them to annoy us but it doesn't make for a very satisfying conclusion. In fact, this episode's ending is one of the LEAST satisfying in the show's long, sad history of being not satisfying. See my rant in the Demerits section below for more details. D+ & D+ This was definitely the most undercooked story of the episode. Beth wants to be reuniting with everyone while Daryl thinks they're all dead. Then Beth picks some berries, the end? Daryl is strangely not a flippant badass and Beth doesn't really even mention her dead dad. Both seem like missed opportunities.
A-, A- & A- This is probably the least expected but most rewarding random pairing. Even though it kind of sounds like a pitch for a family comedy starring Ice Cube. "What happens when a badass with a giant hammer and a soft spot has to take care of three little girls?!!? Coming This Fall, it's Friday After The Apocalypse."
A+ & A+
C+, C+ & C+ Since I'm not a big fan of Glenn and Maggie when they're together, I quite enjoyed Maggie's Captain Ahabesque quest to find her White Whale husband. She (like us) doesn't care about Bob and Sasha and only wants to catch up with the bus and search for Glenn's rotting corpse inside.
B+ & B+ The Prison is an even cooler location after getting wrecked. I loved watching Glenn go exploring and the quiet moment he had in the cell just laying down on the bed and being miserable. I think last week's Carl Episode and this week's Glenn Segment showed that there is something mysterious and appealing about watching one character on his own try to survive. I wish the show could sustain that for longer periods, like an undead Cast Away. Did anyone else notice that it looks like during this apocalypse where everyone is starving, Glenn looks like he gained a few pounds? B With a new set of characters rotating in every 7 minutes, this episode is not at all boring or slow moving. However, none of the stories last long enough to pay off.
Daryl & Beth
Tyreese, Lizzie and Micah
Sure, the middle child is whiny and a horrendous actress, BUT I liked the dynamic, I liked Tyreese's running strategy, and I liked watching the little girls get left on their own. I mean - Tyreese is gone for like three minutes before that baby's life is in mortal danger. Five minutes tops before those two little girls go full on Lord Of The Flies. Back in college philosophy class, there was this classic horrifying thought experiment - would you smother your own crying baby to save your whole family from Nazis? What would you do?
The instant classic baby smothering scene really didn't amount to much but a 30 second tension escalator but this is one of the reasons why we like Walking Dead - it does things no other TV shows would do. Horrible things. Even when Breaking Bad put Holly in danger, the danger wasn't that dangerous. Walking Dead don't give a shit. Walking Dead likes killin' babies.
Also, what the fuck kinda name is Micah? She's not a mineral! Just name your damn kid Michelle. CHRIST.
Judith & Carol
I'm so glad these two are back! Please don't fake die/get voted off the island again.
Maggie, Bob & Sasha
I have a few problems with the bus. First, it seems weird that everyone on it turned into a zombie. Think about that. How does that even happen? Second, the people on the bus are supposed to be Maggie/Bob/Sasha's buddies from the prison. They kill those zombies without blinking an eye, later Bob says "they were good people" but since Bob seems to have no convictions whatsoever that's the equivalent of someone saying "oh those are nice flowers" or "hey what a sunny day." It sounds positive when it's more just a statement?
Picture this: as their former friends lurch off the bus one by one, Maggie recognizes them each. "That's Steve," she says as she sticks a knife in the forehead. "He worked in the kitchen. There's Erin [crunch, gunshot, bodydrop] she helped stitch my hand up once." This could have been a unique zombie killing scene, where it's personal. Not killing your own brother personal, but the thoughtless slaughter of acquaintances. That scene could have BEEN something more than the usual gorefest. Another missed opportunity.
Glenn & Tara
I don't know why after killing 95% of the characters introduced in last year's Governor arc that TARA is the one they chose to live to fight another day, but there she is. At first I thought they were too trusting of each other when like 6 hours ago in the show's timeline they were mortal enemies, but it became clear that they couldn't escape the prison without each other's help.
Unfortunately, this segment suffers from being the last of the episode, and it ends only because, well... it needs to. It's as if the writers were like, "well we hit 43 minutes, let's have Glenn pass out and next week's special guest stars show up. SOUNDS GREAT, THE END. Let's go get pizza."
"Inmates"
Extra Credit:
- FUN FACT: The bright orange backpack Glenn uses in this episode is a very subtle callback to last season's Best Episode Ever, Clear. That was the episode with the hitch hiker in the beginning that Rick refused to pick up. Later, they found him dead and stole his backpack. I love it when the show remembers its history like that.
- Despite the Beth/Daryl story not really getting any traction, I thought the cold open was a great montage. Beth's voiceover came perilously close to her breaking out in song again, but it was pretty epic, especially when they lay down in the grass and for a second you think aw that's kinda a nice, until we see the buzzards circling above and boom we're back in the knee-deep swamp of grim depression that is The Walking Dead.
- Riot Gear Glenn was a great callback all the way to the Season 3 premiere. When he jumped out of the smoky prison doorway in full body armor, it was a great hero shot.
- I broke out into a huge grin when Tyreese turns around to reveal he's carrying Judith. That was nicely done. However, speaking of transitions...
Demerits:
- Wow, what an awkward ending. So Glenn passes out, completely randomly. Tara kills a zombie and we watch her beat the shit out of the head, then suddenly we cut to part of a giant truck that has materialized out of nowhere. Then Tara looks almost directly into the camera and says some inane bullshit nobody in real life would ever say and then these three complete strangers show up. Now, as a rabid Walking Dead comic book fan, I know these characters and seeing them was a thrill. However, the way they suddenly show up in the truck, hop out and assemble themselves, all creepily moving into an action movie poster pose, like a fucking Mighty Ducks flying V, was SO POORLY handled, I'd be surprised if the director of this episode ever gets another chance. Next time, try filming the truck as it pulls up? Don't just cut to it after it's arrived, like there's been a goddamn magic trick.
- Nobody ate any pudding.
Zombie Kill of the Week
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