After an excellent episode last week following Beth and Daryl and finally learning more about their individual personalities outside of their former roles in the group, ‘The Walking Dead’ catches us with a few of the other factions that have been displaced following the fall of the prison. Primarily, our time is split between the duo from last week’s episode and the trio comprised of Sasha, Maggie, and Bob. In this week’s episode, young Ms. Greene and her “chaperone” Mr. Dixon have stumbled upon a funeral home that is too good to be true. Meanwhile, Sasha struggles with her group’s quest to find Glenn, Tyreese, and anyone else from the prison because, despite her companions’ high hopes, she’s afraid that the worst has befallen her fellow survivors.
During my first watch of this episode, it didn’t even seem like an hour. I was so engrossed in everything that was going on that the time just flew by. After last week when Beth kept talking about how she’d be fine if Daryl died, I kept worrying that something was going to happen to one of them in this episode. Then, my nerves weren’t settled when the theme of the latest chapter was being alone, so I strongly felt that someone was biting the dust this week. Thankfully, no one did, but not everyone ended up in the most ideal situations by the time the credits rolled.
Speaking of the theme of being alone, I loved how they set that up in this episode. Bob is a very mysterious character to the audience. All we know is that he has medical training, he has an alcohol problem, and he’s the sole survivor of two groups prior to coming to the prison. In the cold open, we see how he came to join Rick and the gang after seeing him stagger through the post-apocalyptic world and then meeting Glenn and Daryl on the road. It’s almost like because he’s alone, he might as well be a walker because of the dead look in his eyes and the complete and utter solitude. I believe that there was even a shot where walkers dredged past him without even advancing toward him. This isn’t the first time that something like this has been addressed on this show, but this particular instance was especially good at pointing out that going through life alone (especially during zombie outbreak) isn’t good for anyone.
In addition to learning more about Bob, we get to know Sasha a bit more as well. We’ve clearly seen her be a strong woman who doesn’t exactly wear her emotions on her sleeve, but now we got to see a more vulnerable side to her. That revelation is partly thanks to Bob and his kiss, but when she talks about what she is actually afraid of, that’s when we really see who she is for the first time.
Finally, ‘The Walking Dead’ managed to do something to me this week that I haven’t done in a long time. I was actually talking back to the television when Daryl had his standoff with the walkers in the mortuary. Well, it was probably more of a yell, but that’s only because I was so invested in the outcome of the scene. I mean, why would you go downstairs where there isn’t any doors or windows. A lesser man would have gotten trapped and died, but not Daryl Dixon. Deep down, I felt like he’d be fine, but in the heat of the moment, I was truly concerned for one of my favorite characters as he made his way through one of the most awesome zombie escapes in recent history.
Sad Daryl made me sad.There aren’t many episodes left in this season and there are some huge things that need to be tied up, but if these past few episodes are any indication, I predict some huge developments on the horizon for the characters in ‘The Walking Dead’. I mean, I know that it seems like just yesterday the Governor was invading the prison, but we’re almost due for a heartbreaking, epic moment. Just look at Daryl, Beth, and that amazing house. These people just can’t catch a break and with only a handful of episodes left this season, something big is on the way and I can’t wait to find out what it is.
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‘The Walking Dead’ starring Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Steven Yuen, Lauren Cohan, Chandler Riggs, and Danai Gurira airs Sundays at 9:00pm on AMC.
