Walking Dead, "Infected", S4E2
WARNING: This review contains spoilers.
There will be no BLT's on The Walking Dead.
There's a prevailing theme on The Walking Dead. Everyone will die a horrible death, and no one gets out alive and happy. Sure, there are moments when the characters forget their plight, and smile, but that fleeting happiness is often interrupted by a scream, signalling the return of the threat of death.
When last we saw Patrick (Vincent Martella), he was dying of a mysterious illness in the shower. This episode, newly zombified Patrick is looking for breakfast. Karen (Melissa Ponzio) survived the tense scene earlier in the evening when she left Tyrese's place. Tyrese (Chad Coleman) wanted some loving, but Karen wanted to slow down the pace of their relationship. Which brings me to the Public Service Announcement of the week: if you find yourself in the middle of a Zombie Apocalypse, and you have the opportunity for some physical affection, you should probably take it, because you'll likely die soon anyway. Karen unwittingly led Zombie Patrick back to Cellblock D, and Patrick made a breakfast meal out of some redshirt dude who coughed in his sleep. Nice job of the writers having Patrick bite the guy's throat so he couldn't scream, that was original! This snacking led to multiple other deaths throughout the cellblock, as a cast of redshirts that we were introduced to last week turned into #ZombieChow this week.
The survivors figure out that the mysterious disease that killed Patrick and that is affecting others is likely some type of swine flu, and they have to make the decision to quarantine those exposed to the infection until they can figure out what's going on. They also suspect that the pigs are the cause of the outbreak, and there will be no BLTs, ribs, or eastern North Carolina barbeque. Or, alternatively, our survivor doctors are wrong, and the mysterious disease is a form of bubonic plague, carried by rodents.
Carol (Melissa McBride), after spending Story Hour teaching the kids how to properly stab zombies with knives, treats a guy who was bit during the Zombie Patrick-led event. The guy, a lookalike of Renaissance Man Otis from Season Two, has two daughters, the two girls who wanted to name the zombies last episode and who thought that zombies were just sick people (shades of Herschel in Season Two). Carol calls them to visit with their father as he is dying, then tries to get the older girl, Lizzy, to put her father down after he dies and before he undies. But the girl can't do it, so Carol takes care that the father does not reanimate. Then she later reminds the girl that her inability to act was weak. I am loving the new and improved hard-knocks Carol, her character is quickly becoming my favorite.
Somebody is feeding the #fencezombies the rats, and they are massing at one corner of the fence, pushing on it until it starts to fail. Our heroes quickly move into position and start fence-stabbing the zombies, but the fence is becoming weakened. Something must be done.
Enter Rick (Andrew Lincoln), the retired Ricktator of the Prison. Rick has decided to recuse himself from leadership and protection duties, and assume a life as a farmer. He is also teaching Carl (Chandler Riggs) to farm, because he is concerned that his previous duties likely led to Carl's psychopathy. But when the zombies are threatening to push down the fence, our Will Munny-like lead must spring into action. So he and Darryl (Norman Reedus) get a truck and lead the zombies away from the fence, using the likely-infected pigs as bait. And when they succeed at luring the #zombs away from the fence, Rick is covered in symbolic blood. A shout out to the writers, that's strong sauce!
An interesting parallel between Carl and Lizzy. In the season premiere, Carl wanted to name the pigs and Rick warned him against looking at the animals as anything other than a source of food. Lizzy wanted to name the zombies, and Carl warned her against viewing them as anything other than a threat. Turns out, both the pigs and zombies are threats to the survivors.
Michonne (Danai Guirira) was going to go on a supply run, but as she was leaving, she heard a scream from within the prison grounds, turned to see what was happening, and somehow twisted her knee when she was attacked. But she is much too #badass to get bitten, so she holds them off until help arrives. Michonne also had an interesting scene when Beth (Emily Kinney) wanted her to hold Judith. Michonne's reluctance to hold the baby, then her crying, suggests there will be a Michonne flashback or two this season.
Speaking of Beth, the miraculously healed mute daughter of Herschel, she has become the Oracle of the Prison, doling out wisdom and capitalizing on her new-found ability to speak. "When you care about people, getting hurt is kind of part of the package," says the Sage of Western Georgia Correctional Facility to Michonne. I'm convinced that Beth should be a write-in candidate in the next Council election.
Tyrese goes to check on Karen, who has been coughing. But what he finds are blood smears leading out of her cell. Then he finds her and another body that have been burned.
Season Four is looking good so far for Scott Gimple and the crew. And major kudos to the writers. Instead of me looking for plot holes, they have me thinking about where the show is going. The show, which I used to dread watching, is quickly becoming must-see-TV. I'm excited about where it goes from here.
Random Thoughts:
- So who is the Rat Feeder and Arsonist? Is it the older daughter who liked to name zombies? Or is it Bob? Or maybe Herschel is back to his "they are just sick people" thing?
- I thought the Prison-ers were efficient zombie-killing machines last season. But the way they clear Cellblock D this episode was impressive.
- Carl has his gun back. When he was asking for it back, I couldn't help but mentally compare him to Dexter and think, "Tonight's the night." Who will he kill first?
- Anybody know why the survivors chose to stay at the prison, instead of populate Woodbury? Dude, I would have been living fat and sassy in Uptown Woodbury instead of slumming it in Cellblock D.
- Rick Grimes is an appropriate name. That dude is always the dirtiest character on the show.
- The picture Glen took of Maggie, was that foreshadowing?
- How old was Herschel when Beth was born? At best 50 years old? Is there a flashback where Herschel meets his much younger barn-zombie wife?
What did you think?
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