This week’s episode explores what the rest of Rick’s scattered group is doing to survive in the world of walkers.This is one of the best crafted episodes of this series. Scott Gimple’s literary skills shine. The episode is structured like a play with four separate yet interrelated scenes.
For the first two scenes, he uses a pathway in the wilderness that leads to a train track as if it were stage. Like actors who walk on stage for a scene, the survivors pass through the same spot in the wilderness.
Each group misses the other, but they leave behind traces of their experiences at that spot.
Gimple begins with Daryl and Beth. As the audience watches them run from walkers and fight off the dead, they hear a voiceover of Beth reading an entry from her diary. The entry is about the time when the group first found the prison. She talks about feeling safe and hopeful for the first time in a very long time. The cruelty of her fate is made all the more apparent by juxtaposing the voiceover with scenes of Beth and Daryl fighting to live. It creates the impression that the universe is mocking her for having faith.
Sadly, Daryl joins in on the mockery of her spirit. Norman Reedus’ talent for showing what is on Daryl’s mind with very little dialogue is brilliantly done here. He quietly sits and stares off into nothingness as he and Beth sit by a fire. She urges him to search for the others. He does not move or look at her. His shoulders are limp in defeat. Behind the empty stare is a man whose spirit is practically crushed. He is becoming the Daryl audiences met in the first season. This is painfully clear when Beth tries to tell him it is important to have faith. He returns by reminding her that faith did not do much for her father.
The cruelty of his comment surprises him, but not enough to forget his own misery. He and Beth move on to find a group of walkers eating their victims. Daryl puts them down and Beth notices a child’s shoe. Her faith finally breaks and she sobs in despair. Yet, the tragedy of this scene is that Daryl can’t find it in himself to console her. He walks ahead of her as she weeps. He briefly stops and turns his head to look at her, but then keeps on walking.
The next scene takes audiences back to when Lizzie, Mika and Tyreese come across the same path that Daryl and Beth will come to later. The audience is given a much needed surprise when Tyreese turns to the face the camera and is holding baby Judith. The ladies could be heard swooning as he holds that baby against his chest. This scene showcases the strength of his character as he guides and protects three children. He does not know that his sister is alive. He has suffered tremendous loss, but he can still give of himself to others. As Mika apologizes for not being strong like Lizzie, he tells her she is strong. She just deals with her fear in her own way.
The most disturbing part of this whole episode is what has become of Lizzie. She is becoming a sociopath. She tests herself to see if she can kill. She does this when she finds a family of rabbits and butchers them with a knife. She is willing to smother Judith to keep her quiet so as to not attract walkers when she cries. She appears to enjoy the power she feels when covers Judith’s mouth. Carol’s lessons were not lost on her. As luck would have it, they meet Carol as they move on the train tracks.
She is fearful when she sees Tyreese, but quickly realizes he does not know that she killed the woman he loved. Carol is going to have to contend with the consequences of her past actions in dealing with Tyreese and Lizzie.
The next two scenes reveal that Maggie, Sasha and Bob survived. Maggie comes across a walker that she thinks is Glenn. She kills the walker, but soon realizes it’s not Glenn. She weeps and laughs at the same time. However, her laugh is crazed because she knows she relieved that someone else is dead. The horror of what her reality forces her to feel and become is maddening.
The final scene shows viewers that Glenn is the true disciple of both Dale and Herschel. In all the misery around him, he finds the courage to go back to the prison to find Maggie. He takes action when he needs to by arming himself. He fights his way through a throng of walkers. And when he finds one of the people responsible for raiding the prison, he helps her find the will to live. In Glenn, the audiences have the character who will carry the torch of hope, faith and strength left behind by Herschel.
Leave a Reply