After the emotional and action-packed premiere, we returned for what looked to be a sleepy set-up episode. But right when we (and the characters) started to get too comfortable, things turned. First Daryl and Carol had a sighting of Beth’s abductor, this time with a conveniently battery-charged automobile nearby. And then we saw a return of a few hungry Termites and had another abduction.
First, let’s start with what most of the first part of the episode focused on, and that in the introduction of Father Gabriel. As we, and apparently Rick, have learned by now, with every new character comes a new secret. If it looks too good to be true … you know how that goes. And a man professing the word of God as the only weapon he’s needed is a man who looks to be good to be true.
A tour of Gabriel’s church led to some perfectly paired discoveries by several of the characters while clearing the structure before the rest of the group entered. Carol flipped through a notebook with the commandment, “Thou shall not kill” standing out in all caps. Carol, of course, is feeling guilt over killing Karen and David, and possibly over Lizzie and Mika too. She’s trying to live with the consequences, but it’s obviously still wearing on her has she later appears to be attempting to leave the group when Daryl confronts her by the car.
Michonne, meanwhile, found a room with drawings of baby Moses, with the words “40 years of wandering” scribbled on one, paralleling her own period of being lost and wandering with the walkers. The other meaningful discovery was Glenn finding a message about not growing weary of doing good. Glenn has tried to remember and live by the lessons Hershel taught him and was one of the people to remind Rick in the previous episode that they needed to be the type of people who let strangers out of the cargo containers at Terminus. The message seemed to reaffirm to him that he was on the right path.
Beth’s Abduction & The Car
We had another sighting of the car that Daryl witnessed after Beth was abducted. In both cases, this car, which has a cross on the back, was returning to a place with religious significance. The mortuary wasn’t a church exactly, but there was a burial ground out front, and there are usually religious overtones to funeral services. I’m guessing that there’s a connection between the driver and Father Gabriel. Friend or foe is unknown, but I’m willing to bet Father Gabriel’s secret is tied to Beth’s abduction – if, for no other reason, then Rick’s weighty threat to kill Father Gabriel if his secret results in any of their group being hurt loses some impact if nothing ever comes from it.Bob & the Termites
I’m putting out a spoiler alert for the next few couple of paragraphs. Although what I’ll be saying is speculation on my part, it follows a similar path of a different character from the comics, so if you don’t want to risk being spoiled, stop reading now. You can jump down to the “Other Thoughts” section.
I got the impression that Bob was bit when in the water. When he was pulled down by a walker, my initial thoughts were that Bob had survived at least two close calls already (in the season 4 premiere when the shelving fell on him, and in Alone, when the walker bit the bandage). Bob’s changed. He’s had growth, and his character arc was completed with him learning to let go of his fear and become part of a group again, so I thought he wouldn’t survive this latest attack. His reaction with Sasha later (asking for the extra kiss), and then his tears by the tree before he was captured seemed to confirm my suspicions.
And that leads to the next question, which is what happens if cannibals eat meat of the infected? To be honest, I’m not clear why any human meat at this point would be good, considering everyone’s infected in the sense that they will all turn when they die, but there seems to be a different level of infection for those bit by walkers. In an ironic twist, Gareth may get his cosmic justice after all.
Other Thoughts:
- Also, I was glad to see Tara confess to being at the prison to Maggie. She looked very thoughtful earlier in the episode when Glenn said that he had learned that there’s nothing left in this world that isn’t hidden. Tara tells Maggie that she didn’t want the fact that she was at the prison to be hidden.
- The award for the best line of the episode goes to Rick: “Let me take a look around first. We just want to hold onto our squirrels.”
- Runner ups are from Rick to Carol: “I sent you away to this, and now we’re joining you. Will you have us?” And from Daryl (with his squirrels): “We surrender.”
- The Termites group included the guy who Tyreese let live. I’m betting on a reunion between him and either Tyreese or Judith that won’t go well.
- One nitpick for the episode was the group deciding they needed to climb down into the water with the dead walkers to get the food. They had the higher ground advantage and knives. Why not lure the walkers to them (remember Rick’s lesson to Shane with luring walkers with blood in 18 Miles Out), and then take out as many as they could before getting into the water? The thought that walkers or walker parts with teeth could be hidden under the walker was obvious to even me before Bob got pulled under. They also could have looked around a little first to see if there was something they could use to fish out the cans of food.
- Another nitpick was moments of symbolism that were too heavy handed. An example is Carol restarting the car battery in an episode about restarts and as Daryl is trying to convince Carol to try for a fresh start. Another is Daryl tossing Carol a water jug, but her load is already too heavy.
- The smoke coming up over the horizon in the opening scene reminded me of the smoke that Carol and Tyreese had seen from the hooch shack that Daryl and Beth had burned. I took it as a reminder to that scene and her abduction – as later in the episode we saw the car again – but I’m figuring the actual smoke must be coming from Terminus. There’s a thread that runs throughout this series of burning the old as you start over. That was the sentiment Beth expressed when she encouraged Daryl to burn the shack. The barn where Sophia was housed was burned. The Governor burned his old photographs and Woodbury.
- Rick’s speech to Carl about never letting your guard down, and Carl’s response that they’re strong enough that they don’t need to hide, struck me as words that will both pay off as well as backfire on each of them later. This show zigzags back and forth so often between the lesson seeming to be that it’s wrong to trust and that it’s good to trust that it’s hard to tell who was right there. Any thoughts on that? Let me know in the comments.
- Finally, I’m not too happy that Carol didn’t find Michonne’s sword as well. Michonne looks – just wrong – without it. Michonne may feel okay about losing it, but I’m not okay with her losing it. It’s unsettling.
So what did you think of the episode? Let me know in the comments.
