The Walking Dead, “Strangers,” was written by Robert Kirkman and directed by David Boyd who last directed “Internment” from last season. This episode sees a brief respite for our group before the horrific ending. Daryl (Norman Reedus) tells Carol (Melissa McBride), “We need to start over. All of us with each other.” They have all been apart since the attack on the prison and in many ways they are strangers to each other.
Glenn (Steven Yuen), Maggie (Lauren Cohen), and Tara (Alanna Masterson) scavenge a gun shop. Maggie and Tara remark that it’s not at all likely that they will find anything left in a gun shop at this point. However, Glenn finds 3 silencers hidden in a mini fridge. He tells the women, “Rule number one of scavenging. Nothing left in this world that isn’t hidden.” This theme of silence and what is hidden runs throughout the episode.
Tyreese (Chad L Coleman) tells Carol that he’s basically made sure that everyone knows what Carol did at the prison – killing Karen and David – and that they are ok with it, so she doesn’t have to talk about it or defend herself. He also tells her they don’t need to tell anyone about what happened to Lizzie and Mika. He explains that he just needs to forget it. Interestingly, Carol then tells Daryl the exact same thing – that she doesn’t want to talk about it, she just wants to forget it. So the truth about Lizzie and Mika remains hidden.
The episode really does feel like it hits a reset button when Rick goes to Carol and tells her they owe her everything. He means for rescuing them, but even more for saving Judith. Carol brushes it off, giving the credit for Judith to Tyreese. We are brought back to the moment that Rick cast Carol out of the group when she goes to give him his watch back. Rick tries to give her her own watch back but she refuses. He tells her, “I sent you away to this.” She replies, “You said I could survive and I did.” Rick then replies, “and now we’re joining you. Will you have us?” Carol nods her acceptance. The watch, of course, represents civilization – keeping to a schedule, control, etc. Remember that Rick lost his watch when he gave it to Sam (Robin Lloyd Taylor) in the episode “Indifference” and Sam disappeared. Carol found the watch in Terminus, and Sam was the first person killed at the trough in the last episode. (Trivia: Taylor is currently starring as the Penguin on Gotham)
The group has been cast out of civilization once again. And just like in the previous episode – and much like the group was contrasted to the Governor – the group is contrasted to Gareth (Andrew J West) and his group. Gareth tells Bob (Lawrence Gilliard Jr) that it’s nothing personal, but they brought it on themselves by forcing the termites out of Terminus. Now they have no choice but to become hunters. Gareth is clearly as insane as the Governor was – and West delivers a chilling performance, especially the relish with which he eats Bob’s leg! He tells Bob that they weren’t going to hurt him – yet the last time Bob saw Gareth and begged for his life, Gareth was about to kill him. I suppose it is much worse to be cut up slowly and eaten while you are still alive though…
Of course, Terminus itself was hiding the huge secret of cannibalism. And it’s clearly termites that Daryl senses hiding in the woods on the first night. The termites really are set up as the savages in the wilderness. Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) and his church should represent sanctuary, but it’s clear – at least to Rick – that Gabriel is hiding secrets. How has he been able to survive on his own for so long? Carl (Chandler Riggs) finds deep scratches at the windows of the church and “You’ll burn for this” also scratched onto the church. Interestingly, Carl says that while it must mean something, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Gabriel is a bad guy.
In fact, Carl seems to have hit a reset button and is a lot more hopeful and engaged than we’ve seen him in a long time. He’s the one who is first to want to go to Gabriel’s aid when they hear him screaming for help. When Rick tells Carl that he doesn’t trust Gabriel, Rick asks Carl why he apparently does. Carl answers, “Everybody can’t be bad.” Rick then tries to impress on Carl that Carl is never safe and that he should never let his guard down. Clearly, Rick’s biggest fear is losing his children. Carl reassures Rick that they are both strong and that means that the can help people and they don’t have to hide – there’s that theme again… But he also promises that he’ll stay safe. Lincoln and Riggs are fantastic in this scene.
One thing that is also revealed in this episode is what Abe (Michael Cudlitz) and Rosita (Christian Serratos) were hiding last episode – that they need to press the group to come to Washington. Everyone makes it quite clear that they are following Rick and that they won’t break up again. Of course, that all goes out the window by the end of the episode.
The raid on the food bank reveals at least on secret that Gabriel’s been hiding as we see him recognize one of the walkers – and later see her in a picture with him. Were they having an affair? Episcopalian ministers can marry after all. Perhaps it was an inter-racial issue? Gabriel isn’t the only one hiding something after the food bank, however.
Did anyone else think that Bob was bitten when he was dragged under the water by that walker? Anybody else flash to the trash compactor scene in Star Wars? Also, after swimming around in that sewage, I’m hoping that Gareth and company get really sick from eating Bob… When Bob returns, he is clearly hiding his own anguish and depression, and it’s that that leads him away from the sanctuary of the church, and is a sanctuary ever really a sanctuary in this world? I keep flashing to Rick’s changing the sign to “No Sanctuary” – there really is none anymore. Bob being the master of the good out of the bad game is the classic deflection of someone with a serious depression problem. Besides which the happiest character having to die is also a classic horror trope! Bob also insists that Rick is going to say yes to Washington and “you’re gonna find yourself back in the real world.” Rick insists that this is the real world, but Bob is equally adamant that it’s just a nightmare – one which manages to get even worse for him.
It’s Rick’s ability to deal with that reality that makes him a good leader. That grounding is behind the group’s three (and in this case four) questions. Rick asks Gabriel how many walkers he’s killed (none), how many people he’s killed (also none), and then why. I always thought the why was to justify the killing, but it makes equal sense to ask how someone has survived this long by NOT killing anyone. Gabriel’s answer is that the Lord abhors violence. And this prompts Rick’s fourth question – “What have you done? We’ve all done something.” Gabriel just says he’s a sinner – that he sins every day. It seems unlikely that he is only referring to the woman at the food bank. Perhaps, he killed by omission, by not allowing others into the Church for sanctuary. No doubt, time will tell.
We see Michonne (Danai Gurira) reach for her katana early in the episode and smile to herself when she realizes it’s not there – anybody else other than me really sad that it’s not there? Michonne herself seems to be ok with it being gone. When Rick asks her if she misses it, she tells him it was never really hers, she simply found it early on. She also tells him that in the dark time when she was alone, she had ample opportunity to learn how to use it. She tells him that what she does miss is Andrea. And Hershel. She doesn’t miss before – and by extrapolation, we can imagine she also doesn’t miss who she was then either.
The episode contains a lot of shots of happy people – something we are not used to seeing on the show. It’s inevitable that we start to wonder who is next to die – who is vulnerable, too happy, too unaware. It was a nice beat for the show to hit after the very intense, action-packed season premiere, and in its own way, really helped to ratchet up the tension. Everyone just wants to take a moment and rest. But Abe points out “we take a breath, shit goes down.” Truer words were never spoken. Bob wanders away from the feast and is taken to be the guest of honor at the termites’ feast.
We also see Daryl and Carol split off from the rest of the group. They’d found the abandoned car and started the battery re-charging – how did Carol know that was in the trunk? Daryl told her that they can all start over. Carol says she wants to but that night during the feast, Carol sneaks off and starts the car. Daryl finds her there and wants to know what she’s doing – clearly, she thinks she should leave the group again. Before they can really get into it, the car with the white cross that took Beth (Emily Kinney) goes flying by them. Daryl quickly punches out the tail lights so they can be hidden and tail them. Is it possible that the car is connected to Gabriel somehow?
We now have three people scattered from the group and the termites gunning for our group. Somehow, I think this is going to stall any plans for Washington. And there’s no guarantee that Washington is the sanctuary that Abe is promising either. What did you think of the episode? Were you shocked by the ending? Do you think Gabriel is a bad guy? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
