The Walking Dead: Claimed (4x11)

This week, we see Rick, Carl, and Michonne's adventures continue, and we learn more about Abraham, as we see him and his friends travel with Glenn and Tara. Mostly, I have the same complaints about this episode as I did about the last... it feels a bit filler-ish. However, I'm starting to see a slow but powerful build up to something great, as all of our different characters start moving in the direction of this alleged sanctuary. I can tell things are going to get good very soon.

Rapid-fire plot time: Michonne tries to cheer up Carl, but of course Carl is difficult to cheer up these days. The two of them go on a supply run, where Michonne reveals to Carl that she had a son. Carl is very interested in this, and continues to ask Michonne questions while they hunt for supplies. Rick, back at the house, runs in to some serious trouble when a group of human men break in and start ransacking the place. Rick is forced to hide under the bed and watch as two of the men have a fight, which results in one of them dying. Rick manages to sneak out through the bathroom, but not before he is forced to strangle another one of the men. Just as Michonne and Carl get back from their supply run, the dead man inside the house reanimates as a Walker, and in the ensuing chaos, Rick runs away from the house with Michonne and Carl. The three of them see a sign pointing to a sanctuary, and decide to head that way.

Then, we've got Glenn and Tara, who are in a truck with Abraham, Eugene, and Rosita. When Glenn wakes up, he demands that the truck stop, because he has to go back and find the bus, to see what happened to Maggie and everyone else. Abraham reveals that they're on their way to DC. Apparently, Eugene is a scientist who has answers about what happened to everyone. Abraham says that their mission is going to save the world, which is more important than Glenn finding his wife. Glenn and Abraham get into a fight over this, but when a large group of Walkers show up, they take them down together. Eugene, who clearly isn't great with a gun, manages to damage the truck. Since they no longer have transportation, Glenn and Tara turn back to go search for Maggie, and the other three, grudgingly, follow. Tara asks Abraham why he volunteered to bring Eugene to DC, but doesn't get a straight answer.

Okay. Let's start with some problems I had with this one.

1. Every time I see a human being kill another human being on this show, I become completely incensed. It should always be a big deal when a human dies, because there are so few of them left. And yet, Rick casually murdered someone in the bathroom, and there was never really any indication of why Rick didn't make his presence known. I mean, I get that these guys were bad news and everything, but shouldn't there have been more of an explanation of that? I don't know... I guess all of the stuff with Rick in the house just bothered me because I didn't have context. Who were these guys? Why were they so brutal?

2. The characters of Eugene and Rosita. I feel like I'm getting a sense of Abraham's character. He's not a favorite of mine yet, or anything, but at least I feel like I know who he is. Eugene, however, is just the nerd. And Rosita has hardly spoken a word at all. I understand it's still early days for these characters, but I found myself a bit annoyed by their lack of development or personality.

3. The Walker attack by the truck. It stopped being threatening a long time ago to see a bunch of humans fight off a bunch of walkers. We know that our beloved characters have worked out how to attack them and kill them by now. The threat is negligible. I mean, it worked last week when it was Lizzie and Mika and Judith, but it doesn't work so well when it's Glenn, Tara, Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene. I never for one second felt like any of them were in danger at all.

But now on to the good stuff!

1. Michonne and Carl. I loved all of their moments together. These two actors really played the levels well, from joking around to serious, deep moments, and everywhere in between. I hope we get to see a lot more of that in the future.

2. Abraham's mission. I like the idea of a big centralizing plan, like maybe there's going to be a way to save the world. I'll admit, in all the time watching this show I've never quite figured out how it's supposed to end. Like, does all of humanity die out? What's going on in other countries? Will there be a way out of all of this? I started asking those questions while watching this episode, and it made me excited about the future.

3. Tara. I'm really warming up to her character. She's very intriguing and I'm excited about all of the possibilities ahead for her.

Alright! I know that was rather short, but since the mid-winter hiatuses of all my other shows have ended, I'm going to have a ton of reviews to put out very quickly.

7.5/10