The Walking Dead: Us (4x15)

Ahhh yayayayayay Glenn and Maggie have been reunited! If I take nothing else from this episode, I can take that, and be happy. But actually, a lot of stuff was going on here, and I am very excited to talk about it. So, here goes.

We see Carl, Michonne, and Rick briefly, as they continue on their journey towards Terminus. All seems well with the three of them.

We also follow Daryl as he travels with the group that found him earlier. Joe, the leader, has a few simple rules that allows the group to live in harmony. If you want something, you just have to say "claimed" and it belongs to you. Daryl gets into an argument with another of the group, but in the end he wins the argument, and the rest of the group punishes the other other, and actually ends up killing him. Daryl is very unsettled by this group, but he does need the security of numbers. He also finds out that the group is tracking a man who killed one of their members back at a house earlier. (We of course know this man to be Rick, but Daryl doesn't know that yet).

Meanwhile, Glenn and Tara are still traveling with Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene. Glenn sees one of Maggie's messages pointing him towards Terminus, and he begins speeding up, eager to catch up with her. The rest of the group follows, but Abraham doesn't want them to go so fast, in case it leaves them too tired to protect themselves. Glenn is eager to power ahead. Eventually, the group decides to split up at a tunnel. Glenn insists on going through it, because that's what Maggie did, but Abraham says that the tunnel is not safe, and he leaves with Rosita and Eugene.

In the tunnel, Tara gets trapped and Glenn refuses to leave her, even though a huge number of Walkers are coming. Eugene tricks Rosita and Abraham into coming back for Glenn and Tara, saying that after he saves the world, he still has to live with himself. They show up in the tunnel in time to shoot the Walkers. After the dust settles, we see that Maggie, Sasha, and Bob are there as well! Maggie and Glenn happily reunite. They decide to go to Terminus first, and then Eugene needs to get to DC. It looks like maybe Sasha and Bob want to go with them to DC instead of staying in Terminus, but they need to see if any of their friends are there first.

Glenn decides not to tell Maggie the truth about who Tara is. The group arrives in Terminus, where a kind looking woman named Mary offers them a chance to clean up and food to eat.

Alright! What are my problems with the episode?

Well, I don't really get why Joe and the group are so intent on revenge against Rick. I mean, they seem totally willing to kill each other over trivial things, so why are they going on this big dangerous journey to find some random guy? It feels strange.

There was also this moment when Len (the guy who fought Daryl about the rabbit) was taunting Daryl about losing a girl, basically making all sorts of inappropriate comments about Beth. I didn't like this because it seemed to reinforce the rather gross idea that we're supposed to think something is going on between Daryl and Beth.

One other quick complaint... it's been several episodes since we've gotten to spend any time with Rick, our protagonist, and then we see him briefly in this episode, only for nothing of significance to happen. The scene with Michonne and Carl walking on the railroad tracks was... cute, but maybe too cute, you know? Cheesy.

However, let's discuss all the good stuff, because it was definitely there, as well.

This Eugene guy is getting interesting... I'm not sure what his deal is. Does he really know how to help people? It seems unlikely, but then what exactly is his game? I like his extremely awkward demeanor and the way he tried to flirt with Tara.

Abraham is also becoming more of an interesting character to me as we go. I liked his talk with Tara, and his nonjudgmental assessment of her sexual orientation. I also like how loyal he is to his people, and how focused he is on one task. Due to the nature of this show, I'm sure there will be more complications coming up for him!

Daryl, traveling with Joe's group, has basically found himself falling back in with the sorts of people he and Merle associated with before the world started to end. And now he's seeing them as the truly problematic people that they are. It's all very primitive, what with the "claimed" thing and the quick willingness to do extreme violence. I'm very intrigued by the way Daryl is handling it so far. Will he slip back into old, crude habits, or will he keep his distance from these brutish men? Will he reunite with the others?

I'll stop there! Next week is the season finale... I'm not sure how I'm going to cope with this!

8/10