The Walking Dead: Four Walls and a Roof (5x03)

Okay, seriously? We waited all of the hiatus to get the group back together again, and now this? Ugh. My heart hurts. Shall we look at the plot?

We pick up right where we left off, with Gareth speaking to Bob, threatening the rest of the group, while he and his comrades munch away at Bob's leg. Bob then begins laughing, and reveals that he was bit on the shoulder, and that he's "tainted meat." Everyone freaks out, but Gareth assures them that since they cooked the meat, they should be fine. Gareth, angry at Bob for taunting him, knocks him out.

Back at the church, Rick and Sasha are really worried about Bob, Daryl, and Carol, all of whom are missing. As they angrily ask Father Gabriel if he had anything to do with this, Gabriel finally cracks and tells them the truth: when the apocalypse first began, he locked himself up in the church and he wouldn't let other human beings inside. He thinks Rick and the rest of them were sent to him as a punishment for that crime.

Hearing a sound, Sasha and the others go outside and find Bob, who has been deposited there by Gareth's people. Bob tells them about the cannibals, and also reveals the bite on his shoulder. At this point, Abraham says that they should leave immediately for DC. The group is divided, and so Abraham says he'll just continue on with Eugene and Rosita. However, things get tricky. Abraham wants to take the bus, but Rick says that he can't, since his group needs it, and they can't leave before Daryl and Carol are found. Glenn diffuses the situation by making an offer: if Abraham and his people will stay one more day, and help Rick with the Gareth situation, then they can leave, with Tara, Glenn, and Maggie along the way to help them out. Abraham accepts.

They plan to defeat Gareth and his people by making a risky move. Rick, Michonne, Glenn, Maggie, and the rest of the good fighters of the group all leave the church with weapons. Predictably, Gareth and his people notice this and sneak into the church, convinced that it will be easy to get to the others. They creep through the church, while Carl, Judith, Gabriel, etc. all hide behind closed doors. Just when it looks like Gareth and his men are swooping in for the kill, Rick and the others appear back inside and take them down. Bloodily. They basically hack them to death, not wanting to waste any bullets.

The next day, everyone says a tearful goodbye to Bob. Sasha was supposed to stay with him and stab him through the brain after it was over, but she can't bring herself to do it, and so Tyreese steps in. Tyreese and Rick dig a grave for Bob, and Rick asks Tyreese what it was like for him on his way to Terminus. Tyreese says "it killed me," and Rick says "no it didn't."

Abraham, Eugene, Rosita, Tara, Glenn, and Maggie all leave to start heading to DC. Abraham gives Rick a map that shows their route, and Rick promises that they'll follow soon, once they have Daryl and Carol, and they'll find them again.

The final scene of the episode shows Daryl emerging from the woods. Michonne is happy to see him. She asks him where Carol is. Daryl says "come on out," and looks behind him at the woods. We don't get to see who emerges.

I have two complaints. First of all, everyone is already infected with the Walker virus or whatever, so eating "tainted meat" shouldn't make one iota of a difference. Or am I wrong? Maybe someone who's read the comic series can fill me in on how this is supposed to work, but to me it makes no sense. Everyone living is walking around with this virus already in him. Being bit shouldn't "taint" anyone in particular.

The second complaint is a really small one, but I think I must mention it... when everyone was hiding in the church, and Gareth's men came in, I got the feeling that I was supposed to be really freaked out that Gareth and the others were going to do some serious damage. As if it wasn't completely obvious that this was part of the plan. No way would Rick leave his children unprotected and take all the good fighters and weapons. I knew from the second this scene began that Rick and the others were lying in wait, and yet the suspense of the scene partially depended on my actually believing that Carl et. al. were in danger. It's a small thing, but if I was supposed to be convinced, then they failed in their objective.

I shouldn't split hairs about this episode, though. It was really strong. Let's talk about that.

Gabriel's confession was excellent. This was another thing that wasn't exactly difficult to predict, but I think it worked really well. The idea of a man of God shutting his flock outside of the church and allowing them to be eaten... it's so poignant. Especially given the name "Gabriel." Gabriel was the archangel who's to blow the horn that signals the coming of the Judgment Day. The idea that he could witness this "end of the world" and actively choose to hide away and not participate seems particularly sacrilegious.

A small detail, but... Michonne got her sword back after the slaughtering of Gareth and his men! I'm so happy for her.

Gareth's character was actually pretty fun, and there's a part of me that's upset that he's out of the picture so quickly. I love his sardonic, angry way of talking. At the beginning of the episode, he mentions his brother to Bob, and this is what he says: "My brother Alex - also currently dead, because of Rick," and I just love how he says it, as if Rick has caused him a minor inconvenience or something. Then, in his final moments, Gareth is proven to be no different from anyone else, as he begs and pleads for his life.

I know I said that the whole buildup in the church scene didn't work for me, but despite the fact that I knew how it would all end, I still thought the actors and the pacing of the scene worked to build the tension until the final moment. And damn. What a final moment this was.

We've already seen that Rick has become a ruthless guy - a far cry from who he was when all of this started. But these were some brutal murders. Rick hacked away at Gareth like he was enjoying it. There was this moment right after they had finished the killing that I feel is very poignant. Rick says: "It could have been us." Of course, he means that they had to kill or be killed, but the line works in a different way, too. Gareth and his group were once good people, but they were twisted and corrupted by their circumstances into doing horrible things. When Rick says "it could have been us," what is he really talking about?

Then there's the stuff with Bob. Until very recently, Bob was never a character that I felt much of a connection with. But let me just say... this was brutal. They really squeezed every bit of emotion they could out of Bob's death. I mean, we've got Sasha and Bob, but also Tyreese and Sasha, Rick and Bob, Tyreese and Bob, even Maggie and Bob. All of these relationships were teased out and examined. Bob's final moments were really tragic. He gets to see Sasha's smile as the last thing before he died. And it wasn't cheesy or over the top. It was so gentle. So real. And then of course the second he stops breathing, you're torn between grieving and worrying that Sasha isn't going to get away from him fast enough before he reanimates. That sort of tension is delicious and tragic and a million other things at once.

Of course, now that we've had the group together for all of two seconds, we're splitting them up again. On an emotional, personal level, I'm angry about it. But honestly, it makes a lot of sense for the story. There was a good reason for it, too. Rick would never leave Daryl or Carol behind, but Abraham has a pretty good reason for wanting to get on the road again. I still think there's something about Eugene that we don't know yet, and I'm excited about that. I'm glad Glenn and Maggie are sticking together, of course, but then there's the super depressing fact that if Daryl actually brought Beth back, she just missed her chance to be reunited with her sister. Damn it.

That cliffhanger was just mean. Where is Carol? Is it Beth inside the woods? Maybe Daryl asked her to stay back because there's something wrong with her? Is Beth okay? From the promos it looks like next week is all about her, so I guess we'll find out! This is what I've been waiting for! But even without Beth, this was a fantastic episode. Can't wait for next week!

8.5/10