This episode was much more what I was expecting from last week's episode. The whole big group was there, and we explored the ways in which everybody is grieving. I enjoyed this episode a lot, even though not a ton of stuff happened. Let's go through a brief summary.
The whole group is united in their efforts to get to DC, but it's a long trek, and they are all emotionally and physically exhausted. Maggie retreats inward, refusing to talk to anybody, while Sasha lashes out, nearly risking everybody at one point when she attacks a hoard of Walkers. Daryl is also playing the avoidance game, going on little scouting assignments to get away from the group. Carol goes with him and tells him that he needs to let himself feel the pain of losing Beth, in order to start to heal.
While on their long trek towards DC, they come across a bunch of water bottles in the road, with a sign on it saying it's from a friend. Everybody is nervous to drink it, in case it's some sort of a trap. Eugene offers to try it to test it out, but Abraham won't let him. Right at that moment, it starts to rain, to everybody's relief. As they all get prepared to catch the water in order to drink it, they notice that the rain is turning in to a vicious storm. Daryl directs them all into a barn that he'd found earlier.
During the night, Daryl notices a huge hoard of Walkers coming for the barn. Everybody helps to push the doors closed, while the storm rages outside. The next morning, the storm has cleared up, and they see that the Walkers outside have been torn to pieces by the weather. As Maggie and Sasha head off to be together in grief for their recently dead siblings, they meet Aaron, who says he's their friend, and that he wants to meet Rick.
That's a brief plot summary, but there's a good reason for that. This episode was mostly about journeying on, and about feeling lost after a terrible tragedy. Nothing big or exciting happened, other than the introduction of a new character at the very end. We just got a slow hour of television wherein these characters that we have learned to love try to keep soldiering on. I do have a few things I'm not thrilled about, but not much.
I didn't really understand the scene in the barn where the whole group is pushing back against the Walkers, and then we cut to morning, when the storm has stopped. Like... what happened? Did the Walkers all get torn up by the storm and then everybody went to sleep? Why weren't we shown that? There was such a big group of Walkers all pushing to get in, and then we jump-cut to the next day, and I felt almost like I'd missed a scene or something.
The other thing is that Rick has this whole speech about how his grandfather fought in WWII and how he pretended to be dead so that he could keep doing what needed to be done. I really, really loved this speech right up until the moment when Rick actually said that they all had to do the same thing and be "the walking dead." Ugh. No. It was implied, guys. You don't have to actually insert the title into things.
But that's sort of a small moment, because I really did love the rest of that speech a lot. And this theme, of whether or not living a life based on survival is worth it, is excellently woven in to this episode. I think my favorite image is when the whole group is just sort of trudging down the road together, and 100 yards back there's a hoard of Walkers, trudging along in the same way. From a distance, you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference. Everybody is just so worn down and hurting.
Daryl was breaking my heart in this episode. Carol tried to comfort him, and there was even a forehead kiss, but Daryl is having a really, really hard time holding himself together. At one point he goes into the woods and hurts himself, so overcome about Beth.
Everybody tries to handle their grief in their own way. Carl gives Maggie a music box that he found, as a way of commiserating over Beth. Sasha rejects comfort from Father Gabriel, instead chastising him for being such a coward. Noah isn't sure if he's going to survive in this world, and Sasha tells him he probably won't, especially if he has that attitude.
The not-so-subtle message in this episode is that grief can feel like the end of the world, but if you turn to your loved ones for comfort, you can survive it. After the storm, wherein the entire group has to use their teamwork to survive, they walk out into a bright, fresh new day, where things might seem a little bit less terrible. Maggie lets go of some of her reticence, and Sasha lets go of some of her anger. It's a brand new day.
There were a lot of exquisite little moments in this episode. I loved when Sasha killed the pack of dogs, finally giving everybody something to eat. (It's sort of disturbing how much that doesn't phase me. Of course they'd eat the dogs! What else are they going to do?) I liked the way Eugene offered to drink the water, probably as a further manifestation of his guilt. The scene in the barn worked really well because nobody could hear over the sounds of the storm. Daryl is the first to notice the Walkers coming forward, but gradually everybody notices on their own what's going on and comes to help. The final moment of the episode, when Maggie and Sasha are confronted by the mysterious Aaron, was really powerful, too. The music box, which hadn't been working, suddenly starts to play as the episode reaches its end, which was a pretty powerful moment.
I could talk about this episode a lot, but I think it sort of speaks for itself. It was a transition episode. Things are moving forward. The whole group was there, and they're starting the next leg of their journey. I liked it so much more than last week's episode. RIP to Beth and Tyreese, and onward to DC!
9/10
During the night, Daryl notices a huge hoard of Walkers coming for the barn. Everybody helps to push the doors closed, while the storm rages outside. The next morning, the storm has cleared up, and they see that the Walkers outside have been torn to pieces by the weather. As Maggie and Sasha head off to be together in grief for their recently dead siblings, they meet Aaron, who says he's their friend, and that he wants to meet Rick.
That's a brief plot summary, but there's a good reason for that. This episode was mostly about journeying on, and about feeling lost after a terrible tragedy. Nothing big or exciting happened, other than the introduction of a new character at the very end. We just got a slow hour of television wherein these characters that we have learned to love try to keep soldiering on. I do have a few things I'm not thrilled about, but not much.
I didn't really understand the scene in the barn where the whole group is pushing back against the Walkers, and then we cut to morning, when the storm has stopped. Like... what happened? Did the Walkers all get torn up by the storm and then everybody went to sleep? Why weren't we shown that? There was such a big group of Walkers all pushing to get in, and then we jump-cut to the next day, and I felt almost like I'd missed a scene or something.
The other thing is that Rick has this whole speech about how his grandfather fought in WWII and how he pretended to be dead so that he could keep doing what needed to be done. I really, really loved this speech right up until the moment when Rick actually said that they all had to do the same thing and be "the walking dead." Ugh. No. It was implied, guys. You don't have to actually insert the title into things.
But that's sort of a small moment, because I really did love the rest of that speech a lot. And this theme, of whether or not living a life based on survival is worth it, is excellently woven in to this episode. I think my favorite image is when the whole group is just sort of trudging down the road together, and 100 yards back there's a hoard of Walkers, trudging along in the same way. From a distance, you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference. Everybody is just so worn down and hurting.
Daryl was breaking my heart in this episode. Carol tried to comfort him, and there was even a forehead kiss, but Daryl is having a really, really hard time holding himself together. At one point he goes into the woods and hurts himself, so overcome about Beth.
Everybody tries to handle their grief in their own way. Carl gives Maggie a music box that he found, as a way of commiserating over Beth. Sasha rejects comfort from Father Gabriel, instead chastising him for being such a coward. Noah isn't sure if he's going to survive in this world, and Sasha tells him he probably won't, especially if he has that attitude.
The not-so-subtle message in this episode is that grief can feel like the end of the world, but if you turn to your loved ones for comfort, you can survive it. After the storm, wherein the entire group has to use their teamwork to survive, they walk out into a bright, fresh new day, where things might seem a little bit less terrible. Maggie lets go of some of her reticence, and Sasha lets go of some of her anger. It's a brand new day.
There were a lot of exquisite little moments in this episode. I loved when Sasha killed the pack of dogs, finally giving everybody something to eat. (It's sort of disturbing how much that doesn't phase me. Of course they'd eat the dogs! What else are they going to do?) I liked the way Eugene offered to drink the water, probably as a further manifestation of his guilt. The scene in the barn worked really well because nobody could hear over the sounds of the storm. Daryl is the first to notice the Walkers coming forward, but gradually everybody notices on their own what's going on and comes to help. The final moment of the episode, when Maggie and Sasha are confronted by the mysterious Aaron, was really powerful, too. The music box, which hadn't been working, suddenly starts to play as the episode reaches its end, which was a pretty powerful moment.
I could talk about this episode a lot, but I think it sort of speaks for itself. It was a transition episode. Things are moving forward. The whole group was there, and they're starting the next leg of their journey. I liked it so much more than last week's episode. RIP to Beth and Tyreese, and onward to DC!
9/10
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