The Walking Dead Recap – S4 EP2

THE KEEP UP

The Walking Dead

Season 4 – Episode 2

by Steve Wood

I must say that was pleased with the episode, yet again. They’re keeping with the practical effects which I couldn’t appreciate more, and we’re teased with Michonne’s backstory. They’re really laying the human drama aspect of this show thick so far, and it’s a welcome change, at least from me.

During the cold open, we’re shown that someone is feeding the zombies rats, I don’t know if I’m mistaken, but wasn’t there something in earlier episodes where we’re shown zombies do not eat animals? We pick up the following morning after the events of last week, all hell breaks loose in one of the cell blocks and numerous people are killed. As it turns out, the guy from the end of last week’s show was sick from a flu type sickness that can be passed along from pigs and birds. I’m not really liking where they’re going with this storyline, as they already have zombies to worry about! I get that this new sickness will speed up the process of death, but it seems unnecessary, the main problems with this show have been the extended boring plot lines, or when too many things are going on at once.

So now we have most everyone, at least the main cast, deciding that it’s best for everyone to keep away from one another, this sure does hinder Glenn and Maggie’s sleeping situation in the watch tower. These two are constantly fondling one another, so it will be good to not have them all over each other for at least one episode. In one of the more dramatic scenes of the episode, the father of two little girls was bitten, and as Carol is about to put him out of his misery, his oldest daughter volunteers for the job. She doesn’t go through with it, which I thought was a good decision because the girl was too young and just wouldn’t have made much sense.

Michonne twisted her ankle just before leaving to scavenge for any and everything. With Beth taping her up, Judith begins to cry and Michonne is acting really irritated for some reason. A little later we see her working out in one of the cells, and Beth is singing to Judith, as she spits up on Beth, Michonne initially very rudely denies holding Judith so Beth can get cleaned up. When she finally takes Judith, she completely breaks down and clutches Judith close. We don’t know too much about her back story, and I have a feeling we’ll learn that she had a small child before everyone started to turn. She is in desperate need of substance since she is the shallowest character on the show at this point.

Back outside, the zombies are gathering in the area where they were being fed. After Rick finally joins in on the fun, he decides that he’s going to take the reins again, and kill two birds with one stone. He and Daryl gather up the pigs, drive outside of the gate, and Rick begins to injure the pigs, and use them as bait to lead the zombies away from the fence line. At first it looks as if Rick is disgusted with himself for what he’s doing, but soon after this scene, we see Rick with his revolver, and also gives Carl back his gun. I wasn’t feeling the way Rick was acting in the first episode, I hope this is the last time we see farmer Rick.

Look like the new writing is what this show needed so I can’t complain too much in regards to that. It will be nice if they leave the prison before too long, the atmosphere is getting tiring and the story isn’t going anywhere. I know we’re supposed to have a couple of standalone Governor related episodes coming up, so at least that will include a fresh environment. As of now, this show is still holding my attention, so I will be back next week.

BEST SCENE: Michonne finally showing some real emotion and breaking down completely while holding Judith.

ZOMBIE PRESENCE: A

CGI vs PRACTICAL EFFECTS: PRACTICAL