The Walking Dead, S04E04 – Review

Original air date: November 3, 2013

Review (with SPOILERS): Perhaps the creative talents behind The Walking Dead took a moment to smell themselves because this was a pretty good episode that did away with lots of the weak elements from last week’s episode.

The things that impressed me the most weren’t even things that happened with “the story.”  It was a couple of little things with how the story was presented.

• Some non-linear storytelling: That opening montage was sharp.  We saw Carol talking to to the sick little girl (Lizzie?) while Rick went around imagining the mechanics of how Carol killed the sick folks.  It may seem like a small thing, but it’s rare for TWD to show us anything other than a strictly linear dramatization of the zombie apocalypse.  Usually this show just straps you into the roller coaster and you just chug along from scene to scene.  It isn’t that this opening scene was “awesome” (it was “fine”), but it was nice to see that someone on the creative team remembered, “Oh yeah! You can also tell stories like this.”
• Herschel, Glenn, Maggie, Carl, Beth, et al: None of these folks show up.  Some of these characters are bothersome, and some of them are pretty good.  But, by winnowing the cast for a week, the show was able to do some more complex stuff.  I’m usually hard on the show and think it is incapable of doing complex storytelling, but maybe it can… But to do it they just need to lessen the distractions of a big cast.  Also a bonus to not watch everyone hacking and coughing.  Lizzie told us that nobody had died (yet).  That’s all we need until the flu resolves itself– one person approach the glass and give us an update.

So, neither of those two items are what put this episode over the top, but I like to see some promise that the storytelling can be changed up.  One of the problems with TWD is that it becomes very monotonous: You turn on your TV and you know basically what the show will be like.  You may not know the actual events that will unfold, but you know the method of presentation.  Thinking back over the years, a lot of the show’s better episodes have occurred when they changed things up: the episode 18 Miles out where Rick and Shane drove out into the country to deal with Randall, the episode where Darryl stabs himself with a bolt and hallucinates Merle or last season’s episode where Rick/Carl/Michonne go to see Crazy Morgan.  What’s interesting about tracking down the links to those episodes is that I see that I gave each one a “B+.”  It’s odd because I think the show has gotten into the A-territory before, but the memorable episodes and moments came from these B+ episodes.

But, there were also some other strong things this week that make me a little hopeful:

• Holy crap! Complex storytelling!: The whole Rick/Carol thing was kinda fascinating.  Basically the entire “run” they went on was Rick evaluating whether or not he was going to permit Carol to remain with the group.  But, this could have been really ham-handed and just shown Rick giving Carol the eyeball all the time or asking her the three questions Jack Bauer-Style.  Nope! They were much more subtle about it and that surprised me.  Do you remember when Rick and Carol argued briefly about whether it was proper to allow the young dipshits to help gather food?  Carol was very adamant that everyone needed to be able to pull their own weight and there was no room for carrying helpless people.  That was the last reminder that Rick needed that showed Carol needed to be able to look after herself… And he’d already learned from other conversations that she was capable and willing to be alone again.  Resetting a dislocated shoulder = competence.  Man… You could almost go back to the three questions from a few weeks ago and see this plotline being set up.  Usually when TWD has tried to do something complex, it’s Rick killing the piglets and putting back on his gun.  That’s complex storytelling for stupid people.  It’s much more rewarding to be subtle about it like they were this week.  If some folks didn’t get it, they can still enjoy the episode since there was a BIG event with Carol.  And for the folks who did “get it,” they have something to ponder and connect rather that just being punched in the face with the blunt visual of Rick tossing his farm shirt into the fire.  Let us use our imagination for something other than just guessing who feeds rats to zombies.
• Complex storytelling, Part II: They also tried to have a big theme for this episode with the idea of obsession.  Michonne is obsessed with The Governor.  Tyreese is obsessed with his deathwish.  Bob is obsessed with alcohol.  Maybe obsession isn’t the right word for all of those things, but there was a definite hint that to be successful, you needed to be able to move past these psychological stumbling blocks.  This theme didn’t quite come off, but I’ll give some credit for the attempt.

And then we just have events, good and bad:

• Carol: I strongly doubt that we’ve seen the last of her.  In my notes it says, “Rick kicks Carol out of the group for out-acting him in every scene of this episode.  Union rules: You cannot out-act Rick or you’re off the show!”  I crack myself up…  But seriously, I thought Melissa McBride (Carol) was just aces in this episode.  You really do believe that she’s turned a page and come out a stronger person.  My goodness… Actual, honest-to-goodness, character development from a stumbling show like TWD!  Do you remember what Carol was like in Season 1?  I’m sure the show’s creators had NO idea where they wanted to take the character and also had no clue that McBride would be capable of such a star-turn.  It just goes to show that there are a LOT of great actors out there who don’t get a lot of work.  Just look at McBride’s IMDB credits.  There’s nothing to indicate that she would be any good.  It’s funny how we have a character like Michonne shoveled at us and we’re told she is cool because she is cool in the comics and because she has a katana.  Yet, Michonne is only kinda cool on the show.  Carol has become cool organically.  Anyway, I love where Carol is now.  I’d rather be in her group than in Rick’s.
• Rick: Rick is going to have some explaining to do when he gets back to the group.  Typically for Rick, there isn’t a lot of consistent thought.  He’s basically turning Carol out because the group cannot trust her since she decides unilaterally to eliminate people from the group. But isn’t that what Rick just did?  It isn’t like the Jedi Council voted for her expulsion; Rick just arbitrarily kicked her out of the group.
• Again, strong horror scene: It’s possible to make fun of the away team.  I mean, why didn’t they just exit the veterinary school by the same, well-lit path by which they entered?  But then we’d be deprived of that great, flash-lights-in-the dark scene with the infected zombies chasing them.  The creative talent on this show just KNOWS how to do horror.  Flashlights in the dark are scary because of what they DON’T illuminate.  Chopping at dense vines is scary because you DON’T know what lies within.  When the show switches into “horror mode” you can just feel the intensity get dialed up to 100.  I honestly think that one of the “problems” with the show is that the creative talent wants to do a horror movie every week and when the writers give them “drama” they groan about it like kids who have to eat their vegetables.  The horror scenes feel like they’re made by people enthusiastic about their jobs.
• Alcoholism: This little plot development with Bob isn’t really working.  They’re making a big deal out of it and I just don’t know what the payoff will be.  TV shows generally do such a crappy job with alcoholism.  It’s like they must not know any real alcoholics.
• Tyreese rage: Also, not working… Angry Tyreese.  I’ve only seen Chad Coleman in The Wire, but what made him so incredible in that series is that the violence was all implied.  His Cutty was a nice, thoughtful guy… And since he was also a physical monster, he could obviously pull your arms off if he wanted to.  He was basically Chewbacca.  But, The Wire never really had to show him going into Hulk SMASH mode.  Just showing his size on screen is enough.  Big dudes like him just don’t get to have temper tantrums because it freaks everyone out.  Little dudes,yes. Big dudes, no.
• Young Dipshits: That sure was a weird couple.  I mean, how had THEY survived and why were they so clean?  Remember what the crazy Irish lady looked like?  And then that neighborhood seemed awfully tended.  The tomatoes were staked up and the lawn around the garden looked mowed.  Sloppy storytelling or something more?

Conclusion: Overall, this was a pretty strong episode.  It had a few faults, but it also had some unexpected strength.  Of course, part of the show’s power just drove away in a station wagon while the rotten core of the show is coming back home in the Hyundai crossover.

Grade: A-

-Dean Stell