This was a fairly boring episode for about the first 25 minutes or so. But it picked up so much in the second half. This turned out to be a pretty great episode after some not so great ones.
Rick returns without Carol, and tells Maggie what happened. She agrees with his choice, and Rick tells her he will only tell Herschel for now. Maggie has already gone to see Herschel to try and help, but he won’t let her into quarantine.
When a patient dies from the illness, Herschel is bringing them to an isolated area to kill them when they turn. He doesn’t want the people seeing. He believes that a sad soul is worse than any germ.
While Rick is talking to Herschel, a woman dies. Herschel passes by her to help Sasha, who has passed out but still seems to be alive. Herschel gives her an IV and she wakes up. She still thinks Herschel is a fool for risking his life to help them, but she is alive because of that.
Somehow in the few minutes Herschel was talking to Rick and helping Sasha, several people have died and turned. All hell breaks loose in quarantine, as several zombies are now loose. One man tries to shoot a zombie, but is bitten, and his shot goes awry. Rick and Maggie hear the gunshot, and Rick sends her to check it out.
Rick enlists Carl to help him in reinforcing the fence while Maggie checks out the jail. The man Glenn was looking after dies, and Glenn tries to call for Herschel, but is too sick and keels over. Maggie finally manages to break into quarantine and help Herschel and the others take control of the block.
Glenn is near death, and Herschel risks his life by trying to take a breathing tube from a patient turned zombie. Maggie shoots the zombie. Glenn is given a breathing tube and calms down a bit.
As this is going on, Rick and Carl are trying to fix the fence, but the zombies overtake it. Rick and Carl are being chased by a horde of zombies. Rick gets some guns and gives one to Carl, and they somehow manage to take out this whole swarm of zombies. Rick looks at Carl in awe and perhaps pride as Carl is picking off zombies without a second thought.
Almost on cue, as soon as order is restored, Daryl, Michonne, Tyreese, and Bob return with the medicine. The medicine is distributed to the patients, and at least Glenn is doing better in the morning. Daryl asks Herschel about Carol, and Herschel tells him to talk to Rick. Herschel goes off with Michonne to burn some zombies.
Rick and Carl are on the farm picking peas. They seem at peace, and maybe even happy. As they are leaving the farm and going back to the jail, the camera cuts over to some bushes. Guess who is standing in the brush? The Governor! Crisis un-averted I suppose.
There weren’t a lot of detailed items to write about for this episode, but it was pretty exciting in the second half. A lot of zombie action, which seemed to have been missing lately. Some foreshadowing perhaps of a Daryl and Rick feud, as Carol and Daryl seemed pretty close as of late. And of course with The Governor back, anything is possible.
