This week’s episode almost plays in Pulp Fiction style (or as I am more familiar with, the Simpsons episode titled ’22 Short Films About Springfield’). We see what has happened to everyone other than Rick, Carl, and Michonne (since we found out their fates last week). One group will walk by a spot and notice something, and then we’ll see a different group having gone that way earlier, causing what we’ve already seen.
It’s difficult to describe without specific details, so hopefully my review will unmuddy the waters for those who I’ve totally confused above. It starts with Beth and Daryl running through the woods. Beth is narrating the scene with passages from a diary she started at some point.
Beth and Daryl are resting, but Beth is intent on doing something. She wants Daryl to track, because he’s a tracker. Daryl is just sitting there saying nothing. Beth goes off on her own, and Daryl begrudgingly follows her. She is convinced everyone is ok, and Daryl is not so bright eyed.
Beth finds some footprints, which she takes as a sign that “they” are alive. Daryl only confirms that they were alive four or five hours ago. Daryl sees some trampled grapes, and determines that the people that were there got scared and took off in a hurry. They find an open area with a bunch of dead walkers. Beth takes this as a sign that the people survived, but Daryl points out blood on a bush that is not from a walker.
They arrive at a set of railroad tracks, and find walkers eating what used to be a person (or people). Beth is hysterically crying, and a show is shown on the ground. I don’t know if we’re supposed to recognize that shoe or not. Daryl tells her they need to keep going, and that’s the last we see of them this week.
Lizzie and Mika have also survived, along with Tyreese, who turns around and is holding Judith. They find a place to hide out for a minute, where Mika and Lizzie find some grapes. Mika is the more scared of the two girls, and runs off when a bird comes out of the trees. She drops the grapes and steps on them as they run away.
Tyreese hears a noise down by some railroad tracks and goes to investigate, leaving Lizzie and Mika with Judith and a gun. Judith is crying, so Lizzie holds her hand over Judith’s mouth. She keeps pressing down, and it sure does look like Lizzie is going to smother her. Something is coming out of the woods and Mika takes a shot. Tyreese, who has killed some walkers, but was unable to save the random people, hears the shot and turns around.
Emerging from the woods, are the girls, alongside Carol. Carol says she’s been tracking them since she arrived back at the prison. She doesn’t tell Tyreese that Rick kicked her out of the group. One of the men, barely alive, tells them that there is a safe place further down the tracks. He urges them to follow the tracks. They get to a spot on the tracks where they see some signs. They say “Sanctuary for all”, “Those who arrive, survive”, and “Terminus”. That’s the last we see of this group this week.
Maggie, Sasha, and Bob have all survived on their own. Sasha is patching up a wound on Bob, and he seems to be flirting with her. It’s hard to tell if she’s into it or not. Maggie tells them that she needs to find the bus and Glenn. They won’t let her go on her own, and go along with her.
They find the bus broken down, filled with walkers. They plan to let one walker out of the bus at a time to see if anyone they know is there. Eventually all of the walkers get out and they kill them all. Glenn (or any major character) is not one of them. Maggie goes onto the bus, and kills an unknown walker that has dark hair. Maggie starts crying, but appears to be laughing eventually, so I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Glenn. This is the last we see of them this week.
Glenn wakes up, still at the prison. He finds his old cell, and pulls a police riot suit out from under his bed. He lays down, crying, contemplating why he should even bother. He sees a picture of Maggie, and all of his purpose has returned. He packs a bag, and goes into the prison yard in full riot gear, fighting through the horde of zombies.
He finds Tara, who is just sitting on some stairs, in a similar state of shock to what Daryl was going through. He tells her he needs her help. They make a Molotov cocktail out of a bottle of liquor, and blow up a car to distract the zombies so they can escape.
Tara tells Glenn how she was on The Governor’s side, but only because he lied about them. She brings up how The Governor killed Herschel, and Glenn seemed to react as though he didn’t know Herschel was dead. Glenn tells Tara he doesn’t want her help, he needs it. And she’s going to help him find Maggie. He got off the bus before it left the prison, and Maggie never saw him get off the bus.
Tara helps Glenn ward off some walkers, and she obliterates one, yelling something along the lines of “are you just going to stand there and watch?” Three military looking folks walk out from behind a vehicle, and we potentially have a new threat for the rest of the season. Or are they friends? My guess is a little of both.
This was definitely a much better episode than last week. And it has only a little to do with the lack of Carl on this episode. Focusing on more of the people meant there wasn’t a chance for dull moments, and they stories interwove enough so that you barely realized they hadn’t had contact with each other. I’m most interested in seeing how long they keep all of the mini-groups separated, and if they all end up back together at some point, or if some are just on their own now.
