Walking Dead - The Grove Recap

Truth be told, the first 2/3 of ‘The Grove’ was kind of boring.  Then – OMG.  The twist in the episode had me screaming, “You Can’t Do That On Television!!” at my screen for the first time in over two decades.  Only this time, the culprit wasn’t innocent green slime.  And (thankfully) I wasn’t wearing a purple scrunchie.

The episode starts with a cold open of a brass teakettle humming away on a gas stove.  Is it a flashback?  Before the virus?  Nope.  The camera pans to the window where a figure appears to be dancing around with a walker.  The kettle starts to whistle, the piercing sound underscoring the gravity of the situation outside the window. 

Cut to the train tracks at night.  Lizzie and Carol stand watch while Tyreese and Mika sleep.  Lizzie and Carol have a chat about Terminus, and how Lizzie saved Tyreese back at the prison. Lizzie eventually asks Carol if she had kids.  Carol wistfully remembers, saying she did have one daughter who “didn’t have a mean bone in her body”.  She then makes Lizzie go to sleep, and Lizzie obliges her by curling up next to Mika on the tracks. 

In the morning, Carol applies some sap to Tyreese’s wound, treating viewers to a survival tip nugget, saying that the sap will help with the infection.  Good to know, Carol!  Thanks!  The two chat about how far away from Terminus they are, but the conversation quickly turns to Lizzie.  Oh Lizzie.  She thinks walkers are “just different”, but Carol thinks Mika is worse because she “doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.”  Carol appears to be adopting Mika as a new Sophia in her head, but she won’t let her be compromised by this new world like Sophia was.  She can change, just like Carol did. 

The group chats about Huck Finn as they walk down the tracks.  Mika and Lizzie debate over who’s more like Huck Finn, and Mika eventually decides that Lizzie is more like Huck Finn, because she’s not grossed out by a dead rabbit.  Carol and Tyreese ignore this weird little nugget of info, and Tyreese turns to Carol saying, “Forgot you used to read to em”.  Apparently Tyreese never got wind of Carol’s Weaponry 101 back at Prison U.  There are a lot of things Tyreese doesn’t know about Carol.

They stop to look for water.  Lizzie and Tyreese take watch, and spy a walker stumbling down the tracks.  Tyreese goes after it with his hammer.  (Side note - Now, frankly, I do not enjoy Tyreese’s choice of weapon.  I much prefer Michonne’s katana, Daryl’s crossbow, or even Carol’s knife/brass knuckle thing.  A hammer is too messy and leaves too much room for error.  Also, it’s not super useful for other survival activities.  I vote knife all the way.)

The walker gets stuck in the tracks, and Tyreese goes in for the kill.  Lizzie runs up screaming.  She says, “sometimes we have to kill them, but sometimes we don’t!”.  Personally, I think you always need to kill them.  Always.  Get rid of them all, like ants in a kitchen.  Only the walkers are bigger.  And they want to kill you. 

While Lizzie is begging for walker mercy, Carol has a heart to heart with Mika in the woods.  She tells her, “You can toughen up….sooner or later you’re going to have to, or you’ll die.  Otherwise, things wont work out.”  As Carol gives this advice, the two see a small house in a clearing.  Mika grins and points out that her mom used to have the exact opposite philosophy as Carol, saying “my mom always said things always work out the way they’re supposed to.”  Sorry to point this out, kid, but your mom is clearly not here right now, and Carol is.  Looks like Carol’s worldview is going to get you further, but whatever makes you happy I guess. 

The group approaches the house, and Carol and Tyreese go in, leaving the girls outside with Judith.  As the girls sit outside waiting, Mika tries to talk some sense into her sister, telling her that the walkers aren’t people. They’re dead.  Lizzie’s all like - lalala I can’t hear you - when a walker busts out of the side of the house, and tumbles over the porch railing.  It crawls directly for Lizzie and Judith.  Lizzie just stares like a psycho, basically offering up Judith as a snack, when Mika finally gets up the nerve to start shooting.  It takes three rounds, but she’s ultimately successful.

Carol and Tyreese burst out of the house, drawn by the noise.  Carol breathlessly approaches Mika, hugging her and saying, “You did it.  You saved them.”  However, Lizzie is hyperventilating and sobbing.  Carol is irritated and snaps at her, “Why are you crying?!”  Lizzie stumbles over to a bench and ugly cries for a few moments before Mika calmly approaches her.  Like she did when their father died, she instructs her to “just count the flowers like you’re supposed to”. 

Carol and Lizzie shell pecans.  Carol tries to talk some sense into her, and Lizzie says she’s trying to understand. Mika finds a Raggedy Ann-like doll, and adorably names her ‘Grizelda Gunderson’.  Tyreese says he’s not used to being in a living room, and Mika encourages him to relax.  She’s kind of like Beth, hoping that things can just magically go back to the way they were, so no one has to change, and everyone can be happy.  After a bit of silence, Mika’s the first one to suggest that they should live there. 

The next day, Carol pours water into a kettle.  All I can think is what an amazing luxury that must be.  Hot water.  Using a kitchen appliance.  This is why gas stoves are the best.  You can count on them even if the world ends.  Note to self – get a gas stove ASAP.  Carol peeks out the window and sees what we saw at the beginning of the episode. A person dancing around with a walker.  Yet, by now we all know it’s that damn fool Lizzie.  Carol approaches, screaming, “You get away from it!”  Despite Lizzie’s protests, Carol tackles the walker to the ground and knifes it in the head. 

Lizzie freaks.  “YOU KILLED HER!!! YOU KILLED HER!!!”  She literally throws a tantrum, screaming claims that the walker was her friend.  Wow. Come to think of it, Lizzie probably didn’t have many friends before the apocalypse, so I guess I’ll give her a pass on this one.  And poor Carol’s at a loss, so she kind of gives Lizzie a pass too.  Big mistake. 

Carol and Mika go out hunting and see the fire is still burning.  (Side note – this totally has to be the fire that Daryl and Beth set in the moonshine shack.)  Mika notes that the smoke is black.  “If the smoke was white it wouldn’t be burning anymore.  I learned it in science class.” Score one for Mika providing a helpful survival tip.  Carol tries to toughen Mika up, giving her another pep talk.  They see a deer, munching away on some delicious grass.  Carol prompts Mika to shoot, and Mika can’t do it.  The deer ambles away.   

A bit later in the day, Tyreese and Carol pump water, and Tyreese says they can live there.  Wait a minute Tyreese, did you not just see what happened with Lizzie outside?  She’s pretty unstable at this point.  They have very little control over her, and clearly don’t have the resources to keep an eye on her.  I guess Tyreese chooses to ignore the crazy, tricking himself into thinking that a rest is the best thing, saying, “We can stay.  We can live here.” 

Haven’t these two ever heard the expression; “It takes a village”?  Tyreese and Carol have three children in their charge, and Terminus is sort of a village.  Go to the village.  It takes a village, people.  It takes a village.

Mika looks for Lizzie who has hopped herself right over to the tracks where she’s dangling a mouse in front of the fallen walker, outing her once and for all as the person who was feeding the mice to the walkers at the prison.  Mika finds her and tells her that the walkers are bad.  Lizzie dreamily extends her hand to the walker and responds with some psychopath babble, “I can hear them. They just want me to change.  To be like them…maybe I should change.  I can make you all understand...”  Just then – charred walkers emerge from the woods. 

The girls run back toward the house, and the group of charred walkers follows.  Carol, Tyreese and Mika start shooting as a group, and Lizzie reluctantly joins in.  After they finish shooting, Carol appears to feel victorious, thinking that Lizzie had a breakthrough by shooting the walkers.  She hugs Lizzie, saying, “You did it.” 

Later that night, endlessly shelling pecans, Carol talks to Lizzie.  She asks Lizzie, “Do you understand what they are now?”  Lizzie responds very cryptically, saying, “I know.  I know what I have to do now.  I know. ”  Carol WAY misunderstands this, gives a little speech, and then teaches the girls how to make some sort of pecan blobs in the stove. 

On the second day at the grove, Carol and Tyreese go hunting.  She tells Tyreese they can stay.  They’ll go to Terminus someday, but not now.  Tyreese makes a valid point that he’s not ready to be around other people yet.  He goes on to talk about how he misses Karen, how he sees her killer in his dreams.  Carol goes to speak, and for a minute it appears as if she may confess to Tyreese that she killed Karen.  But she doesn’t.  Instead, she gets emotional, and talks about living with “what we have to do”.  Tyreese hugs her, saying “don’t be ashamed of who you are.”  Oh Tyreese, if you only knew who Carol really was.

Carol and Tyreese start to walk back, and Carol tells a beer nuts/deer nuts joke that her good ole abusive husband Ed used to tell.  It’s not very funny, but the banter between the two is sweet and has an air of normalcy to it.  That normalcy is quickly shattered as they look up and see Lizzie with blood soaked hands.  She’s murdered her sister.  Holy shit.

YOU CAN’T DO THAT ON TELEVISION!!!! RIGHT?!?

Apparently you can, and they did.  As Carol and Tyreese approach, Lizzie gently smiles with a wild look in her eye that seems to say ‘I WILL CUT A BITCH…AND I TOTALLY JUST DID’.  She cheerily says “don’t worry, she’ll come back!” Uhh, ok Lizzie, yes, you are correct.  She will come back.  But you’re missing a very important point here.  She will not be Mika anymore.  She will want to gnaw your flesh off.  It occurs to me that Lizzie must’ve not done very well in school.

Judith sits on a brightly colored afghan, oblivious to the situation.  As Carol comes closer, Lizzie panics and draws her gun.  She screeches, “We have to wait.  I just want us to wait!” Tyreese seems to have forgotten how to blink, but Carol’s got this.  She calmly asks for the gun, and Lizzie hands it over.  Lizzie mentions that she was just about to ‘change’ Judith too, and Carol reasons with her, saying that Judith can’t even walk yet.  She seems to finally ‘get’ Lizzie’s demented train of thought, just…too late. 

Carol goes on about how the rest of them will have a cheery lunch inside while they wait for Mika to come back.  She’ll tie Mika up with her shoelaces while Tyreese, Lizzie and Judith go inside. Tyreese follows Carol’s lead and scoops up the baby.  He guides Lizzie into the house.  Carol collapses in a sob for a moment, and then grabs her knife, shaking her head with sorrow and hesitation. 

Once Carol comes inside, Tyreese reports to her that he put Lizzie in her room with some food, and made sure she didn’t have any knives, but he did find a shoebox full of mice.  She admitted to being the one giving the mice to the walkers.  She also pulled the mouse apart and nailed it to the board, saying she was just having fun.  Tyreese clearly has the heebie jeebies, and thinks maybe it was Lizzie that killed Karen and David.  Carol is quick to exonerate Lizzie, stating the obvious, that Lizzie would’ve let them turn if she had killed them.

Tyreese wants to help Lizzie.  He says, “Maybe we can try and help her, talk her back somehow”.  Carol knows that’s impossible.  It was something in her that was there before.  She states the obvious, but painful reality, saying that Lizzie “can’t be around other people.”

Lizzie and Carol head out into the woods to pick wildflowers for Mika.  Lizzie asks if Carol is mad.  Then she apologizes…but she’s basically just apologizing because Carol is mad, not because she’s sorry for what she did.  Textbook sociopath.  Lizzie sobs, “Please don’t be mad at me, I’m sorry.”  Carol tells her to look at the flowers, not quite getting that the thing is that Lizzie is supposed to COUNT the flowers, not just look at them, but no matter.  Carol pulls out her pistol and shoots.  In the echo of the gun blast, a long shot of the two in the grove is seen from Tyreese’s perspective.  Carol has tears streaming down her face as she makes her way back and sees a deer.  She doesn’t shoot it. 

They dig graves for the two small bodies. 

Later that night, Carol slides her gun to Tyreese, half hoping he’ll kill her.  She admits to killing Karen and David.  Tyreese doesn’t quite know what to do with that information, and makes his 100^th ‘pained face’ of the episode.  Tyreese instantly grasps the gun while he organizes his thoughts.  He asks if it was quick.  Carol says yes.  He lets the gun go, and says, “I forgive you.  I’m never gonna forget.”  Carol meakly thanks him.  Tyreese says they can’t stay, and Carol agrees. 

They depart the next morning, bypassing the walker on the tracks.  On the way to Terminus.

This episode was intense, and I’m still a bit in shock over the decision to have the story play out this way.  Yet, it helped to drive home the theme of change.  You must change one way or another in this new world.  Either change who you are, or die.  Carol changed.  As I’ve noted before, Carol is a survivor and despite the terrible decision she had to make in this episode, in my opinion she is one of the toughest, most enduring, and most interesting characters on the show.  Here’s hoping she sticks around for awhile longer.

Walking Dead - Alone Recap

I skipped out on last week mainly because it was pretty much a snoozefest of a walkabout, but also because I have been sucked into the binge vortex that is House of Cards. 

However, I think that this week set up the last three episodes of the season quite nicely.  What we know now - Almost all of the old gang is headed to Terminus.  A reunion is probable before the end of the season.  Except for Beth and Daryl.  Why didn’t they ever find those tracks?  Did Beth’s optimism get in the way of Daryl’s common sense?  Can Daryl please kill all of those ‘bad guys’? 

The episode opens on a pre-prison Bob.  For a good minute I was all like “Who the eff is this rando?” before I realized it was our friend Bob Stookey glugging electric green cold medicine.  Maybe the whole walker apocalypse is just Bob’s bad trip on some expired cough meds?  Probably not.  But I’m sure he wishes it were. 

Bob aimlessly stumbles around for a bit in a haze.  Eventually he encounters Daryl and Glenn.  Daryl asks Bob the magic three questions.  We find out that Bob killed only one person.  A woman, and it was only because she asked him to.  Daryl and Glenn find Bob’s answers satisfactory and ask him to come along.  Bob hops in the truck, not really caring where he’s going, just relieved to have company. 

Back in the present a dense fog has descended on Sasha, Maggie and Bob.  Walker snarls can be heard surrounding them.  The three take on a small group of walkers, and Bob gets bit, but only on the bandage.  To which I ask – if a bandage prevents walkers from biting, why isn’t everyone covered in bandages all the time?  No matter.  Sasha hugs Bob and they have a little moment. 

In another part of town, Beth and Daryl’s not so excellent adventure continues.  Beth awkwardly aims Daryl’s crossbow and flippantly tells him, “pretty soon I won’t need you at all”.  Daryl looks on while Beth proceeds to make a mess of things, thereby proving that she would be totally screwed if it weren’t for Daryl.  She tries to creep up on a walker, but because she’s actually a terrible tracker her foot gets snared in some sort of trap.  Daryl comes to her rescue, nonchalantly slapping the walker to the ground. 

The duo continues on their way, coming up on a graveyard.  Beth whines some more about her foot, and Daryl offers to give her a piggyback.  Beth says, “are you serious?”  To which Daryl responds, “Yeah, it’s a serious piggy back.” Daryl, you comedian.  I just love you so.  Mid-piggyback, they see a gravestone that says ‘Beloved Father’ and they stop.  Daryl places flowers on the grave, and Beth reaches for Daryl’s hand.  It’s unclear what role Daryl is playing in Beth’s life at this point.  Father, brother, friend, boyfriend?  A combination of all of them?  One things for sure – I know I definitely don’t want to see them make out.

Back in the woods, Bob and the ladies see a sign for Terminus.  Maggie wants to go, because she thinks Glenn will follow the map.  Bob agrees.  (A part of me keeps wondering why one of the characters doesn’t whip out their cell phone to snap a sweet pic of the map for future reference, but then I remember, oops, no cell phones.  I’d totally be doomed in WD-land.)  Somewhat refreshingly, Sasha is the first one to voice some cynicism about Terminus, saying, “If it sounds too good to be true….” Regardless, Maggie still wants to go, and Bob doesn’t want to split up so they continue down the tracks.

Later on that evening, Bob and Sasha have a secret chat.  Sasha thinks that they need to find a place to stay.  She says that Glenn is probably dead, they’ll all be dead someday.  They just need to survive.  Sasha tries to convince Bob to get Maggie to agree to her plan.

Maggie has other plans because the next morning, Bob is crouched on the ground.  In the dirt is a block letter note from Maggie.  “DON’T RISK YOUR LIVES FOR ME.  GOOD LUCK.”  Bob tells Sasha that they can still catch up to Maggie if they leave right then. 

Daryl and Beth walk into a mortuary.  The interior looks pretty untouched, and super clean.  Definitely cleaner than my house.  Beth comments on the cleanliness, and Daryl observes that someone’s been tending to it.  If that’s not a warning sign, I don’t know what is. 

They wander into the mortuary kitchen, and discover the holy grail of food.  Canned goods and diet cola galore.  There’s even an entire shelf of baby food.  Once again, Daryl observes that there’s not a speck of dust on the food.  

Daryl says that they should take some and leave the rest. Beth smiles at him with her big bright naïve eyes and says that Daryl is a good person.  He shakes off the comment and calls the jar of pig’s feet.  I don’t think Beth was planning on claiming those, but whatevs Daryl.  You should get whatever you want because you’re awesome.

Later on that night, Beth goes generally useless things like playing the piano and singing while Daryl secures the house, stringing a sophisticated zombie security system of cans and twine around the entry ways, and boarding up the windows.  He comes inside and calls the coffin as a bed, because he’s a badass, and face it, now that Daryl mentioned it, that coffin does look pretty comfy.  He asks Beth to keep playing, and all snide comments aside about Beth’s uselessness; it’s a pretty sweet scene.

On the tracks, Maggie comes up along another sign for Terminus.  She sees a walker stumble towards her.  She quickly disposes of it, but then slashes into it’s stomach and digs her hand into the bloody mess with gusto. 

Bob and Sasha walk down the tracks.  Sasha notes, “You have been grinning since the prison.  Do you even know why you’re smiling?” He responds that he does.  He’s not alone.  Following the tragedies with both of his previous groups, he ended up alone, and he broke the streak.  Just then, the duo spots Maggies sign.  “Glenn Go To Terminus.  Maggie” is written in walker blood.  Maggie is the queen of DIY writing implements this episode.  If there was a Pinterest for how to make signs in the zombie apocalypse, I would totally follow Maggie Green. 

Beth and Daryl continue to play house.  He carries her into the kitchen, bride style, which is weird.  They start to sit down to a pretty gross looking peanut butter and pig’s feet feast, but Daryl hears a noise and stealthily creeps to the front door, crossbow ready.  It’s a mangy one-eyed dog.  The dog runs off.

After they eat dinner, Beth says that she is writing a thank you note for the food.  Unlike her sister, Beth doesn’t have to be savvy with her writing utensils because she’s found a pencil!  Daryl mentions that he wants to stay, and that if the people come back they will “make it work”.  Beth grins and says “so you do think there are good people around.  What changed your mind?”  Daryl sheepishly shakes his head and mumbles, “you know.”  They share a look, and Beth realizes that she has had an effect on Daryl, and that they care for one another in a deep and complicated way. 

Side note -  I understand that they’re probably starving, and exhausted but I think at this point Daryl has been swayed by Beth’s eternal naiveté and optimism.  The previous Daryl wouldn’t have stayed in that house for as long as they did.  There were warning signs all over the place.  He is attracted to Beth’s sunny outlook on life and this is cute and sweet and all, but Daryl truly knows how the world works.  Beth even mentioned that he was made for “this world” in the previous episode.  Since Beth helped him let go of his demons by burning them to the ground, he is hoping for a life he never had.  And, sadly he won’t ever have it.

Beth and Daryl’s weird but sweet moment is broken by another commotion on the porch.  Daryl gets up without his usual caution and goes to the door with the jar of pig’s feet, saying he’s going to give the dog just one more chance.  He opens the door with no cautionary measures (an act not befitting Daryl Dixon), and a horde of WALKERS stream through the door.  Daryl screams to Beth, and she tosses him his crossbow like some sort of pixie sidekick.  He yells at her to “grab your shit and get out of here!”  Daryl handily takes on all of the walkers, and then races back outside just in time to glimpse Beth’s pack strewn on the ground, and a car racing down the driveway. 

In a heartbreaking moment, Daryl sprints down the road, crying out Beth’s name over and over again. 

Daryl jogs down the road, out of breath but determined.  Eventually he slows to a walk, and comes up upon the train tracks.  He collapses in the middle of the street, at a literal crossroads.

Bob and Sasha continue and approach a town.  She points at a tall brick building, and says that they can set up shop there.  There’s a bit of back and forth as Bob says hes’ not stopping, and Sasha says that they are.  As they debate, Bob pulls out what he thinks is going to be his ace in the hole, and kisses Sasha.  Bob doesn’t look like the best kisser, because Sasha just stands, unmoving, until he backs away.  When did a kiss ever win an argument Bob?  Definitely not this time, because Bob heads down the tracks, and Sasha stands alone. 

Sasha cases the brick building.  You think Bob could’ve at least stayed to help her secure it, but no.  It’s a big building with a large loft space on top.  She stands alone at the top, and removes her gear.  Come to think of it, this is probably the first time she’s been alone since the end of the world.  She goes to use the compass at the window, and sees Maggie lying on the ground between two walkers.  Why Maggie is playing kindergarten nap time with two dead walkers is beyond me, but whatever. 

Sasha leans out the window, and the pane tumbles out, crashing to the ground and attracting more walkers.  She races down with her pointy stick, and she and Maggie take on a small herd.  Maggie wins points for using a No Parking sign as the best weapon of the episode, and continues to solidify her status as the best damn DIY-er on the Walking Dead.

The two women chat back to back, still casing their surroundings.  Maggie asks Sasha for help finding Glenn and getting to Terminus, and Sasha says yes.  A bit later, they’re walking down the tracks and they find Bob.  Sasha hugs him.  Yay! 

Back at the crossroads, Daryl encounters some men with guns and bows.  Bad men.  The goons that Rick encountered a few episodes ago. NOOOOO!  The king of the goons approaches Daryl and comments on his bow.  The two of them have a faceoff, and the Goon King appears to believe that Daryl is one of their own, and introduces himself.  Joe.  Crap.  Daryl’s stuck with these awful men now.  What will he do?  I secretly hope he kills all of them in their sleep. 

The very last scene of the episode delivers an emotional punch.  Glenn finds a sign to Terminus.  YES.

Some final thoughts –

Is Bob basically alluding to the fact that Terminus is doomed for the entire episode?  He continually mentions that all groups fall apart for one reason or another.  This will be his fourth.  Why will this one be any different?  Will he get out alive?

Where is Beth?  I highly doubt that ‘good’ people kidnapped her.  I think her worldview is about to get drastically reframed. 

Walking Dead - Claimed Recap

I haven’t written about the ‘back eight’ of the season yet, but that’s not because I haven’t been captivated by what’s happening.  Quite the opposite.  

Over the past three episodes, the writers have cleverly set up a ‘Walking Game of Thrones’ situation, where our heroes have been torn asunder over a vast and unknown territory where danger lurks at every corner.  The only thing us audience members have to root for in this new divided ‘Dead’ world is the reunification of our gang.  The show hasn’t denied us any reunions in the past – Lori and Rick, Merle and Daryl, Andrea and the Gang…but there are so many characters to rejoin that it seems possible that one of the pairs may lose their way.  That’s what has made the second half of this season so exciting to watch. 

That said – Glenn MUST find Maggie, because their story is the heart of this show.

The episode opens with Tara furiously scribbling direction notes on her hand in the back of a truck.  One note simply reads ‘BUS’.  The truck stops, and walkers claw at the back of the tank.  Tara jumps up with her gun, ready to fire, when the red head in the truck barks ‘DO NOT FIRE THAT WEAPON’ and hops out of the driver’s side.  He proceeds to take unabashed glee in demolishing the three walkers with a crowbar.  Tara stares at him and says, “never seen that before…you smiled.  You were smiling.”  He responds, “well I’m the luckiest guy in the world” and asks for Tara’s help moving the cars in the road.  Somehow I like this guy already.  He seems like a aggressive weirdo with good intentions.

Elsewhere, Michonne and Carl sit down for a family breakfast.  Here starts the Lifetime movie portion of the episode.  A broken woman who has lost the ability to feel pairs up with a man and his son who have lost hope.  After a few rough starts, they come together and learn to love again and magically become a family that lives happily ever after.  If it weren’t for the ceaseless threat of walker violence this sequence in the house would make great “television for women”.

Carl and Michonne engage in some banter about her attire and soymilk.  I am not sure if Michonne has ever smiled on the show, but here she grins ear to ear, and it’s a refreshing sight.  She appears to have fully adopted Carl as her own in her mind.   Mid anecdote, Carl remembers Judith and pops up from the table, mumbling something about finishing a book.

Michonne finds a disheveled Rick in the kitchen, aimlessly rummaging through drawers.  They totally have a ‘moment’ as Michonne asks Rick if the house is “home or a stop along the way”.  Rick isn’t sure, and Michonne states that she’s going to take Carl out for supplies.  She assumes the role of head of the family, making the decision to go out and get supplies, and convinces Rick to rest.  Michonne and Carl head out, and Rick gives Carl his gun.

Rick limps upstairs and re-bandages his wound.  He checks the time on Carol’s watch, and settles down to sleep in the master bedroom.  Love that he still has Carol’s watch, especially since we know she’s back in the picture.

On the road, Michonne and Carl leave a house with bags of supplies.  Michonne reveals her Crazy Cheeze find with another huge grin.  Carl brushes her off like the sullen teenager he is, and Michonne confronts him right back.  As they approach the next house, Michonne divulges her long kept secret to Carl.  She had a three-year old son.  Carl is too shocked to respond, silently staring as Michonne proceeds to make her way into the house.  She’s all business in the front room, acting like she didn’t just drop a shocker of a revelation on Carl.  She doesn’t get off so easily, as Carl starts rapid firing questions.  Michonne briefly gets a panicked look on her face, clearly she hadn’t prepared for the barrage of Carl questions.  So she lays down ground rules.  “One question at a time, one room at a time, and only after we’ve cleared it.”  Strange games in the post apocalyptic world. 

Back at the house, Rick is deep asleep, when he wakes to sounds of men fighting.  “Please, please don’t!” Then a scream.  Ricks eyes flash open.  Rut ro.

He reaches for his gun, but had given it to Carl.  Oh Rick, how could you let your guard down?  Footsteps come up, and Rick squiggles himself under the bed.  He sees a glimpse of a rifle.  He assumes a low cobra pose under the bed.  Who knew Rick was so into yoga?  Also, he is surrounded by a sea of perfect dust bunnies.  Note to WD design people – dust bunnies don’t look like that. 

This is the scene under my bed, and it’s not even a zombie apocalypse. TMI?  #mostlydogfur

A mysterious man flops onto the bed above Rick, trapping him.

Oblivious of their unexpected houseguests, Michonne and Rick continue to hunt for supplies.  Michonne stares at some brightly colored paintings on the wall.  The colors are reminiscent of the cat she took from the bar when she helped Carl get the picture of Lori. Carl starts in with the questions again, more cautiously this time, and Michonne provides answers.  Her son’s name was Andre Anthony, she didn’t have any other kids, and Andre was a handful just like Carl.  Carl asks how long it’s been, and Michonne says “It happened after everything happened”.  Rick doesn’t know, because she “never told anyone, not until now”.  Carl gulps, realizing the significance of the moment, and promises not to tell anyone.   

Carl wanders down the hall to investigate another room, and Michonne opens a wrapped picture to reveal a painting of a woman with garish red splashes over her face.  The picture is deeply unsettling, even more so given that the rest of the pictures are cheery and bright.  She takes a sideways glance down the hall then sidles into a bathroom that leads into a baby’s room, very apropos for the theme of her and Carl’s day.  I appreciated the detail of the spider webs swaying on the bookcase, giving a deserted and haunted feel to the house.  Michonne then wanders into the next room.  It’s clearly a little girl’s room, painted bubble gum pink.  As her eyes adjust to the room, Michonne takes in the full weight of what the room has actually become.  It’s a mausoleum.  Four small bodies lie on two twin beds, all shot in the head at point blank range.  As Michonne carefully walks around, she is respectful and doesn’t disturb a single item in the room.  She becomes teary, and brusquely wipes away her tears.   A figure in the corner startles her, and she turns to see a female’s body in a rocking chair, skull blown to bits.  Simultaneously horrifying and sweet, it’s probably one of the most touching ‘finds’ on the show to date. 

Michonne backs out of the room and hastily closes the door. Carl comes up and says “there’s a baby in there”, to which Michonne responds, “it’s a dog”.  Here I think, how did Michonne NOT smell the stench of five decomposing bodies in that room before she opened the door?  That smell would certainly have been enough to deter most people from entering that room, but I suppose it’s possible that olfactory performance in the living becomes compromised in a world filled with decomposing corpses on the move.

Carl opens up about Judith, and says that maybe she and Andre are together somewhere.  This makes Michonne smile, and jostles her new adopted sons shoulder lovingly and says “you dad will wonder where we are if we’re late”.  This would definitely qualify as a Lifetime Movie Moment in my book….if there weren’t a family who ‘opted out’ rotting away in the very next room.

Back at the house, Rick’s dealing with a fresh hell, trapped underneath the rickety bed slats.  Another man enters the room, telling the other that he’s going to have to “lay claim somewhere else”.  The two goons get into a physical fight, and Goon #1 sees Rick under the bed.  Rick tilts his head quizzically at the man as his assailant finishes off his sleeper hold, and he passes out.  Goon #2 cackles, “my bed now, jackoff” and flops onto the bed.

Glenn wakes up in the moving truck, and Tara cares for him, coaxing him to drink some water.  The writers were definitely thinking ahead when they set Tara’s sexuality up to make her the perfect travel companion for Glenn.

Tara tells Glenn that they’ve been driving for three hours, they passed the bus long ago and everyone was dead.  Glenn stops the truck, and the red head confronts him. Red heads name is Abraham, and he neatly introduces himself as well as the midriff baring Rosita Espinosa and the mullet rocking Dr. Eugene Porter.  He drops the bomb - “We’re on a mission to get Eugene to Washington DC.  Eugenes a scientist and he knows exactly what caused this mess.”  Jigga- whaaaa?? 

Side note – Unfortunately I had already spoiled this surprise for myself by reading a synopsis of the comics on Wikipedia. I felt the electricity of the moment here, but not the surprise.  PSA: Spoilers are bad, kids.

Both groups stand in silence, and Glenn asks a follow up question, to which Eugene responds, “It’s classified”.  Seriously dude?  The world is ending, the government appears to be in shambles, there’s zero infrastructure.  There will be no consequences if you tell people what’s going on.  I do not like Eugene.

Abraham asks for Glenn’s help, and Glenn says he can’t, and starts walking.  Tara follows him like the devoted puppy dog she is and says she knows how to get him back to the bus.  Abraham follows and tells Glenn that he wont find his wife, alive or dead. “Sorry to tell you, shes gone.  No need for you to die too.  Get back in the truck, do something with your life.”  This incenses Glenn.  He stops and clocks Abraham square in the jaw which incites some sort of anger in him, and he tackles Glenn.  Tara tries to stop him, but Abraham tosses her off handily.  Walkers start to emerge in the cornfields, moving toward the sound.  Ahhhh!  Children of the coooorrrnnnnn!  Eugene makes a lame attempt at getting Rosita and Abraham’s attention, and then clumsily starts firing a machine gun which he has zero business using. Carl is immediately unseated as the ultimate ammo-waster on the show; Eugene is the king of the idiots now.

Tara and Glenn walk up to the truck and casually grab weapons to help.  Once the walkers have been eliminated, Abraham turns around to see that the trucks gas line has been breached.  His reaction – “Son of a dick”.  I like you Abe.  I really, really like you.

Rick creeps out from underneath the bed now that Goon #2 is snoozing.  He stealthily gets to standing and sneaks into a side room just as Goon #3 wanders up the stairs.  Rick tries the windows in vain, but obviously cant smack at them to get them open.  He snatches a trophy as a makeshift weapon. 

As Rick scrambles to escape, the goons chat.  “There’s a woman shackin’ up in here”.  They found a shirt.  She washed it, and left it, indicating to them that she would be back.  One man calls ‘dibs’ when she gets back.  Ew.  Gross.  These are some bad, bad men. 

Rick sidles into the bathroom and finds a goon perched on the toilet..  Rick takes no time in strangling the man to death, and commandeers his weapon.  He manages to get the bathroom window open, and has the foresight to leave the door open for when the goon reanimates.  Rick does his best Spiderman as he crouches on the roof, then silently drops from the gutter and readies his position for a possible attack.  He gets around to the front of the house, as the ball-bouncing goon walks out front.  These goons have good timing.

Unidentified goon starts spitting off the side of the porch, whistling a chilling tune.  Rick sees Michonne and Carl coming down the road and steadies himself to attack the goon.  Rick has become a killing machine, willing to kill as a first resort instead of compromise.  This is not a world of compromise, especially with these men. However, Rick doesn’t have to put his newfound priorities to work.  With impeccable timing, his zombie plant comes to life and creates a distraction so he can scramble away toward Carl and Michonne.

Back on the road, Abe chastises Eugene for “killing the truck” he says that a camel packed with C4 couldn’t take the truck down.  Eugene gives a robotic weird response.  Rosita picks up the very conveniently dropped pic of Maggie, handing it to Glenn, asking, ‘is this yours?”  Glenn grabs the pic and returns the gun, and Tara follows suit.  Rosita makes the decision to follow them, and says “what the hell else are we gonna do?”  Abraham protests, but then Eugene says they’ll find another vehicle, and they’ll go with Glenn and Tara until they do.  Eugene snarkily adds, “Trust me, I’m smarter than you”.  They follow. 

A ways down the road, Tara starts questioning Abraham.  He says he wants to save the world, but Tara isn’t fooled.  She breaks it down for him, saying that she knows Rosita will follow Abraham anywhere, and Eugene needs his help, but why is Abraham going?  She says, “you don’t have to tell me why, just don’t lie to me.” 

Side note – Tara seems to be the new Dale/Hershel of the bunch.  As much as I miss those two characters, it’s refreshing to not have the moral voice of the show be the ‘wise old man’ cliché.  This makes me sad though, because if Dale and Hershel’s arcs on the show are any indication, Tara’s got about one more season to go before she meets her end.

On the move, the Grimes-Katana Gang wander down the train tracks, and see a sign of possible hope.  Redemption.  “What do you think?” Mich asks Rick.  ‘Lets go” he says.  The camera pulls back to reveal the sign - Sanctuary for all.  Community for all.  Those who arrive survive.  

YES. 

Amazing episode.  Questions – How long before everyone arrives at Terminus?  We know that Tyreese, Carol, Meeka, Lizzie and Judith are headed there, but will everyone arrive?  In the past, separated loved ones have always reunited on the show, so I have hope that the writers will not ‘leave us hanging’ with any one of these story lines.  Tyreese and Sasha, Beth and Maggie, Judith, Rick and Carl, and, most importantly Glenn and Maggie will reunite.  The question is – will it be before the end of the season?  Please?

Also, as evidenced by Rick putting on a jacket while escaping from the house, as well as the timetable of the episodes – Winter Is Coming. Another GoT reference for sure, but my guess is that the change in seasons will have dire ramifications for all our heroes in the episodes to come.