Walking Dead - Consumed Recap

What was touted as ‘The Adventures of Carol and Daryl’, ultimately turned out to be a relatively slow moving and serious episode focusing on identity and rebirth. Not gonna lie, I thought this episode was a serious bummer.  I'm not blaming it on the lack of action, but given the themes of ‘Consumed’, I now truly believe that something horrible is going to happen to Carol.  Soon.

Fire and smoke became important symbols in this episode, connoting specific life altering moments in Carol’s recent life.  There has been a great deal of focus on Carol in the first half of Season 5, and I can’t help but think that she’s doomed. 

The episode is punctuated with Carol flashbacks, filling in small gaps of time for the viewer.  We begin as Carol drives away from Rick, exiled after killing Karen and David back in the first half of Season 4. (Side note – This happened over a year ago for us, but in WD-time it’s only happened a few weeks ago.)  Carol drives out onto a main road, and allows herself a brief moment of grief, sobbing at her steering wheel.  She collects herself and then drives into a small town, setting up shop at a small law firm.  Settling in for the night, Carol clutches her gun tightly to her chest.

The next morning Carol gets up and sets to work creating a makeshift camp.  As she hangs plastic bags from the windows as rain catchers, she glimpses a plume of black smoke rising in the direction of the prison.  Panic on her face, she hops to it.  She gets in her car and flies down the road.  As she approaches the prison, a blazing inferno is reflected in her windshield.  Damn, they totally could’ve used Carol.  Would she have taken the Governor out?  Probably. There’s a good chance things may have gone another way in that situation if Carol had been there.  Rick has terrible timing. He’s kind of the worst sometimes.

Now we know how and why Carol came back.  Just about a day after the exile.  She wasn’t on her own for very long at all, and even though Rick shut her out she remained loyal to all the people there and rushed to their side when she saw danger.  If Carol’s only thoughts were for self-preservation, she would’ve stayed as far away from that situation as possible.  But she didn’t. 

Back in the present, we pick back up with Carol and Daryl as they pursue the mystery car.  Daryl notes that the car is running low on gas, and Carol suggests that they run the car off the road.  She’s kind of like a wild card here.  She has definitely proven herself to be a bold risk taker, but in this case she’s not thinking too far ahead.  That is what makes her and Daryl such a great team.  

As the duo soldiers on, the camera pans back to show us a brief shot of Atlanta at night.  It is eerily black, silent, and foreboding in the distance. 

The white cross car stops at an intersection, and Carol and Daryl park their car and watch from a distance.  A passenger gets out, and Daryl asks, “Is that a cop?” with a bit of surprise in his voice.  (Side note – its interesting to note that Daryl doesn’t say its someone ‘dressed like a cop’, he immediately assumes that the person is a cop because of the uniform.  Those societal mores are powerful, and Dawn of the Walking Dead knows it.)

A walker starts to claw at the car window, potentially giving up their position.  Both Carol and Daryl stare at it with disgusted indifference, like “be cool, dude, just be cool.”  

After pulling what appeared to be random debris off the road, the cop passenger gets back in the car, and the car drives away.  Daryl tries to turn the key, but it’s a no go.  Carol says she knows a place they can “hole up”.

They make their way into a building as a small contingent of walkers starts to wobble down the city street like the lamest Thriller video knockoff ever.  As they make their way into the building, Carol finds a key ring on a body lying in the hall.  They barricade the door and make themselves at home.  Daryl asks Carol what the place is, and she explains that it’s temporary housing.  She and Sophia came there before the world fell apart, but they didn’t stay. 

Carol flops on the bed next to Daryl and the two have a heart-to-heart about their lives and what it means to have an identity in this new world.  They both seem to agree that they’re trying to start over, and trying to still believe that what they’re doing matters.   Daryl asks Carol what she would’ve done if he hadn’t shown up at the car earlier, and Carol says she doesn’t know.  But we know.  Gareth and the Termites would’ve grabbed her and made a delicious feast out of her lady leg.  (Side note - It’s kind of interesting that as this conversation takes place, the rest of our gang is hard at work taking out the Termites.)

There’s a noise out in the hallway, and they go to investigate.  Two walkers press up against the frosted glass.  A large, adult sized body appears next to a smaller body, presumably a child.  Carol goes to take care of it, but Daryl stops her, telling her she doesn’t have to do it.  The next morning Carol wakes up to see a fire burning outside.  Daryl has covered the bodies with sheets (definitely Beth’s influence) and is burning them.  Carol gets a sad but hopeful look on her face, and thanks Daryl as they watch the curls of black smoke rise into the sky.

In many ways, this scene echoes the themes of not only this episode, but Daryl’s trajectory on the show as well.  It’s no coincidence that following the scene at the shelter, the episode cuts to a flashback of Carol blankly staring at a cloud of white smoke in the distance as she and Tyreese bury Mika and Lizzie’s bodies.  Recall that that smoke is from the moonshine shack that Daryl and Beth burned down so that Daryl could leave his life as an abused and neglected child in the past.  In burning the bodies at the shelter, Daryl is very likely trying to help Carol move on from her abusive past much in the same way Beth helped him.

Ever since Mika taught Carol how to identify if a fire is still burning from afar in The Grove, white versus black smoke has been a recurring and symbolic theme in Carol’s life.  The white smoke from the shack is the only smoke in the episode from a fire that has burned itself out, indicating something is over, done, reborn.  Daryl has been reborn, but the smoke from the fires started in Carol’s past is never seen as ‘white’, indicating that she has been unable to resolve her issues and move on.  The black smoke from her past, via the flashbacks, clearly haunts her and her self-doubt is definitely still burning.

After the walker bonfire, the duo leaves the shelter and stalks the deserted streets of Atlanta.  For some reason, the streets have an overwhelming amount of loose cardboard strewn about.  They make their way through an open parking garage into the ‘Skybridge’.  Someone is watching from the garage.

They get up to the bridge, and encounter an odd tableau.  The hallway seems to have been a camping site for a small group of survivors.  It appears as if they were all stabbed to death, and then entombed in sleeping bags and tents in order to immobilize the bodies once they reanimated.  Is it a trap?  A deterrent? Or maybe it’s just a gigantic piece of performance art?  Is Banksy still alive in the apocalypse?  Maybe Daryl is Banksy.  Woah.  Anything is possible in the WD world I guess.

They make it to the end of the hall, but the door is loosely bolted.  Carol and Daryl both shimmy through the small opening to find an upscale office that looks to be untouched.  They look out onto a scorched landscape, surveying the territory.  Again, they have a cryptic conversation about evolution of self, and starting over.  Carol seems to want to tell Daryl about what happened with the girls, but then thinks better of it. 

Daryl spies something in the distance.  It’s a van, marked with a distinctive white cross, stuck in the safety rails of an overpass.  They load up on water, and take a moment to look at the piece of art in the office.  Daryl says the abstract piece looks like, “a dog sat in paint and wiped his ass all over the place.”  Carol disagrees, and says she likes it.  I’d hate to think what Daryl might say about a Pollock painting.  Yikes. 

Care Bear vomit?  Liquefied walker?  P.S. I want Daryl Dixon to interpret all abstract paintings forever and ever please and thank you. P.P.S. There should be a web series, ‘Carol And Daryl Go To MoMA’.  I’d totally watch that. 

As they shimmy back out of the bolted door, Noah grabs Carol’s rifle and holds them at gunpoint.  He asks Daryl to lay down his crossbow, and apologizes to them.  As he escapes, he says, “I’m sorry about this.  You look tough, you’ll be alright.”  Noah slashes into the tents, releasing the walkers from their vinyl cages.  Carol reacts immediately, shooting a walker, and then takes aim at Noah as he flees down the hall.  Daryl sees this and quickly whacks Carol’s arm down toward the floor. 

They start to exit the building, and Carol quickly scrambles to justify what she did. She sums up her motto of self-preservation as she says, “If I’m going to hell I’m making damn sure I’m holding it off as long as I can.” Daryl protests a bit, frustrated with her outlook on the situation.  Carol grabs Daryl’s bag, and a book titled ‘Treating Survivors of Childhood Abuse’ falls out.  They lock eyes for a moment, and Daryl snatches the book away. 

Unlike Carol, Daryl is trying to deal with his past, instead of using it to fuel his future.  He is taking the opportunity for rebirth seriously, as a chance to evolve emotionally and spiritually, and not just survive. 

On the other hand, Carol is simply trying to survive and help those close to her survive as time passes.  This is illustrated with a flashback to the prison.  Carol stands over Karen and David’s bodies as they burn.  Columns of black smoke pour into the air.  What Carol has done in episodes past seems to be in the service of protecting others, not necessarily herself.  She’s still carrying the regret of inaction from her previous life, and is constantly in fight mode, counting only on herself, not permitting herself to rest even when she has others to support her.  She hasn’t learned how to balance the fight with flight yet, and this is causing her some serious stress.

We return to the present as Carol and Daryl approach the abandoned van with the white cross.  Carol wants to go in first because she’s lighter and the van is unstable, front end dangling off the side of the bridge, but Daryl shrugs her off and hops in.  They successfully ID a stretcher in the van as originating from Grady Memorial Hospital, but a horde approaches, boxing them in.  They wordlessly slide into the two front seats and as they brace for impact, Carol reaches for Daryl’s hand on the dashboard.

In defiance of physics, the van lands squarely on all four tires, like a cat.  Walkers begin to rain from the sky, landing with hard thunks on the windshield and roof of the van.  As they walk away, Carol is clearly injured, and Daryl holds her up. 

They continue their mission, staking out the situation from an abandoned building adjacent to the hospital.  As they munch on a lunch of stale chips, Daryl strikes up a conversation.  He presses Carol for information on how he’s changed since they met.  She says, “It’s like you were a kid.  Now you’re a man.”  Daryl then asks her to assess herself, and how she’s changed.  Even though Daryl did her a solid and tried to burn away her past at the shelter, Carol can’t seem to shake who she was ‘before’.  She ruminates on her life with Ed, saying that she kept praying for something to happen, and it didn’t. 

Carol goes on and talks about her life since then, speaking about her metamorphosis in stages, seeming to reference the things we’ve seen in the flashbacks of the episode and how they’ve changed the core of who she is.  “Who I was…she got burned away, and I was happy about that.  And at the prison I got to be who I always should have been, and then she got burned away...everything now just consumes you.”  Daryl looks at her with kindness in his eyes and reminds her, “we ain’t ashes.”

Just then, Noah fumbles with something down the hall.  Seriously, kid?  Out of all the buildings in all of Atlanta, you pick this one?  The one CLOSER to the place you’re trying to run away from?!  But I digress….Noah is battling a walker as Carol and Daryl approach.  He tosses the walker at Carol and she falls to the ground.  Daryl helps Carol and then pursues Noah, tackling him and trapping him under a gigantic bookcase as a walker starts to wriggle in through the door.  Noah pleads for help as Daryl shakes a stale cigarette out of a found pack and coolly lights it. 

Daryl refuses to help, saying, “Nah, I already helped you once.  It ain’t happenin’ again.”  Noah’s probably pretty confused here, as he didn’t know that Carol had a bullet with his name on it, but no matter.  For some reason Carol’s on his side now.  As the walker gets closer, she joins in asking for Daryl's assistance.  As the walker lunges for Noah’s throat, Carol grabs her knife.  She’s about to stab the walker when an arrow slices through the air, piercing the walker’s skull. 

Back in the past, Terminus burns, thick black smoke swirling in the distance as Carol sheds her camouflage. 

Carol and Daryl help lift the bookcase, and Noah thanks them profusely once he’s free.  He goes to the window, and says he has to go because the people at the hospital are following him.  Daryl’s eyes widen at the mention of the hospital.  “You see a blonde girl there?!” Noah’s eyes widen in kind, “Beth? You know her?!  She helped me get out, but she’s still there.”

The trio starts to exit the building when Noah trips and falls.  Daryl stops to help him up, and Carol sprints ahead into the road.  A station wagon screeches up, slamming into Carol.  Her body flies up onto the windshield and then crumples to the ground.  Daryl has a freak out, as Noah holds him back, explaining that the people at the hospital “have machines” and that they will help her.  As the cops load Carol onto a stretcher, Noah says, “We can get her back.  We can get Beth back.”

Daryl asks, “What’s it going to take?”  Noah notes that the group at the hospital has guns and people, and Daryl responds, “So do we.”

Noah and Daryl escape the city in a truck.  Noah looks at Daryl with an odd look on his face.  Daryl stares, determined, into the distance, the face of a man on a mission.

Some ramblings:

- I just simply couldn't care less about the scene where Carol and Daryl are lying on the bed.  They’re just close, ok?  They’re never going to make out, and I don’t want them to.  This is my final and only thought.  They're soulmates at a deeper level.  Also, no one ever seems to brush their teeth.  Gross. 

- Daryl’s actually one of the gentlest souls on the show at this point, and by being here with Carol he was spared from being a part of the Termite Massacre back at the church.  I can't help but think that his separation from the group at this point in time was intentional.  Same with Carol, but I think that her method of killing would be more akin to Michonne's rather than Sasha, Rick or Abe's.  She's a gentle soul too, only capable of fight when something is at stake.  Unlike some of the others, she's not in it for vengeance. 

- Obligatory Biblical reference of the episode seems to be the Mary on the dash of the van.  Very glad we didn't have to listen to any scripture this week. Thanks for that, WD writers. 

- The last two episodes reminded me of the storytelling on LOST.  Flashbacks focusing on a single character within a larger episode for the sake of character building.

- I really do think that something terrible is going to happen to Carol by the mid-season finale.  For some reason I'm holding out hope that it's amnesia, and not her death.  She got whacked pretty hard by that car, and an amnesiac episode followed by a 'rebirth' may possibly be what this episode is pointing towards.  I don't care if it's too 'Days of Our Lives', any story line that lets Carol Peletier live is okay in my book.

Walking Dead - Self Help Recap

So guys, this was pretty much a snoozefest of an episode.  Sure, we had the big ‘reveal’ at the end, but if you’re a fan of the comics, or just someone who saw through Eugene’s mullet to his constant line of BS, the most shocking part of this episode was the birth of the term ‘dolphin smooth’. 

In flashbacks interspersed throughout the episode we learned about Abe’s past.  The Basics - He brutally murdered four men who had attacked his family.  By smashing their heads in with canned goods. Um, yeah, Abe is a badass.  His family, however, is not so impressed.  They are truly wigged out by his actions and the next morning he finds them gone.  His wife left a note saying simply, “Don’t try to find us”.  WTF lady?!  In the zombie apocalypse, Abe is the one you WANT to find!  Not the one you want to get away from!  Remember, it’s a whole new world (...cue Aladdin theme song in your head….) and survival is paramount.  Abe is despondent upon finding his family chomped to smithereens just around the corner (they didn’t get far without Abe, duh), and he responds to this horror by putting a loaded gun in his mouth.  Cue Eugene.  But we’ll get to that at the end.

In present time, the church bus travels down the road with Abe at the helm.  Rosita strokes Abe’s hair and they banter about her giving him a trim.  In an effort to be suave, he says, “maybe I’ll let you shave me down all over.  Dolphin smooth.”  Ew. In the back of the bus, where the cool kids sit, Tara ribs Eugene about his own trademark coif.  “The party’s getting a little long in the back.  Or is it your source of power?”  Eugene shrugs off these comments, saying he’s thinking about what Gabriel did.  Ok Eugene, weird thing to be thinking about, but whatever, you’re a weird guy. 

(Side note – By the end of the episode, we all know why Eugene is thinking about Gabriel.  This is a new side of WD, introduction of spineless characters who rely on their wits to survive.  Eugene, Gabriel, and Doc Steve from Slabtown are all men who rarely/never actually get their hands dirty and are basically just surviving by throwing themselves on the mercy of others.  It will be interesting to see how many of these men survive the season.)

A bit further down the road, the bus encounters a few stopped cars in the road.  Abe expertly slaloms around the first car, but then slams into a second car.  The bus flies into the air and lands squarely on its side. First the school bus of deathly ill people at the prison, and now the church bus flips its lid.  Nothing good happens in busses on the Walking Dead. Moral of the story: Stay away from busses in the apocalypse, people.

As the group recovers from the crash, Glenn quickly formulates an exit plan. As the two couples clear a path, Tara will cover Eugene.  Glaggie and Abrosita (Rosabraham?  Their couple name isn’t as clear-cut as Glaggie…) execute the walkers with an almost ballet-like precision.

Tara and Eugene evacuate the bus and Tara takes on a few walkers while Eugene cringes like a brat in the background.  Seriously, Eugene?  Scientist or no scientist, nut up dude.  And he kind of does.  Just as a walker starts to grab Tara from behind, he stabs it in the neck.  Not enough to kill it, but he does buy Tara enough time to take care of it herself.   

Abe barks at the crew, telling them to check Eugene, even though Eugene claims he’s fine.  Abe’s a testy old bulldog in this episode, growling and barking his way to D.C.  They’ve gotta scavenge him up some anti-depressants or something.  Just as Maggie mentions that the First Aid kit is on the bus, it bursts into flames. Womp womp. 

Eugene suggests that they head back to the church because it’s only 15 miles away. Sounds like a good idea, but crazy Abe has other plans.  He’s going forward, at all costs.  Surprisingly, everyone is pretty ok with this.  Maggie even makes a joke.  LOL Mags, life’s totally a blast, especially when pseudo-cops are sexually assaulting your sister; it’s a regular old laugh riot.

The crew finds an abandoned bookstore and goes about making it camp for the evening.  Bonus Points to the whole crew for useful Survival Tips all around.  Tara grabs some water from a toilet tank and goes about boiling it over a small ‘stove’ made of wire hangers and a trash can.  Eugene fashions a lighter out of a small piece of tinfoil and a battery, and Maggie and Rosita remove small lengths of string from a book binding to serve as stitches for Abe’s hand.

Illuminated by a full moon, Abe stands watch.  As Glenn comes to chat with him, a walker smooshes up against the picture window like a toddler at an aquarium.  After the walker passes, the two men have a chat that may have well been a podcast because the scene is so dimly lit I can’t see a damn thing.  Abe shares his basic philosophy with Glenn.  Kill the individuals that threaten you.  And he’s kind of ok with that.  He says, “I want to say it’s never easy, but that’s not the truth.  It’s the easiest thing in the world now.”  Abe has gotten a little too far away from what is ‘acceptable’, even in this world.  In terms of the moral, emotional and societal repercussions of murder he’s definitely a bit further off the reservation than Rick, Michonne, or even Carol. 

Abe’s definitely a man of primal pleasures.  He ends his heart-to-heart with Glenn with a little TMI moment by saying, “I really need some ass.” 

Rosita and Abraham have some sexy fun times in the middle of the bookstore, and we get to see dolphin smooth in action.  Eugene’s mullet peeks out from the self-help section s he spies on them, sort of like a pervy Wilson from Home Improvement.  Rosita giggles as she spots his bobbing head.   The couple keeps at it though because, you know, apocalypse sex. 

Tara catches Eugene peeping, and quietly scolds him.  She thanks him for saving her life, and he responds by telling her that he put crushed glass in the bus’s fuel line because he’s afraid of what’s going to happen when they reach DC and he outlives his usefulness.  Tara is taken aback, but she assures Eugene that the group would protect him no matter what because they’re totally BFF’s now.  She’s actually very sweet and genuine with him during this exchange, and treats him almost like a little brother. 

(Side note – Whoever placed the ‘Romance’ section sign right at Tara’s shoulder during this scene, certainly has a sense of irony and humor.  I giggled a bit because Tara and Eugene have my vote for least romantic relationship on the show hands down.  Not only does Tara like the ladies, but that mullet is definitely a mood killer.)

Maggie and Glenn have a snuggle bunny sesh on the floor of the bookstore.  Maggie says it’s nice having a purpose, looking toward the future.  WHAT ABOUT YOUR SISTERS FUTURE?!?!  Seriously, Maggie, what is your deal?  (Truth time – I’m not even looking forward to their reunion because I know how little Maggie cares about Beth.  I am, however, looking forward to ‘The Adventures of Daryl and Carol’ as they attempt to bust Beth outta Slabtown next week.  That episode looks sick.  #CantWaitForNextWeek)

Thankfully dawn breaks, and everything becomes visible again.  Praise be to Daylight Savings Time!  Rosita and Abe talk, and she tries to convince him to stay for a day, rest and gather supplies.  Abe gives her a harsh and firm ‘no’.  Maggie wanders in and gently makes a suggestion that they stay to sweep the area, but Rosita echoes Abe’s sentiment and says no.  Tara chimes in, noting that they should really replenish their water supply at a nearby river, when Abe reveals that he has other plans.

The crew travels across the street to a fire station.  Tell us what they’ve won, Johnny!!!!!  A lifetime supply of water!!!!  On a gigantic fire truck!  Awesome, but, um, wouldn’t that thing be god awful on gas?  Abe doesn’t care.  He tries the starter and the thing sputters to life.  The truck rolls forward about 10 feet and then chokes to a stop.  As Abe starts to make some repairs, walkers start to stream out of the fire station.  Flesh eating monsters were not a part of the prize package, Johnny.  We demand another spin at the big wheel. 

Our crew starts to take the walkers down, but the unexpected glut of bodies starts to become overwhelming.  It seems hopeless until Eugene puts those big brains of his to work, using the fire hose (and that lifetime supply of water) to blast the walkers away, Wicked Witch of the West style.  They’re mellllting!  Melllting!!!!  

Maybe the Wicked Witch was just a zombie with a penchant for sparkly footwear?

Once the truck is fixed, the crew heads back on the road, but is quickly stopped once again as the truck breaks down.  Damn truck is a lemon.   Eugene does a little light reading, and Maggie comes over to make friends.  She says, “You’re not the person people think you are.”  Oh, Mags, you don’t know the half of it.

As Abe struggles to fix the truck, Glenn catches a whiff of something nasty in the air.  Glennnnn, you know the rule.  You smelt it, so you are probably responsible for the gross smell.  That’s how that saying goes, right?  But Glenn’s off the hook because it’s actually a gigantic swarming horde of walkers a mile or so in the distance. 

Glenn turns back, whispering, “we gotta go, we gotta go.”  The rest of the crew is with him, and they all start back until they see a muttering Abe staring into the distance.  Abe refuses to give up.  He screams at all of them, bouncing their criticisms off one by one with his faulty, crazed logic.  (Side note – Abe was probably a pretty awful soldier.  He doesn’t really listen to reason, and he’s also really super visible with that blinding red hair.)

Abe marches back and roughly grabs Eugene’s arm.  Tara tries to stop him, and Glenn and Rosita join in trying to slow the big guy down.  As the melee continues, Eugene starts to freak out.  He screams, “I’M NOT A SCIENTIST!!!” 

Boom.  Yes, Eugene you are totally full of shit.

Everyone stops, horrified looks on their faces.  Eugene goes on to explain himself in full detail.  “I know I’m smarter than most people.  I know I’m a very good liar and I knew I needed to get to DC.”  Rosita breathlessly reminds Eugene of all the people that died for him, and Eugene immediately rattles off all the names.  He seems genuinely upset about these losses, and it’s probably why he relates to Gabriel (and would likely also relate to Doc Steve).  Eugene is a coward whose only survival skills are manipulation and deceit.    

Eugene then turns to Abe and says, “I am smarter than you” which seems to prove that he’s definitely not that smart, because, well, dumb move.  You don’t poke the beast, Eugene.  Abe wails on Eugene’s face, slamming him unconscious against the side of the fire truck.  Eugene face plants onto the concrete, and Rosita steps in, blocking Abe, and he takes a beat.  His face crumples in despair, and he wanders away from the group, sinking to the ground on his knees, staring blankly at the sky.

A final flashback scene shows us the moment that Eugene’s secret was born.  Just as Abe puts the gun to his mouth, Eugene stumbles toward him, pursued by three walkers.  Eugene screams, “Help me!!”  Abe makes quick work of the walkers, but then turns and marches away.  Eugene asks him to stop, saying, “You can’t leave!  I have a very important mission.”

Ok, so, Eugene did save Abe’s life.  There’s that.  But Abe and the rest of the group no longer have a purpose.  Will they continue on to DC despite having no solid reason to travel there?  Especially when they’re probably only 30 or so miles away from the church?  We probably won’t get the answer to this for another few weeks as next week is the Carol and Daryl Show (YESSSSS!!!!) but it’s fun to speculate.  I, for one, think they will continue on to D.C.  Also, I think Eugene is alive, because how could you kill the best hairstyle on the show?

Some final thoughts:

- Best line of the week: ‘Ive been to eight county fairs, and one goat rodeo, and I’ve never seen anything like that.”  Um, what’s a goat rodeo?

This in no way explains what a Goat Rodeo is, but I happen to think that it's awesome..

- Eugene spits on a walker. Gross.  Lame.  

- Judging by the cuts on his left hand, and the continued use of this hand despite the fact that it’s broken open like a bloody piñata, Abe appears to be a leftie.  I know this is pretty useless information but give me a break, it was a slow episode.  Did I say I can’t wait for next week???

Walking Dead - Slabtown Recap

Oh, there’s Beth.

This episode of the Walking Dead promised a big reveal, and wow did it deliver.  Beth is alive and well, sillies!  She was just kidnapped by a psycho group holed up in a hospital in Atlanta! But it’s no biggie because they totally have lollipops!

This week we follow Beth’s experience as the insane and sadistic leaders of the hospital abuse her in every way possible.  To Beth’s credit, her sunny disposition never waivers, and she goes about proving beyond a doubt that she can certainly take care of herself.  Daryl Dixon would totally be proud.

The ‘Slabtown’ episode raises a lot of questions about power, control and leadership.  We encounter our first female leader in the Dead world, but she’s super disappointing.  Much like Rick Grimes, Dawn Lerner was a police officer ‘before’, and continues to tenaciously hold onto that role despite the fact that the world is crumbling around her.  However, all similarities to Rick Grimes end there.  As a female, Dawn uses other women’s bodies as a kind of sick currency.  She uses these women to entertain and soothe her troops so they can remain happy and continue to work toward some imaginary ‘greater good’.  Dawn perpetuates the stereotype of woman as victim, instead of trying to protect and empower her own gender. And, oh yeah, she's also a prime perpetrator of serious physical abuse and emotional mindfuckery.

As this season progresses, the topic of control and dependence has been prominent in the two different groups our gang has encountered since leaving the prison.  At Terminus, the original denizens of the compound fought back, but became cannibalistic control freaks in the process, feasting their way through the untrustworthy masses.  In Slabtown, they are doing something that seems counterintuitive.  They recruit only weak, seemingly dependent and damaged individuals.  In a world that’s basically just one long abusive relationship, Slabtown is the epitome of that beat down.  And it’s no coincidence that our poor Beth is trapped there.

The episode opens with a clear homage to the opening shot of the entire series.  Beth opens her eyes in an empty hospital room. She bangs at her locked door, and two newbies walk in.  They introduce themselves as Doctor Steven Edwards and Officer Dawn Lerner.  They blatantly lie and say that they found her alone on the side of the road with a fractured wrist and a head wound on the side of the road.  (Side note - When did that happen?  When we last left Beth, she had a twisted ankle, and a few scrapes, but certainly no broken bones.)

Dawn drops the hammer as she goes on to tell Beth that because they saved her life, she owes them.

Cut to a different day.  Beth is dressed in pale blue scrubs and is helping the Doc on his rounds.  He terminates a patient because Dawn has ordered him to do so. Resources in ole Slabtown are precious, and the odds were not stacked in this guys favor. 

Beth helps Doc wheel the body down the hall and carefully observes her surroundings.  There’s a uniformed janitor mopping the far end of the hall, and a few patients are hanging out in their rooms.  Even though there’s a weird feeling here there’s also a semblance of normality, which feels novel in a world where most people are scrambling for survival.  The scene is scored to some forgettable music that should’ve totally been a mournful cover of ‘A Whole New World’ from Aladdin, but who can afford the rights to Disney classics in this apocalypse wasteland?

As Doc and Beth walk down the hall, he explains to her what they are doing with the body.  They use the recently dead as bait for random ‘rotters’ that have worked their way into the basement.  During this exchange, the doctor also makes an interesting comment about the state of the hospital.  He says, “Some of us started here, some came as patients.  We all have a job.”  This is basically a rehash of the Greene family motto, as decreed by Hershel.  Even though I know that hard work and delegation of responsibility must be a common sentiment in the apocalypse, it’s a bit shocking to hear someone else who’s not Hershel say it in the WD world.  Also, I miss Hershel.  **Sniff**

Beth heads down to the cafeteria, which looks like it has a pretty well stocked buffet.  She encounters a cop with super skeevy eyebrows.  He introduces himself, but since he’s so clearly creeptastic I’m going to willfully ignore his name and just call him ‘Officer Eyebrows’.  Officer Eyebrows reminds Beth that she should be grateful to him as he saved her life.  Be nice to him, or he’ll start writing down everything that she’s taking for lunch.  He sneers, “Everything costs something, right?”

Elsewhere in the hospital, we meet a young Chris Rock WD newbie Noah.  He picks up Dawn’s clothing as she jazzercycles her way to fitness.   She comments that she wants her uniform washed separately and pressed.  

Beth brings the doctor his food.  He’s listening to a record in an office decorated in what can best be described as ‘hippie college professor style’.  She sits down and he offers her a bite of his guinea pig, which she accepts.  Apparently the denizens of Slabtown aren’t eating people, so there’s that.  The two have a chat about art and transcendence.  Beth notes that she still sings, and this brings a small smile to the docs face.  Dawn bursts into the room, breaking up this sweet moment as she summons the doc.  Damn you Dawn, you are SUCH a buzz kill.

A new guy named Trevitt is wheeled in, mangled and unconscious.  Dawn barks orders at the doctor, telling him to use whatever resources it takes to save this random dude.  The doctor and Dawn argue, and she quickly gets agitated.  What does Dawn do with her anger?  Oh, just openly whacks poor Beth in the face.  Totally makes sense….IN CRAZYLAND! What did Beth ever do to you, you crazy bitch?! Dawn makes a cryptic comment about “the stakes” and then storms out.

Back in Beth’s room, Doc sews up her face and gives her a new shirt because Dawn “likes things neat”.  The doctor leaves, and Beth goes to change.  She finds a green lollipop in the pocket and beams. Score!  Maybe Willy Wonka will save her.  Probably not.   

Who are we kidding, Wonka would definitely be alive in the zombie apocalypse. 

It’s a regular episode of ER up in this piece as a crew drags another body in.  It’s a curly haired girl named Joan who was mentioned as missing earlier in the episode.  Joan has a big juicy bite on her forearm.  Dawn screams that they’re not going to let her turn, and Joan forcefully objects, saying she doesn’t want their help.  Officer Eyebrows comes in and is generally creepy and unhelpful as he caresses Joan’s calf and calls her a whore.  Dawn shoves him aside, and Doc starts sawing off Joan’s arm with a wire cord.  The visual here is graphic, and is the sound of the wire cutting through flesh and bone is unnerving. 

Still reeling from her amputation assist, Beth walks up to the laundry room and officially meets Noah, who introduces himself as the lollipop fairy.  He’s pretty chatty with her as he divulges that he’s been in Slabtown for about a year, after being ‘rescued’.  He tells her that he came from a compound in Richmond, Virginia, and that they “had walls” back home.  Noah knows that the crew thinks he’s weak, but he begs to differ.  Oddly, Noah goes on to share his plan to escape with Beth, who is basically a perfect stranger.  (Not to be confused with Perfect Strangers.)

Larry and Balki would totally be doomed in the apocalypse.

Later that evening, Dawn brings Beth some food.  She gives Beth this strange little pep talk, saying that she is just trying to keep things in order until they are saved.  It’s odd, because this is the same sentiment that Abe, Rosita and Eugene have been espousing since their introduction on the show; only Dawn is not being very proactive about the situation.  She’s controlling what she can control, and just waiting for rescue.  Dawn’s theme song should totally be ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’, from Sleeping Beauty but damn those pricey Disney rights.

Beth rounds out her day by humming a little ditty as she mops up blood from Joan’s amputation.  Joan stirs and tells her that the humming is nice.  Beth expresses genuine sorrow for what happened to Joan.  She takes a chance and asks Joan what Officer Eyebrows did to her.  Joan responds that she knows Dawn can control her troops, but “she doesn’t because it’s easier.” 

(Side note – Well, we all guessed it, Officer Eyebrows is most definitely a sexual predator.  The kind of guy you wouldn’t want in charge before or after the apocalypse.  Further eroding Dawn’s credibility is the fact that she is complicit in the abuse that he is perpetrating.  She is allowing it to happen, and in letting these indiscretions go unpunished, she is undermining her own authority as a woman.  Taking the easy way never pans out.)

In the next scene, the Creep Factor cranks up to 11.  For me, this was one of the most uncomfortable scenes to date on WD.  And on a show with flaming zombies, heads in fish tanks and rampant cannibalism, that’s certainly saying something. 

After her long day, Beth searches for her lollipop and cant find it.  Officer Eyebrows walks in.  He waves the green gem around, opens it, and then sticks it straight into his disgusting mouth.  He advances on our little Beth, offering it to her, and she grimaces, declining the offer.  Only it wasn’t an offer.  Officer Eyebrows rubs the tainted candy against her lips, and slowly forces it into her mouth, leering at her as she squirms. 

Thankfully the doctor interrupts at this point, putting a temporary end to this horrific exchange.  However, this scene does an excellent job in illustrating what the core of sexual harassment looks like.  Unlike recent portrayals of sexual assault in popular media, such as the brutal and mercilessly extended cuts of onscreen abuse and rape at Craster’s Keep in Game of Thrones, Walking Dead does an excellent job of illustrating what is at the core of this thing.  Sexual assault is not about sex.  It’s about power and control. 

Beth bounces back from the encounter relatively quickly, and asks the doctor why he stays.  He brings her down to the ground floor.  As he drags a stick across the metal shutters, a horde of walkers quickly assembles at the window. He glumly notes that the place is overrun, and that’s why he stays.  For a doctor this guy is pretty stupid.  How do the cops get out, dummy? 

Doc brings Beth up to the picturesque roof garden.  As they chat, they are framed by a striking, eerily quiet shot of a broken Atlanta.  He shares that he was the one who suggested the barter system; medical care in exchange for service, and Dawn bastardized it to what it is now.  The doctor is clearly drunk on Slabtown Kool-Aid, because he says what many abused individuals say when it becomes clear it’s time to leave a bad relationship.  “As bad as it gets, it’s still better than down there.”

The doctor sends Beth back into the hospital with instructions to give Trevitt 75 mg of Clozapine.  She goes down and expertly executes her task.  As she goes to leave, Noah shows up to say heeeey girl just as the patient starts to crash.  Dawn charges in and asks what happened. Noah takes the blame, and Dawn’s army drags him into her office for a good old-fashioned beat down.  The sounds of Noah’s beating are audible as Beth explains to the doctor what actually happened.  She says she administered Clozapine as the doctor asked her to, and he just shakes his head, insinuating that he actually said ‘Clonazepam’. 

(Side note: First off, I have the power of the DVR, and Beth doesn’t, but that SOB M.D. most certainly did say Clozapine.  Secondly, I’m not quite sure why Clozapine would cause this patient to die, because the Internets tell me it’s just an anti-psychotic medication, but no matter….Doc Stevens is the expert in sneaky murder-by-unwitting-proxy, not me.)

Dawn goes to confront Beth, and tries to force some of that delicious Slabtown Kool-Aid down her throat.  She tells Beth that she is there to keep the officers happy, and that’s what should give her a sense of self worth.  Outside in the real world, she’s just a burden.  Dawn throws Beth’s scars in her face, reminding us of her suicide attempt in Season 2, back when Beth was still just one of Hershel’s hundred nameless children.  While this scene is also disturbing, it’s honestly another amazing example of how power and control can and is used to “keep people in their place”.  The spotless funeral home from last season has OCDawn’s prints all over it.  It was most certainly a trap for the weak and the easily controlled.  Poor limping, singing, scarred, sweet Beth was a prime target.  Dawn is clearly excellent at breaking people down and making them feel like they do not have a choice, but starting with individuals who are already weak certainly helps.

Noah and Beth talk, and she says that she wants to escape with him.  He asks her to execute the most dangerous part of the mission - go get the spare key to the elevator shaft in Dawns office.   Beth goes immediately, not wanting to spend one more second in this nightmare. 

Inside Dawn’s office, there’s a whole jar of lollipops just sitting on her desk!  In a hipster mason jar! I’m genuinely surprised that the pops aren’t color-coded.  Beth rifles through a file cabinet, and locates a wallet with some sort of ID from St Ignatius Hospital.  She turns to see a dead Joan on the floor beside a blood spattered “FUCK YOU” carved into the floor.  Apparently written obscenities are totally cool on network TV if they’re doused with a bit of suicide blood. 

Beth just sort of acts like Joan is a piece of furniture she has to work around.  She jimmies a drawer free and finds the key.  Just then Officer Eyebrows comes in and starts fondling Beth, telling her that they can work out a deal so that Dawn doesn’t need to know about her break-in.  OMG Daryl Dixon would stomp this assbag so hard, but Beth isn’t waiting for a savior.  She keeps an eye on the floor as Joan starts to reanimate, and lets Officer Creepy Brows think he has the upper hand.  As he starts to relax, Beth quickly grabs the lollipop jar and forcefully slams it over his head.  He falls into Joan’s waiting jaws, and she rips his neck out with her teeth.  Beth smartly nabs his gun as she flees the scene.  It’s sweet, satisfying poetic justice all around. 

Noah and Beth execute their great escape.  Noah guides Beth down the chute with some knotted bedsheets, and then he follows.  Beth shoots several walkers in the dark, flashes of light illuminating each kill.  The duo makes their way outside, and the scene is overexposed, giving the scene a bright and washed out look.  Beth passes three vehicles emblazoned with the white cross on the back windshield, and WHY DOESN’T SHE TRY TO GET IN ONE OF THE CARS?!? It might be because there’s a small knot of walkers advancing towards her.

Beth takes out a bunch of the walkers, but starts to get overwhelmed.  Noah scoots out, and a cop takes down Beth.  As the officer cuffs her on the ground, she catches a glimpse of Noah fleeing past the chain link fence.  And as a true testament to Beth’s sunny disposition, she smiles.

Back in Dawns office, it’s an OCD nightmare.  Two dead bodies, and guts everywhere.  Just a real bloody mess. Beth breaks it down for Dawn.  Officer Eyebrows attacked her, but only because Dawn is a permissive and ineffective leader who is living in a fantasy world.  Beth fully stands up to Dawn, and tells her that no one is coming.  There is no prince, there’s no way out.  Beth drops the bomb. “You let this happen for nothing.”  Dawn can’t accept this.  She clearly has some serious mental health issues.  She grabs a broken frame and slams it across Beth’s face.

A few days later, the doctor is examining Beth, her pretty, innocent face a swollen and gouged mess from Dawn’s attack.  As Doc goes to leave, Beth confronts him about the ID that she saw in Dawn’s office.  She asks, “How’d you know that Trevitt was a doctor?”  Doc says he knew him, and had to kill him to ensure his own survival, his own place as Slabtown’s resident professional.  He’s a coward, just like Father Gabriel.  And much like Gabriel, he uses religious lore to justify his actions.  He tells a story about Peter denying being a disciple of Christ so he could save his own hide.  Beth pretends to be sympathetic and understanding.   

However, Beth has other plans in mind.  She gets up from the office, sharp medical scissors in hand.  She walks with purpose, striding toward Doc.  At that moment, the crew rounds the corner, bringing in another body on the stretcher.  As it approaches, a pop of short gray hair comes into view, and then a face.  Beth’s eyes widen and a look of recognition washes over her.  OMG it’s everyone’s favorite gray haired Queen Bitch…CAROLLLL!!!!!  Yayyyy!!!

SO. MANY. QUESTIONS!!!

- Why was this episode not called ‘Dawn of the Walking Dead’?  It seems like such a missed opportunity….

- Where did Carol come from?  Did she plant herself as a ‘weak’ individual in order to get in to the hospital, or is she actually hurt? Beth doesn’t know that Carol is a bonafide superhero now, but she certainly knows that Carol is on her side.  However, given the general ‘abusive relationship’ feel of the hospital, will Carol slip back into her old patterns of thinking?  Probably not. 

- That person in the woods with Daryl at the end of the previous episode?  I’ll bet my britches that it’s Noah.  (You probably don’t want my britches.  Where does that saying even come from?  It’s super weird.  But I digress.) And Noah told Beth that he had been with another group of survivors in Richmond, Virginia, “with walls”.  Could this be a pit stop for our gang on the way to DC?  If so, will our group ever all be together again?  Will Beth and Maggie ever be reunited?  Does Maggie even care?  Is Maggie the worst sister ever, or what?  Will I ever stop asking questions?