Walking Dead Season 4 Episode 11
What They Say:
Claimed – A number of immediate threats plague Rick; group members deal with their past.
Content:
The Walking Dead certainly changed up what the show could have been like in the previous episode since it worked several different character paths going on whereas the first from the mid-season premiere had just the two main stories. This gave us a whole lot more to work with and seeing some of the intersections worked really well since the whole dynamic felt forward moving, something we didn’t get for a lot of the prison arc for obvious reasons. The change in how the characters were configured also made for some good fun since you got people that weren’t usually together, acting differently and just doing their best to move forward and survive while trying to find others and reconnect with them. And, of course, you had the really good moment at the end where Tara and Glenn ended up coming across Abraham and his group, which definitely isn’t what most of them are used to from their previous group experiences.
With everyone still scattered but largely moving, we do have some that are just sitting still and kind of understandably so. Carl is still coping with the loss of Judith but he’s also having some good human moments with Michonne as she’s starting to feel a bit more fleshed out and real than she has in a long, long time, if at all within our viewing of her of the series. She and Carl are pretty solid together after everything that’s happened and we do get a good moment where Michonne makes it clear that Rick needs to recover more before they do anything. But she’s also concerned that they may not be moving on for awhile since Rick is still pretty broken inside in a lot of ways. He’s healing, though his wounds have time ahead of them to heal more, but there’s something inside him that isn’t moving forward in a strong way to face what’s next and figure out what to do. But Michonne can understand why well enough, it’s just a matter of how long she’ll let him go through the process.
Giving us some down time with Carl and Michonne as they search for supplies across the area is pretty interesting since Carl is not handling things well and Michonne is doing her best to try and reach through to him. That leads to a reveal or two along the way for Carl that’s nicely done but also some great comedy as Michonne uses her Crazy Cheese in a way that really makes you laugh. But part of the enjoyment is just in seeing them moving well throughout the houses in trying to get supplies. It’s not the kind of cold efficiency we saw some time ago, but the relaxed but careful approach mirrors their attitudes at the time. Carl’s curiosity is definitely fun to see here as it livens him up and Michonne sets the rules for reveals pretty well, making it playful which helps to draw him out more which in turn helps her out a lot to talk it out loud, including how things went down, which is danced around nicely.
Of course, the reminders of death are all around and Michonne comes across one place within a house that’s just disturbing and awful, but all too real for what had happened during the hard days of when everything went down. We’ve known she can feel and really be impacted by things, no matter how much she’s seen and been through and no matter how strong an appearance she puts on, so getting this part of her now that she’s really made herself a part of the group for so long just makes her all the more engaging. Balancing it with Carl definitely allows it to flow well since both of them need to reconnect with themselves in a way. They’re definitely characters I’ve liked a lot in the past couple of seasons and all of this just reaffirms it all the more.
The show spends a lot of time in this area, but we also touch base with Glenn and Tara, which is good to see, as the reveal about what’s going on there is given simply and plainly when Glenn finally wakes up. While he’s intent on heading back to find Maggie, Abraham makes it clear there are bigger fish to fry as his job is to bring his companion, Eugen, to Washington as he’s a scientist who knows what’s going on with the world and can supposedly fix it. And he’s on this journey with Rosita and sees both Glenn and Tara as people that can help ensure their journey and mission can be achieved since the more involved the better the chances of survival. While Abraham has his reasons for keeping Glenn and Tara with him, he doesn’t exactly do it in the smartest way, especially for someone like Glenn who is just focused on doing right by Maggie, especially with Hershel having been killed. And men being men, the situation goes FUBAR pretty damn quick and just spirals nicely from there.
Rick’s story in this episode is an odd one since he ends up staying at the house to recover and holes himself up a bit on the second floor to read and sleep. But he’s awakened by the sounds of voices in the house some time later and that group of men that’s there are just unruly and violent and quite territorial. It’s an odd group in how they’re surviving and the things they do, coming across more as oversized kids in a way without any real through for how bad things can get, especially since one of them nearly kills another guy because of where he was told to sleep. It’s a huge case of bad luck that Rick and Carl ended up in this house of all places as one that these guys were using as well, but it gets Rick to live in the real world again for a bit in a dangerous way, once again pointing out that as danger as the walkers are, it’s the other living people that are even more dangerous.
The show plays for a few fun action moments here and gives us some walkers to deal with that are pretty nicely done, though it’s relatively simple overall with what you get. The change in the dynamic for Abraham and his group is significant and it’s kind of amusing to see how his mission is one that gets changed quickly and he ends up moving along with what Glenn is doing if only because Eugen tells him to. Similarly, we get some good action and tension with Rick trying to escape the house while making sure he can warn away Carl and Michonne before they get back. That the trio ends up on the railroad track as as they move on is of course kind of expected since that puts them on the familiar path to be sure, but those kinds of simple moments are what you like because they’re all connected at this point and small slivers of hope are important and necessary.
In Summary:
The Walking Dead can be in a weird place for a lot of people since everyone is separated and that can get old quick. But the positive that comes from all of this is that we do know that they’re all mostly on the same path, just through different means, to get to the same end location. Who survives, who is added and what kind of condition they’re in when they get there and the kind of experiences they had will make it a very different reunion when it happens. The addition of Abraham is a big thing for a lot of comic book fans, myself, included, especially with what he, Rosita and Eugen represent, but I’m actually really more interested in what Tara may be in the show at this point as she’s a lot of fun and I really like her interactions with others, especially with Glenn. The shift in tone in the show is really nicely done here and I love that it simply feels like it’s got a new sense of life and progress to it in a way.
Grade: B+