The Walking Dead: Episodes 4 & 5

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It’s heating up.  I’m glad the show is seemingly finding itself in a good place again.  It’s not out of the woods yet, but the past two episodes have been pretty good, the latest being the better of the two.  Let’s see what’s worth noting.

 

Carol the Sociopath

In the first of these two episodes Rick takes Carol for “a ride”.  Much in the way the God Father might “pay you a visit”.  I think the show and Rick alike are at their best when Rick is following his instincts.  When he questions his own motives and abilities it comes off a bit pining at times.  I really wish The Walking Dead would do more episodes like this.  It was a reminder of an older episode when Rick comes across the man he left with his other walkie talkie.  Part of it is the scenery they’re holed up in does get a bit a stale, but the other part is that outside of their safe zone the stakes are automatically raised.  You don’t need to create an anxious moment as the whole thing is anxious.  With that Rick plays judge, jury, and executioner on the trial of cold blooded Carol.  I think he might’ve had his decision prior to heading out, but I do think Carol had one last chance to show some semblance of human compassion when dealing with the new strangers they met.  Her ability to use them as help and not be concerned with their demise I think was just an emphatic period on her sentencing papers.  In this new post governor society, I do think this sort of one man decision making move by Rick was a bit bold, but I actually agree with it.  I think a single leader isn’t a terrible thing, if the leader is good.  One moment in particular that made me pause, was when Carol fixed the dislocated shoulder of the stranger.  She explains her ability to Rick by reminding him of her checkered past with her now deceased husband, and it immediately brought a ton more color to her character.  I think the show would do well to occasionally remind us where these people came from.

 

Cool Hershel

I sometimes forget Hershel had a great thing going at one point.  His farm was a great place to survive.   The quality of his living circumstances was not coincidence I think.  Hershel seems to be the most aware of what’s necessary and what perception should be given.  He’s aware that they must continue to purge the dead bodies, before they become walkers, but he’s also aware of the delicate psyche that everyone is walking around with, so he’s mindful enough to keep it out of sight.  Rick and Hershel should be making most of the decisions.  And the two of them could just have Daryl and Carl dish out their bidding.  Everyone else has shown themselves to be too weak or too clouded in vision to do what’s best for the group as a whole.  Maggie and Glen have loyalties that out weigh the group, Tyreese as we saw can go berserk and lose his head, Carol was a sociopath, and Michonne is too eager to run off.  On the other hand, Carl put his own mother down (I will continue to bring this up till it is no longer needed to prove that Carl is the best trained person at this point for the apocalypse), Daryl left his own brother behind, Hershel said fuck his own life and went in the quarantine area, and Rick killed his best friend.

 

Carl – The Andrew Luck of the zombie apocalypse

Seriously.  I hated Carl.  But yet again he proves his worth. Honestly Carl is the Bane of the apocalypse.  Rick is great at dealing with it, but he merely adapted to the “darkness” of the zombie apocalypse.  Meanwhile Carl was raised in it, and continues to be raised in it.  That being said, that baby is going to end up being the chick from Resident Evil if this theory proves to be true.  In a moments notice Carl was able pick up an assault rifle, learn the nuances on the fly literally, and out shoot his old man.  Not only that, he also saves his ass and “cool action movie guy” tosses him a new magazine clip.  Two seasons ago Carl would’ve been Mr. irrelevant in my zombie survival draft, but now he’s quickly moved up to probably 3rd, behind Daryl, and only slightly behind Rick; so maybe Tom Brady is a better comparison.  Actually sorry, I’ll make him 4th, cause Maggie is hot, and damn good at surviving.  But none the less the improvement is staggering.  And one more melodramatic pig cutting scene from Rick and Carl will leap frog him too.

 

The Governor

Obviously the big plot twist at the end of the 5th episode was the Governor standing there.  I gotta say, he seemed a bit too clean and proper for a man who’s been out on his own for while.  And I’m sure this is going to be a big problem, but honestly what the fuck can one guy do.  I fear I might hate the next couple of episodes because of this reveal.  I hope I’m wrong, but honestly I’m more interested in how Rick is going to explain to Daryl what happened to Carol, and explain to Tyreese why he took his opportunity away to see justice. Well I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Matt Cargile

About Matt Cargile

Matt Cargile is the Editor in Chief of rookerville.com. He also works in finance, but refuses to read any news printed on pink paper. He is a child at heart with adult means. His childhood dream was to either become a magician or the leader of the next great empire and somehow both these things make complete sense. He's contradictory in nature, but is always consistent.

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