The gang continues to be separated in The Walking Dead, and
“Alone” continues to forgo major developments (barring one) in order to continue
to focus on the characters. Not much happens, but it doesn’t happen so much
better than TWD used to be.
I’ll explain myself in a second. The episode focuses on two
groups, Daryl and Beth (having quickly realized that Daryl and Beth make one of
the most weirdly dynamic relationships on the show), and Maggie, Bob and Sasha.
Maggie, Bob and Sasha have the lesser of the two stories, and honestly,
Maggie’s barely involved. But it’s great to see more sides of both Sasha and
Bob, who have badly needed fleshing out.
The episode starts with a flashback of when Bob first joined
the group; having wandered by himself for so long (the sole survivor of two
groups), when he encounters Glenn and Daryl, he’s willing to go back to their
camp no questions asked. This is why he’s actually kind of happy now — not to
be alive, but to not be alone (I still say the fact that his two companions are
super-hot factors in somewhat to his good mood).
Maggie sees the signs for Terminus, and figures Glenn, if he
saw them as well, would head there to look for her. So she’s going; Bob is
supportive, but Sasha assumes it’s going to be horrible (knowing The Walking
Dead, I’m guessing she’s 100% correct). So Maggie abandons them to
search on alone — leaving a pleasant note in the mud of their makeshift
campsite to “DON’T RISK YOUR LIVES 4 ME” — but Bob immediately decides to chase
after her.
Sasha tries to talk Bob into holing up with her in one of
the buildings they pass along the way (they’re following the train tracks from
previous episodes), because she’s essentially so terrified that she’ll find out
her brother Tyreese is dead, that she assumes he is, but still can’t bear to find out
the truth in case he is — it’s a little complicated, but kind of comprehensible
given the constant pain and loss of life in the zombie apocalypse. Bob,
meanwhile, is so anti-loneliness that he can’t give up on Maggie so he
gives Sasha a kiss and heads off down the tracks (it’s not like Bob’s
abandoning her, it’s her abandoning both Bob and Maggie).
So Sasha stays and what do you know, she spies Maggie laying
down between some defunct zombies (it’s a little weird). But the surprised
Sasha makes some noise, riles some zombies, and then she has to race down there
for a pretty solid zombie fight (man, Maggie can swing an axe). Maggie admits
she was waiting for them, Sasha admits she’s scared of admitting Tyreese may be
dead, they hug it out and then catch up with Bob and continue to Terminus.
Meanwhile, Beth hurts her ankle while Daryl is showing her
how to track and hunt, so Daryl carries her to a funeral home. Inside, it’s
creepy for two reasons: 1) some has clearly been there recently, based on the
lack of dust on the foodstuffs and 2) because someone is putting zombies in
funeral suits. Daryl also thinks it’s creepy, but Beth thinks its nice that someone
remembers zombies used to be human, “There are still good people around”
she says, instantly dooming herself.
The problem is not that the zombies invade pretty much
instantly, although it leads to one of the tensest zombie fights The Walking
Dead has given us, as Daryl tells Beth to get outside while he draws them off,
which leads into Daryl trying to fight over a dozen zombies in close quarters,
neither room nor time to use his crossbow, and the only thing between them and
him is a hastily grabbed gurney. It’s because when Daryl finally makes it
outside, he doesn’t see Beth, he only sees her bag on the ground and a car’s
taillight’s zooming away. I sincerely doubt whoever took her is one of the “good
people.”
Daryl follows on foot as he can, but finally collapses at an
intersection, where he collapses in exhaustion… until several denim-clad gun
enthusiasts walk up. They’re the unpleasant fellows who entered Rick and Carl’s
house a couple of weeks ago! The leader introduces himself as Joe, and, perhaps
seeing in Daryl the shadow of the redneck asshole Daryl used to be, seemingly
welcome him into their group.
So here’s how this breaks down: Maggie tries to leave Bob
and Sasha behind, Sasha tries to stay behind, they all reunite and head to
Terminus. Beth gets kidnapped by someone and Daryl encounters what are very
likely some bad dudes. It’s not nothing, but you see how little really changed
this episode.
And here’s why I think this is great: It means that The
Walking Dead is finally comfortable with taking its time. The show has always
been okay with taking its time, but it’s rarely done so effectively. In the
interminable season at Herschel’s farm, the show had no idea how to fill its episodes, so we had plots that went nowhere, constant check-ins on characters that
had nothing to add or do, and so many people making bizarre or supremely stupid decisions
to pad out the plot. Here, Beth and Daryl bond and then run into unknown forces, and while you
could argue that Maggie is being stupid in leaving behind Bob and Sasha, or
Sasha is being stupid by trying to stay behind, Maggie wanted to protect
her friends, and Sasha’s can’t process her potential loss. Even if both
decisions are stupid, they’re stupid in a way that lets us know more about their
characters and the characters around them instead of completely wasting our time (also, Sasha stayed behind for like
10 minutes or so, and I don’t really know if she wouldn’t have come to her
senses almost as quickly on her own). Compare all that to pretty much anything
that happened in season 2, and “Alone” comes out ahead.
We have three more episodes in season 4 left, and I assume
the finale ends (or next season begins) with people beginning to reach
Terminus. Three more episodes of groups wandering separately and aimlessly
through the woods? I kind of wish there was more.
Assorted Musings:
• As his little cave fence indicates, pre-prison Bob would do
an extraordinary amount of work to get drunk in safety. I can respect that.
• “A serious piggyback.”
• Beth and Daryl holds hands at one point. Is this
father/daughter thing, or a romantic thing? Romantic makes more sense to me,
until I look at them and instantly forget the 45-year-old Normas Reedus isn’t
49, and the 28-year-old Emily Kinney isn’t 17.
• Maggie leaves messages for Glenn in zombie blood. Seems like
that would wash off with the first rain, but whatevs.
• I thought Maggie was sleeping by walkers when Sasha found
her, and thought that would be a pretty clever if disgusting way to stay safe
while sleeping when you’re on your own. But it seems like she was just tired
after fighting a shit-ton of zombies.
• Apparently new showrunner/wunderkind Scott Gimple wrote next week’s episode. I assume 1) it will be good and 2) shit goes down. The “On the Next
Episode” preview makes it look like Carol is abandoning the less psychotic of
the Carol Corps. to zombies, which would be the most hardcore thing anyone on
TWD has ever done.
