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EPISODE 15: Us
THE HOOK: In the wake of war with Woodbury, Rick and his group have turned the prison into a working community, but danger continues to stir on the outside as well as from within.
The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS, so I don’t recommend reading this if you haven’t watched this episode
THE LOWDOWN: With the emotional intensity of last week’s episode hitting an all-time high, I figured this week would end up being a filler-type setup for the finale, and for the most part, I wasn’t wrong in this assumption. The episode bounces from one group to the next for the first half hour, with the exception of Carol and Tyreese (and still no sign of what happened to Beth). I didn’t mind this too much as everyone’s en route to Terminus at this point. I was a little annoyed at how we only saw one quick flash of Rick, Michonne and Carl—Rick’s looking healthy again, and the bond between Carl and Michonne is a heartwarming sight—until we hit the end of the episode, where it all made sense, but I’ll come back to that.
The most surprisingly intriguing aspect of tonight’s shuffle is the growing dynamic between Daryl and his newfound pack, specifically, the bromance between him and their leader, Joe. I like the simplistic nature of their arrangement. The whole “claimed” rule is a bit rough around the edges, but I suppose there’s a certain brotherhood element present if you’re willing to play the game. Now I get that Daryl’s a little jittery here, but damn son, you need to play the damn game! Clearly the one guy had a beef with him after the rabbit incident, which leads to him trying to frame Daryl for stealing, but as Joe pointed out, Daryl wasn’t acting very nice. That said, maybe that’s why Joe likes him so much. Either way, Daryl ends up on Joe’s good side, and the other dude ends up beaten to pulp with an arrow through his eye. Now things really heat up when the group of them get the tracks and Joe explains that they’re heading to Terminus to kill Rick. It was also interesting to hear him refer to the place as a lie (not that we were believing the hype about it in the first place).
The one fulfilling moment that made this episode noteworthy was the reunion of Glenn and Maggie. It was a beautiful thing, something we’re not used to with this series and a refreshing change of pace from last week’s gut shot. I hated the idea of Abraham and his crew parting ways with Glenn and Tara, and despite originally having a huge hate on for Eugene, he redeemed himself in my eyes tonight when he led them back to help Glenn. I wouldn’t have wanted to go in that tunnel with all the gunmen and ammo in the world, and I really thought we were going to lose Tara when her foot got caught. I liked how Glenn made up a cover story for Tara, it was good of him, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens when Hershel’s name is finally brought up. Also, I felt the burning of that picture to be a little morbid on Maggie’s part. Way to kill the mood, baby.
THE WALKING DEAD SEASON 4’s fifteenth episode is pushing the Terminus envelope. Our reunited group get there in the closing moments and I have to say it looked rather quiet, not to mention ill-guarded. There were fences, chains even, but they weren’t locked and all they had to do was push the damn gates open. And then there’s Mary. Tell me she didn’t creep the living hell out of you. I have an insanely bad feeling about Terminus, and that’s before the madmen out for Rick’s blood get there, so God knows how it’s all going to play out. I’m thinking the Beth thing will carry over into next season as a cliffhanger, and I’m hoping Tyreese and Carol make it into the fray (I actually hope Carol somehow saves Rick’s ass, re-earning her place in the group, but of course, showing up with Judith will no doubt more than qualify). Add to all that, the fact that some of these people are bound to die too, so I’m stoked for the finale.
ZOMBIE KILL OF THE WEEK: I dug the barbed wire fence kill.
BLOOD AND GORE: Lots of zombies filled with bullet holes, a dude gets beaten to death and arrowed, and that poor bunny…it never stood a chance.
WTF CHARACTER MOMENT: Daryl. I love the guy, and he wouldn’t be who he is if he didn’t have that gruff, f*ck you attitude, but when you’re surrounded by stone cold killers who will quite literally kill you for the clothes on your back, you really should learn to pretend better.
COOLEST SCENE: Maggie coming to Glenn’s rescue. I’m a sucker for a happy ending in the zombie apocalypse, even if it’s only a temporary one.
FINAL VERDICT:
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