FINAL RATING: 5 OUT OF 5
CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS
AMC's The Walking Dead returned with the mid-season premiere of the fourth season this Sunday to the delight of all of the show's viewers and also their biggest fan, Chris Hardwick. The episode only follows Team Michonne and Team Rickarl (Team Cirk possibly? Either way, Team Rick and Carl) as they make their way out of the prison and into new safety.
Pro tip: It's not as long as it may look. I swear it's 75% pictures.
A not so quick recap of the mid-season finale back in December: The Governor tries to use Hershel and Michonne as hostages to negotiate his way into the prison sans fighting. Rick tells him "Hey man, I'm a farmer now. We can live together!" But to this, The Gov responds, "Liar," and swiftly decapitates Hershel, breaking the hearts of Maggie, Beth, Team Prison/Woodbury, and every single TWD viewer out there. Team Prison/Woodbury begins opening fire on The Governor and his team (gang, clique, dance crew?), allowing Michonne a chance to escape. Lilly, The Gov's good time fling, arrives with her daughter Meghan who died from a Walker bite. The Governer shoots Meghan in the head and proceeds to tell his team to kill everyone. Obviously, they stand no chance because, who are these guys anyway? Team Prison/Woodbury kills The Gov's dance crew, then they all flee and scatter in an effort to escape the incoming Walkers. After a brawl with The Gov, Rick finds Carl and they escape together, but not before finding Judith's bloody baby carrier. The last and best scene is when Lilly walks up to find a barely alive Gov and shoots him in the head.
And that's what you've missed on The Walking Dead. *cue funky teen pop music*
The mid-season premiere opens with a scene of the deserted prison, taking place directly after the events of the last episode. I love when they show you scenes of complete devastation and desertion because it really envelops you, giving you a sense of what a world like this could be like. The first character to appear in this episode is Michonne (Yay of strong female leads being at the forefront!!!!). She appears out of the bushes, looking out at the prison. Being left alone, she needs protection and she goes back to her old habits. Michonne picks out two of The Governor's men who have turned, cuts off their arms and jaws, and ties them to her. This episode is full of heartbreaking scenes, but one of the worst is when Michonne discovers Hershel's zombified and decapitated head.
Michonne strikes his head, killing it. She becomes emotional and leaves him to finally rest in peace. If this scene didn't make you cry, I don't think you're human.
Next up, we are given Happy Town in Pleasantville, USA with Rick and Carl (Could you note the sarcasm?). Sustaining several injuries during his battle with The Gov, Rick lags far behind Carl and struggles to keep up. Carl has visibly hardened himself after the devastating events at the prison, especially to Rick.
Cue incessant bickering.
Team Rickarl comes upon an abandoned grocery store because everyone needs to do a little grocery shopping during the zombie apocalypse right? Before entering, Rick, incredibly weakened but trying so hard (Good job, Rick! *little claps*) to work to his full capacity, tells Carl to stay back and that he would go in first. Carl, in more of a haughty fashion than a concerned one, urges his father to stay back because he is so weak.
Cue more incessant bickering.
After Team Rickarl enters the store, they get a big warm welcoming to an even bigger walker barricaded inside. Attached to the barricade is a note reading: "Please do what I couldn't. - Joe Jr." Heartbreaking Scene #2. The writers perfectly foreshadowed here what would come in the second half of the episode. I personally loved this Walker's story because in TWD, sometimes you do forget how sad it is for people to turn and how this "regular thing" is actually incredibly devastating.
A quick jump to Michonne shows her encountering the same path that Rick and Carl traveled on. She recognizes the tracks and stops for a moment. Ultimately, she decides to ignore them and crosses over them to enter the other side of the forest.
This is an incredibly powerful scene because in it, you see Michonne consciously choosing not get hurt emotionally again. She was hurt with Andrea, she was hurt with Hershel. Here, she resists the urge to form attachments and sets out on her own again.
Over at Team Rickarl, they eventually find themselves a cozy little suburban house to take shelter in. While clearing the house for zombies, Rick tries to coach Carl the correct way of bringing out Walkers, to which Carl voices his disapproval with by shouting poised things like "asshole" and "shithead".
Cue even more incessant bickering.
A great scene takes place when Carl enters a room of the house that presumably would have belonged to a teenage boy (or a really awesome girl. Who knows? Say no to gender roles). Carl looks around in awe of the pristine condition everything has been left in. Numerous books, CDs, and other things for him to peruse through. But it isn't really just a bedroom. It is everything Carl would have had, should have had if the apocalypse didn't happen. It is lost teenage years and a life he will never have.
After a break for halftime, we return in what we are lead to believe is a flashback of Michonne's, to which I was all "YAY!!!!!!!" Michonne is seen smiling and happy and vibrant, holding her son and talking with two men, one called her 'lover'.
We find out however, it is nightmare that Michonne is having, to which I was all "THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANTED EVER!!!!!" During the scene, the two men appear with their arms cut off and Michonne's child disappears. This nightmare helped confirm that the two black male Walkers seen with Michonne in the beginning of Seaosn 3 were two males that were close to her at one point.
Rick, weak from his injuries and pain medication, fell unconscious during the night and Carl is unable to wake him up. He screams for his father to wake, but to no avail.
Carl takes it upon himself to use this opportunity to be the big bad Walker slaying machine that he is and he lures them away from the door. But, shocking to almost no one, a struggle ensues. This causes a zombie pile up on top of Carl (A zombie pile up sounds kind of fun when you think about it though), but he survives.
Back on Michonne, whilst walking among a group of Walkers, she spots a curious Walker who The Talking Dead, TWD's hilarious aftershow dubbed "Twinsie's Walker!" The Walker sports a similar hairstyle to her and Michonne clearly takes interest in her. It represents to Michonne what she could become if she continues down this path alone.
Later, after talking to his (maybe dead, but clearly he doesn't really care) father, Carl ventures out on his own yet again, because the first time went so well. He approaches a house and makes his first attempt to break in, which is literally too funny to ignore, so here is a gif I found of the attempt.
(I completely lost the owner to this gif! If I find them I will put their Tumblr up asap. If you know how the gif maker if shoot me an ask at vontreese.tumblr.com!)
Carl, I love ya man. Let's stop, though.
Nevertheless, Carl finds his way into the house and beings to explore. Now, I know you guys aren't going to expect this at all, but as Carl makes his way upstairs, a Walker makes his way through a door and attacks Carl. Stay in your seats, folks.
Now, while a Walker was so expected, the fight with this one was not. There is a real moment there that you think Carl is absolutely losing his life. I found myself shouting at the television. It really was incredibly gripping and something that was really missed for a lot of the first half of Season 4.
I will say with absolute conviction that the best scene in this episode is after Carl successfully gets the Walker back inside the room. He writes on the door, "Walker inside. Got my shoe, didn't get me." And then he proceeds to eat about a gallon of chocolate pudding.
Now, there's something I can relate to.
Leaving behind the chocolate pudding, the show switches back to Michonne, still in the herd of Walkers. Now, if you were ever questioning how badass Michonne is, just look back to this scene in which she decides she's had enough Walker shit and literally kills an entire herd of zombies. Never again will anyone question just how badass she is.
Yeah, that was about 20 Walkers. Yeah, that happened. The most amazing part of this scene though, is at the end, when Michonne begins to sob. It's so great to see a woman on television who is more than just one thing. Michonne is so dynamic and seeing her break down and be so emotional really goes even further to showcase how much of a badass and complex woman on television she is.
After Michonne's slaying, she makes her way back to the path with Rick and Carl's footprints. She wastes no time following their tracks.
Night falls on Rick and Carl in their new shelter. Carl lays by his father's side when Rick unexpectedly moves for the first time in a day. Assuming Rick has died and become a Walker, Carl positions himself on the opposite side of the room and aims a gun at his father.
Rick reaches his arm out to him and Carl gives up, confessing that he could never shoot Rick even if he turned. At this point, Rick finds it inside of him to let out a meek "Carl..." shocking Carl and the audience with the fact that he is alive. This results in a very touching and loving moment between father and son.
In the morning, as Rick and Carl talk, Michonne makes her way through the town that they are staying in. Michonne finds Rick and Carl's shelter and she watches them through the window for a while. Finally, she knocks on the door.
Unfortunately, we will have to wait two weeks until we see them actually reunited on screen. Nevertheless, the emotion was clear between Rick and Michonne and it was very exciting to see Rick joyous again. "After" was amazing from start to finish and kept me completely enthralled. The Walking Dead truly never disappoints.
POSITIVES: Everything.
NEGATIVES: Nothing.
Here is a sneak peak at next weeks episode "Inmates".
Thanks for reading!! Tune in whenever for whatever. (Don't people say something like that??)
HAVE FUN AND BE CREATIVE!
- Tara.
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