With two episodes of the second half of the fourth season of “The Walking Dead” under our belts, there is much to discuss. After the season returned with a slow start, the second of the new episodes brought death, destruction, and, of course, the show’s classic drama.
The season’s second leg began poignantly in the ninth episode, titled a“After”, by showing Michonne (played by Danai Gurira) finishing off the “zombified” head of beloved character Hershel (Scott Wilson) and moving on alone, despite having some new zombie companions follow in tow.
Meanwhile, father-and-son duo Rick and Carl (Andrew Lincoln & Chandler Riggs) travel further than the murderous Michonne to look for some semblance of safety. Immediately, we are brought into another family bickering match in which Carl is continuing to assert his independence. The heat dies down when Rick re-enters a comatose state from a gunshot wound he has sustained since last season. To the audience, he appears to have died and is reaching towards Carl to take a good ol’ chomp of his leg as a result. Carl, in contrast to a scene in which he declares that he doesn’t need his father, decides to go with him to the grave despite his earlier attitude. Luckily, Rick is just struggling to breathe, but the significance of this scene is not to go unnoticed. In it, Carl realizes that he would rather be dead than to have to trudge on without his father.
While episode nine brought us back into the “Walking Dead” realm, episode ten, “Inmates,” reminded us why we love to watch the show — zombie (which the show repeatedly refers to as “walker”) guts. Apart from Michonne’s tirade, the first new episode left me wanting more action-packed segments. The next episode certainly delivered. A tangled web of four groups of survivors and their struggle to remain alive appears in the tenth episode. This perilous wrestling with adversity is compounded by each group’s encounter with a number of very dangerous “walker” attacks. However, these lead to a delightful fit of gory, head-bashing, skull-stabbing killings. The definite “kill of the week” definitely goes to character Maggie (Lauren Cohan), for murdering a walker with a devastating blow to its skull — with the side of an abandoned school bus aiding the assault. Nevertheless, her decision to end the walker’s life with a knife was a little disappointing.
It is hard to remember that there are some pretty interesting story lines popping up when all these massacres are taking place. First of all, Carol (Melissa McBride) is back after a six-episode absence! Who could have seen that coming? Uh, everyone, but she still brings her fair share of surprises when she stumbles upon Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman), who remains unaware of Carol’s pyromaniac tendencies. I can’t wait to see Tyrese’s reaction when he finds out — and puts a grisly end to it. For Carol’s sake, I hope this group of survivors can get to “Terminus,” a new refugee camp, before Tyrese puts a bullet in her brain.
A major theme, the loss of childhood, seems to be taking full hold in this season’s second half, as well. Carl finally gets vindication from Rick when his father firmly tells him that he’s a man. Mika (Kyla Kenedy) steps up and defends baby Judith against the increasingly psychotic Lizzie (Brighton Sharbino). After seeing her feed “walkers,” kill an innocent bunny, and nearly suffocate a baby, it’s clear Lizzie’s sanity is something I’ll be watching for in future episodes. Other things to keep an eye out for include the fact that the tenth episode ends with Glenn (Steven Yeun) encountering three new characters who at first glance seem to know what they’re doing better than he does. I guess we’ll find out if that prediction turns out to be true.
Of course, we never know where “The Walking Dead” will take us next — be it new character development, plot twists or newly-eaten flesh, but one thing is certain: there will be plenty of guts and gore, and Carl will whine his way to another couple close calls. I know I’m ready for that.
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