Article first published as THE WALKING DEAD Review Season 5 Episode 3 Four Walls and a Roof on Seat42F.
This
week’s installment of AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD is an emotional
rollercoaster. Much of the series deals with finding morality in a
much-changed world, debating what values can be held onto and which must
be dropped to survive. What defines a good person in this new age? It’s
surely not the same as what modern viewers are used to. This most
recent hour, “Four Walls and a Roof,” finds many characters struggling
to find that line.
First, a quick
recap of events: Bob (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) delights in telling his
kidnapper-cannibals that they have eaten tainted meat, revealing he has
been bitten by a walker. Gareth (Andrew J. West) and the others are
disgusted, but have a new plan. They drop Bob back at the church to
enrage Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and the group, luring a strike force away
from the main contingent. As soon as Rick et al. leave, Gareth and his
men sneak in to finish off those left behind. But Rick is smarter than
that and doubles back, brutally ending the Terminus survivors once and
for all.
The scene in which Rick,
Abraham (Michael Cudlitz), Michonne (Danai Gurira), and Sasha (Sonequa
Martin-Green) savagely beat several of the Terminus guys to death,
including Gareth, is stomach-turning. Fans might expect a triumphant
moment of enemies being defeated, but that’s not what “Four Walls and a
Roof” delivers. Instead, it’s an ugly side to these characters. Yes,
Gareth and his followers are bad people and cannot be trusted to be set
free again, so no one is arguing they don’t deserve to die. But the
method of execution seems more cruel than necessary even if Rick’s
excuse of not wanting to spend bullets makes sense, and there’s poetic
justice in Rick fulfilling his promise to Gareth involving the
red-handled machete.
Of course, this
leaves hanging the question of if it’s safe to eat someone who has been
bitten, with the diners dead before digestion completes.
Does
this mean Rick and the others are bad people now? Even some of their
friends look away in disgust, uncomfortable with what they are seeing.
Yet, no one defects from Rick because of this. Everyone agrees it is
necessary. This is where the line between right and wrong gets blurry,
and one wonders if humanity can be held onto.
Bob
provides that string of hope for the audience to keep liking our group.
He tells Rick how awesome it is that Rick takes him in, making him a
part of the family. Some other marauders are only looking out for
themselves and would not allow anyone new to join them. Rick and his
friends rescue Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) as recently as last week,
proving they haven’t completely gone to the dark side. They only murder
those who deserve it. Rick should keep looking for others to save.
One
cannot say Gareth is redeemable. There is a certain charm to him, and
his chilling oratory makes much more sense than it should. He is wronged
in the past, and much of his killing is done to keep his people alive.
The difference is, he slaughters those who have done nothing to him. And
he is fine with using people and creeping them out in a sadistic
manner, drawing an A on the church like the one on the train car in
which he imprisoned the group. Gareth crosses the line of decency, and
that’s why he must die.
In fact, we
actually look down on the characters whom cannot kill someone like
Gareth. Father Gabriel reveals his cowardice, hiding in the church as
his parishioners are devoured, and that makes him pathetic and detested,
not a man to look up to as he cannot kill even a walker. Tyreese (Chad
L. Coleman) leaves a Terminus guy alive in a cabin, and that paints him
in a poor light, even if he is able to spare Sasha the pain of taking
Bob out, only proving he can kill walkers, not humans. Those who cannot
step up the plate the way Rick does seem doomed to perish, sooner rather
than later. Brutality, as hard to stomach as it is, is a necessary part
of this world.
Still, without that
scene in “Four Walls and a Roof” in which Bob tells Rick what a good man
Rick is, Rick balancing his baby daughter on his hip, it would be hard
for the heroes of THE WALKING DEAD to come back from this. There has to
be good mixed in with the bad. Rick has to have a moral line about who
is judged worthy of being put down, and we have to know he won’t do the
same to whoever they meet next. Justified or not as killing Gareth’s
band is, it’s hard to watch a good man do it, and that is part of why
this series is the best drama on television.
The
only thing that bothers me about this episode is when Abraham takes
Eugene (Josh McDermitt) and Rosita (Christian Serratos), along with
Glenn (Steven Yeun), Maggie (Lauren Cohan), and Tara (Alanna Masterson),
off on their own. His goodbye to Rick is great. Glenn and Maggie’s
decision to join up makes sense. But why can’t Abraham wait? It’s clear
that Eugene wants to. The immediate threat of Gareth is gone, so there’s
no rush to move on, right?
I guess
Abraham is a man on a mission who suddenly feels his mission has been
delayed too long. I get it; I really do. He is out to save the world.
But the group would be so much stronger if he’d just give Daryl (Norman
Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) a day to get back. The fact that
Daryl shows up soon after the others leave makes it all the more
groan-worthy. It’s true that Abraham has no way of knowing the wait
would be so short, but still…!
Speaking
of Daryl, who is behind him in that final scene? If it’s Carol, why
doesn’t she come out? Is it Beth (Emily Kinney) and a group of other
captives Daryl has rescued? I want to know more about this right now!
“Four
Walls and a Roof” is a fantastic episode, made all the better by
setting it inside of a church, which is, as one character says, just
“Four Walls and a Roof.” It really plays to the strengths of the series,
and both significant deaths are affecting, in different ways. Seven
days is a long wait for the next installment.
THE WALKING DEAD airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.
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