Article first published as THE WALKING DEAD Review Season 5 Episode 4 Slabtown on Seat42F.
AMC’s
THE WALKING DEAD finally shows us what happened to Beth (Emily Kinney)
this week in “Slabtown.” Beth wakes up in a hospital run by
not-completely-altruistic people. She is told she will need to work off
what she owes, payment for services rendered, before she can leave. But
after just a day or two, she begins to see the dark side of the place
and isn’t all that sure she’ll ever be allowed to go back to her
friends.
The only main character seen in “Slabtown,” other than a brief cameo at the end which we’ll get to, is Beth. THE WALKING DEAD
has presented this type of hour on many occasions, and often, they are
among the best since the installment is able to dig a little deeper on a
single person, rather than having to split its time. But this can also
be frustrating because we want to know what is happening with everyone
else. When “Slabtown” doesn’t get Beth back to the others, promising at
least a little more of Beth solo, it’s not quite as expected, though
still a good episode overall.
We see a
growth for Beth in this one. In THE WALKING DEAD as a whole, Beth has
gone from meek daughter to Walker-killer. In “Slabtown,” she has a
mini-arc, from cowed patient to a woman who stands up for herself and
will willingly take a beating to help others. At first, she has to get
the lay of the land, so she can be forgiven for her passive behavior.
But by the end of the episode, we see a Beth that has earned her place
in the main group, and one that no longer seems quite so expendable in
the cast.
There are a number of
others who populate this episode, which makes it not completely
Beth-centric, but add to the world Beth is in, making it a little
different than past single-character installments. Some of these people
are good and some are bad and some are in between, but they’re an
interesting makeup of a group, one THE WALKING DEAD has not seen before.
The
hospital is run by Officer Dawn Lerner (the great Christine Woods,
Hello Ladies, Perfect Couples). She’s tough, too tough, yet we also get
to see the reason behind that, a woman very much struggling to hold
together a failing system. This makes Dawn a great villain, one created
by circumstance and weakness, not malice. Dawn’s biggest problem is that
she is in denial about the current reality, and wants to keep living
life the way it used to be. To do this, she makes too many compromises
to keep people playing her game. Dawn will surely be back on the show
again, and I’m curious to see if there’s any hope for her; I doubt it,
since she’s likely to double down on her current course, even though she
knows it’s not working.
More
straight-forwardly evil is Officer Gorman (Ricky Wayne, Real Steel), a
creep and probable rapist. Unlike Dawn, who will never be a Big Bad but
does get to stick around, Gorman dies in “Slabtown,” which is as it
should be. Had he lived any longer, he definitely would have forced
himself on Beth, as he is already trying to do, and while rape is
expected in this world, no one wants to see a beloved character undergo
it.
Beth’s one friend in the place is
Noah (Tyler James Williams, Everybody Hates Chris, Go On), the janitor.
He tells her the truth, unafraid of being caught and determined to get
out. This is a kindred spirit for Beth, someone brave and dedicated to
escaping the prison. They work together to get out and Noah manages to,
even if Beth doesn’t. I hope we see him again as he’d make a fine
addition to the company.
Noah’s plot
gives me a theory about who Daryl (Norman Reedus) has in the woods last
week. Might it be Noah? Daryl is following a car to the hospital so he’d
be around that area not long after Noah escapes. Maybe Noah can tell
the group what has become of Beth and how horrible the hospital is and
Rick (Andrew Lincoln) will lead an assault to rescue our missing girl.
This
theory also works with the end of “Slabtown,” which sees Carol (Melissa
McBride) end up in the hospital, too, injured. She looks like whatever
happened to her is survivable, and her presence here explains why she
isn’t with Daryl. Although an alternate theory is that Carol
purposefully got hurt to get inside to rescue Beth while Daryl (and
possibly Noah, who’d just have time to meet them prior to this) are
waiting outside to provide support.
But those are just theories. We’ll see.
The
final important character in “Slabtown” is Dr. Steven Edwards (Erik
Jensen, Gravity). He positions himself as an ally to Beth, protecting
her from abuse, but he also plays by Dawn’s rules, content to be
terrorized a bit in exchange for protection. He’s a wimp and he knows he
won’t survive on his own, so he stays here, thinking it better than the
alternative.
One can understand why
Beth ends up not liking Dr. Edwards, who kills to keep his position, but
should he himself be murdered? The end of the episode has Beth headed
towards stabbing him until Carol is brought in and distracts her. I get
that Beth is potentially saving other lives, should another medical
professional be brought in that Dr. Edwards would kill, too, but he
helps a lot more than he hurts, and Dawn would take serious revenge on
Beth for the act. Shouldn’t Beth stab the cop first?
That’s
really my only gripe in an interesting episode. It’s not the best
single-character story, but it is one that fits well with this part of
the series, which will contain other mini-arcs before the characters get
to D.C., and it gives us another side of Beth, one which earns viewer
respect. Plus, Noah is a welcome addition.
THE WALKING DEAD airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.
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