"Infected" By THE WALKING DEAD

Article first published as THE WALKING DEAD Recap Season 4 Episode 2 Infected on Seat42F.


The people who make AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD have promised an intense fall run. This week’s episode, only the second in this batch, lives up to that promise. “Infected” finds a disease spreading through the prison, resulting in a high body count. This also makes Rick (Andrew Lincoln) re-evaluate his new peaceful lifestyle.

As season four begins, Rick has stepped away from a leadership role and put away his gun, making his son, Carl (Chandler Riggs) do the same. This makes sense for his character, having sacrificed and lost a lot. He sees his son Carl going down a dark, violent path, and doesn’t want that for his family. Rick leads by example, putting his job as a father ahead of his commitment to the group.

Daryl (Norman Reedus) tells Rick he deserves the break, and leaves the door open for his return to power. Carl, too, thinks Rick can take the top spot back any time he wants it, but doesn’t begrudge his father the decision, and obeys as a good son would. I do think this development has been beneficial for Rick and Carl, even if it is only temporary, as we’ve seen Carl soften again.

“Infected” forces Rick to shift back, though. Suddenly, there are walker attacks within the walls of the prison. He may be able to ignore what’s going on outside of the gate, playing the farmer, but he can’t turn his back on something happening right here. He has to protect himself and Carl, and that means not being the pacifist any longer. This is why Rick and Carl rearm at the end of the hour, and why we see Rick step back into an active part in the larger group.

Carol (Melissa McBride) faces the same thing in deciding whether to teach the children at the prison how to defend themselves. She does so without informing their parents, which will surely be polarizing when they find out. Yet, she has a good point, that she’s worried the parents will not agree to the instruction, and when anyone can be attacked at any time, regardless of age, even the young children must be able to wield a knife.

“Infection” illustrates exactly why Carol is in the right, as Patrick (Vincent Martella) eats and turns much of Cellblock D over night (they must be really heavy sleepers, huh?). About a third of the prison group dies in this outbreak, and children and adults are equally vulnerable.

One of the victims is the father of Mika (Kyla Kenedy) and Lizzie (Brighton Sharbino). Carol at first offers to end their dad for them, but when one volunteers, Carol is disappointed when she won’t go through with it, calling the girl weak. This is more controversial than the knife lessons themselves, especially as Carol will now be acting mother to the sisters.

On one hand, it makes one squirm to see Carol coming down hard on a little girl who can’t bring herself to stick a knife in her beloved father’s head. This is something no child should ever have to do, and even though we see Carl shoot his mom last season, and it’s not something just anyone could do, and Carl is messed up by the event. On the other hand, Carol is right, hesitating could mean the different between life and death. If Carol wasn’t there to finish the task, the girls could be dead.

This is the world in which THE WALKING DEAD takes place. It’s a whole new kind of morality, with values shifting to be realistic to the times. Children do not get the luxury of being kids, forced to emotionally grow up very fast, whether they are ready to or not. This will produce some psychopaths, like Carl was on the way to becoming before Rick pulled him back, and some tough heroes, who are prepared to do what’s necessary to keep themselves and their loved ones safe, like Rick is. The line between hero and psycho is disturbingly thin, and being a parent is harder than ever.

Is this why THE WALKING DEAD scores the huge viewership it does? Because, even though it makes us uncomfortable at times, it also shows us something no other series is willing to? It’s a gritty reality in a terrible world, pushing humans into situations many alive today will thankfully never experience. It’s gripping storytelling at its best.

The question is, what will the effects of the “Infection” be? With people dying left and right, and a zombie horde pushing down the fences (thanks in part to someone feeding them rats), there is danger on all sides. Not to mention, the Governor is still lurking out there somewhere. The prison seems like a stable, secure place last week, but this episode reveals it is just a fragile as any other environment. It may soon be time to move on.

Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman) will probably be ready to leave the cells behind. His love, Karen (Melissa Ponzio), is one of those that falls ill, and then is burned. We don’t see whether she is a walker before being turned to ash, but one assumes so. If not, this could open the door to even more questions about how far one should go to pre-emptively protect the population. Also, I suspect Tyreese’s sister may be to blame, which could definitely strain the sibling bond.

Lastly, Michonne (Danai Gurira) gets nervous around baby Judith, not wanting to touch her, and wincing at her cries. THE WALKING DEAD isn’t big about showing flashbacks, so we may never know for sure the total reason why Michonne wants to avoid infants, especially as she gets along fine with older children like Carl. Yet, I like that the series lets us make our own assumptions, rather than spelling everything out. It may just be enough to know that there’s something there, and to watch her become less damaged.

“Infection” is a scary, intense episode, with some very questionable moments, which is good thing. When a show gives you intelligent plots and characters, who are layered with actions that may be disagreeable, but make sense, it provides plenty of fodder to debate afterward. It’s the modern-day equivalent of a water-cooler show, made to the highest storytelling specifications.

THE WALKING DEAD airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.

THE WALKING DEAD "Without An Accident"

Article first published as THE WALKING DEAD Recap Season 4 Episode 1 30 Days Without An Accident on Seat42F.


It’s been months for both fans and the characters of AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD since the last new installment. So in this week’s season four premiere, “30 Days Without an Accident,” it’s not surprising that things have changed. The group is now under the leadership of The Council, rather than a single man. New recruits have been welcomed. There’s a school and children present, as well as crops and livestock. It seems things are finally getting good for the survivors.

Of course, by the end of the hour, that has started to change, but we’ll get to that. First, what this episode revealed about our heroes.

Daryl (Norman Reedus) is happy! He is part of the leadership for the prison, his romance with Carol (Melissa McBride) has clearly progressed, and young’uns like Patrick (Vincent Martella, Phineas and Ferb, Everybody Hates Chris) worship him. Daryl still goes out on raids, but that allows him to feel important and needed. Even bringing home a deer wins him admiration and appreciation, so he has been fully accepted by those he cares for.

This is a shift from wounded loner who follows orders. This is a step up for the guy who really deserves a break. If anyone wasn’t getting what they should be getting in this new world order, it was Daryl, so it should please fans to no end that his station has improved.

And he’s not the only one. Carol is running a school. Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman) has a girl, too, Karen (Melissa Ponzio, Teen Wolf), and gets to decide if he wants to kill walkers at the fence or go on supply runs, neither of which he enjoys, but the choice is his. Carl (Chandler Riggs) is acting like a kid and obedient son again, and gets to bond with Michonne (Danai Gurira) over trivial things such as comic books. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) has settled into farming under Hershel’s (Scott Wilson) tutelage. All is right in the world.

One would think that these characters wouldn’t relax. They’ve been comfortable before, on a farm no less, so why should this time be any different? I think they’re likely feeling secure because this is an improvement over other places, with a larger contingent and stronger barriers. But they shouldn’t take it so easy that they lose their edge.

Glenn (Steven Yeun) realizes this. He hopes Maggie (Lauren Cohan) isn’t pregnant because he doesn’t want to bring a child into this disaster. This, despite the fact that there are relatively normal children in the group already. Still, Glenn has been burned before, and he’s not about to just sit back and relax.

Carol, too, has a sneaking suspicion. Although not as overt about her concerns as Glenn, she secretly instructs the children of the compound on knife fighting after story time. It’s not a bad idea, of course; anyone living in the walker world, even kids, should know how to defend themselves. But it’s telling of everyone else’s complacency that Carol doesn’t make her skill session publicly known.

Glenn and Carol have a right to be concerned. There are walkers pressing against their fence, more every day, and starting to gather in select places, making the barriers less than sure. Is this a sign of growing hoards coming together, something the comic book version faced, or is something else afoot, with the walkers being lured there, as Nathan Fillion suggested during the aftershow, Talking Dead?

And there’s trouble within. A pig, whom Carl names Violet, is sick, and then so is Patrick. Is there a new virus threatening our heroes? Why now, and where did it come from? Isn’t it enough that they have to fight walkers and psychos like The Governor (David Morrissey), who still hasn’t been seen again yet, but will be soon enough? Do new and sudden illness have to present a problem, too, and how will they defend against them?

THE WALKING DEAD is a story of survival, so I guess it’s not surprising that these dangers must come, even on the heels of so many other threats. These characters face anything and everything, and it’s their ability to persevere that is admired and celebrated. They wouldn’t earn such respect from viewers if the path were an easy one. And while “30 Days Without an Accident” may not be extremely action packed, there is definitely promise (and plenty of rumor from those involved with the show) that this is just the calm before a very intense storm.

Is Beth (Emily Kinney) the most emotionally prepare to weather such events? She seems uncaring when Daryl tells her that her boyfriend, Zach (Kyle Gallner, Veronica Mars), dies in a raid. Admittedly, Zach’s demise is a cool one, with a literal raining of walkers and a helicopter crashing through the ceiling of the store the supply run party is in. But for Beth to be so callous is sad. Yes, death is a part of her life, but has she turned humanity off completely?

Rick also faces someone who may have forgotten what it is to be human, a girl named Clara (Kerry Condon, Luck, Rome). Clara looks a bit like a walker herself, dirty and disheveled, clothing in tatters, hunched over and not walking so well. Of course, that’s because she’s been alone in the woods with her love’s walker-turned head in a bag, so anyone in her shoes would go crazy, as she clearly has.

Yet, this speaks to a greater trend, the slipping away of what makes a person a person, and a new kind of moral compass. One of the themes of the series has long been how far can one go and retain who they are? What kind of changes must one make to adapt to this new lifestyle, and is life still worth living after those sacrifices are made? These questions aren’t answered, but “30 Days Without an Accident” gives us much to ponder.

There are still the old-fashioned problems, too. Newcomer Bob (Lawrence Gilliard Jr., The Wire) is definitely wrestling with alcoholism. But that may be the least of his problems for the time being.

I don’t know that I’d count “30 Days Without an Accident” among my favorite episode of THE WALKING DEAD. However, it does a good job resetting the stage, and I’m glad the show slows down enough to show us the new normal before ripping it apart again. There are some intriguing new characters and surprising problems, and it’ll be interesting to see how both are dealt with in the coming weeks. Plus, the visuals of the raining walker scene are cool, and Clara is very artistically created, with clues to her intent before her true nature is revealed, such as the shot of a spider and its web. Neat.

THE WALKING DEAD airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.