Michonne and Carl go out on a supply hunt while Rick is made to stay back at the house and continue to heal. Michonne and Carl’s trip is informational if somewhat uneventful. We get to see a lot more of who Michonne was prior to ZDay through her relationship with Carl. A less cold, hell downright warm, Michonne agrees to answer Carl’s questions about her past while clearing a house. Each room they clear allows Carl one question. We find out that, among other things, her child was three years old and named Andre Anthony. Rick’s time resting at the house, however, ends up being more taxing than if he had gone with Michonne and Carl when a group of obviously unfriendly men come into the house looking for shelter. Rick spends the entirety of the episode in what is supposed to be a tense “hope the bad guys don’t find me” sequence, but it ends up less tense and more of a overcomplicated reason to get the trio back on the road. It’s unnecessary, this is where they could work in some more storylines, we don’t need an obvious threat to get them back on the road…we knew that house wasn’t their final stop. Instead of wasting that time how about they just say, “Ok, let’s get going” and move onto another storyline…this is one place that they can take a tip from the comic structure.
Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene hit a snag when Glenn wakes up in the back of their truck demanding to be let out so he can go find Maggie. Again, a whole ton of needless exposition. Sadly, this is where they should have deviated from the comics. Abraham, who is still awesome despite the way this was handled, is supposed to be a guy who is the muscle for a supposedly brilliant scientist who needs to get to DC to solve that pesky dead rising from the grave thing. He talks kind of like a comic book hero, it’s all “We need to save the world!” instead of “I need to find some water, maybe some food, possibly a bed”. Which is fine, but the way it comes across on screen is kind of counter-productive. He stops the truck when Glenn freaks out and spends precious time away from his mission to try and convince Glenn to stay with them all the while telling him that, basically, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Soooo….why not just leave his ass and roll. Yeah, he could be an asset, but is obviously distracted and out for different goals thusly making him a liability. Long story short, that whole drawn out story line which includes a fist fight between Abraham and Glenn and a non-sensical firefight with a group of walkers (seriously, the truck is right there and they are moving slowly…why not just get in the truck, drive a mile down the road, and reassess the situation?), is all done just to achieve the end result of disabling the truck so the group has to walk (Eugene accidentally shoots in the opposite direction of the walkers with enough accuracy to penetrate the fuel tanks on an armored military vehicle.
Honestly, the whole thing doesn't bode too well for the writers or the show runners. Let’s not even mention that anyone worth their salt wouldn't leave viewers without even a glimpse of the shows fan favorite character (Darryl) for three episodes. Let’s just focus on the fact that they are apparently writing the show with no intention of efficiency. If you are going to spend half an episode on an unnecessarily complicated story line, you better make damn sure that it at least does something to further the character. It takes more than just saying “The characters need to do A so let’s have them do B and C to get there”…you need to understand your characters enough to explain why they chose B or C or at least have the presence of mind to know when the explanation of that choice is just superfluous information. For instance, the picture below is completely gratuitous...but at least it's enjoyable to look at, something the writers forgot to do here. If you're going to meander you need to spend ALOT more time on gross-out effects or something other than a generic fistfight or zombie kill.
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A Dash of Dissent: Rocky’s Thoughts on “Claimed”
Well well! Things are moving forward now and storylines are beginning to intersect again, and this week we have Rick, Michonne, and Carl, along with Glenn, Tara (I finally learned her name!), Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene. Let’s get right into it … unlike this episode, which felt weirdly meandering to me. And by “weirdly meandering” I mean, “typically slow for The Walking Dead.”
+ Good stuff: Abraham’s gruffness and brashness is evident, and I like that the character is so mission-oriented right now. Yes, he has a relationship with Rosita (who gets her first lines with “Is this yours?”, asking Glenn about his dropped photo of Maggie)—which Tara kind of off-handly mentions out of nowhere—but that’s not so integral to his character yet, and I appreciate that. Plus, anyone who can shittalk zombies while killing them is amusing in my book: “Aw, honey, look at you. You’re a damn mess.”
+ Also good: Us getting more of Michonne’s backstory in clearer terms, even if it’s during that silly game with Carl during their house sweeps. Her son was 3 years old when he died, his name was Andre Anthony, and, as we guessed given that flashback-inspired nightmare of Michonne’s, he might have died at the hands of his father or in some other way because of his father’s actions. That’s some depressing shit, and I especially liked her “It’s not really a secret” in reply to Carl saying he’ll keep the information quiet. The issue here is shared pain, and they all have it, so why pretend anything different? The only qualm I have with this mini bonding session is Carl’s statement that “Maybe [Judith] and Andre are together somewhere,” because duh, we know Judith is alive, but Andre certainly isn’t. So there’s this inherent inequality in that emotional release that kind of rubs me the wrong way.
+ Meh: Carl’s continued sadness of Judith’s death, which feels cheap since we know she’s alive. If there were better-written lines than “I would rather have Judith’s formula” to convey Carl’s sadness, maybe I would care more. But I don’t.
+ Annoying: An entire episode with Rick evading a home invasion? Again, this is a recurring problem I have with this show—why is everyone so quick to let their guard down?! You’ve been in this abandoned house, what, two days? Every other person you’ve interacted with since the zombie apocalypse has fucking sucked and tried to kill you, or been a nameless drain on your resources, like the Woodbury survivors who all eventually died anyway. So why not continue to keep your guard up? Maybe lock every door? Maybe reinforce all the windows? Maybe set up an alarm system? Maybe DON’T TAKE A NAP WHILE READING JACK LONDON STORIES? Goddammit, people, get it together.
+ Simultaneously frustrating and great: Glenn’s storyline is a double-edged sword for me, because I find it undermining that the show so far has really only identified him in terms of his relationship with Maggie. In the comics, he’s an excellent resource-gatherer and always the guy the group sends out for runs because he’s so crafty and wily, but in the show he and Maggie are just lovesick kids running around having as much sex as possible. I have nothing wrong with that, if they were defined outside of that relationship. But they’re not. Nevertheless, I do love Glenn having his “I WILL FIND YOU” moment, straight out of “The Last of the Mohicans,” while basically telling Abraham to fuck off so Glenn can go find Maggie. Honestly, I respect that, and Glenn has never seemed more attractive! But the group better reunite soon, because much like I cannot deal with Carl’s moping over Judith’s “death,” I would really like Glenn and Maggie to just stop being sad and develop some other personalities already. Just saying.
