Welcome back to The Walking Dead, everyone! Here we are in
October, starting a bit earlier than The Walking Dead normally does (seasonfour premiered on October 21, 2013, and ended a brief six months ago on March
31), but right back in the thick of it. I have been pretty honest about my
growing resentment and dislike of The Walking Dead over the past few seasons
(WHY DID THEY HAVE TO RUIN ANGELA?!), and I’ll be pretty honest now, too: “No
Sanctuary” was not that bad! I mean, still overwrought as all hell. But Daryl
and Carol, you guys! Daryl and Carol!
So let’s get right into it with the five things you need to
know about “No Sanctuary.” Ready, set, go.
+ “You do that?”
Yeah, Rick, Carol TOTALLY did that. Our favorite take-no-bullshit character
handles all the business this week,
capturing a Terminus ally, learning from him what Gareth and the rest of
Terminus cronies plan to do with her friends, and then straight tearing up the place to free them. Blowing up a gas tank to cause a huge explosion that would ruin
Terminus’s defenses, allowing the walker herd to spill through? Yes. Gathering
up supplies from Terminus’s creepy room of plundered goods? Yes. Killing the
crazy lady in the candle room and giving zero shits about her tragic backstory?
Yes. And finally, sauntering out of Terminus and back into the woods to accept
a very loving hug from Daryl and endless gratitude from Rick et al.? Yes,
Carol. YES. If this show has shortchanged characters like Andrea and the
Governor, then they have utterly revamped Carol, who in the comics was a
put-upon housewife who eventually died pretty pathetically. This version of
Carol is one of the best things the show has accomplished.
+ “They’re screwing
with the wrong people” is still the worst line ever—come on, AMC, can’t you
just say “fucking with”? You are a cable channel! But Rick redeems himself by going
fully vicious with “They don’t get to live.
It’s not over until they’re all dead,” when describing how they should go
back to Terminus and slaughter Gareth et al. The idea seems to shock everyone,
and no one wants to go back since they just managed to escape, but Rick’s
ruthlessness is long overdue. This is not a forgiving world; it’s a
kill-or-be-killed-and-eaten one. So if Rick continues down this path (which, it
would make sense if he did) and it starts butting him up against other group
alpha members like Michonne, Carol or Daryl, that could be interesting.
Especially given how much Carol and Daryl are clearly an item, even if not
romantically—they will always have each other’s backs, which will be an
important dynamic moving forward, I think.
+ “I can’t. Not yet.”
Is Tyreese finally recovered enough from mourning his girlfriend – Karen? Maybe?
Was that her name? – to be useful again to the group? It seems like it, after
he killed that Terminus guy to protect Judith, the cleanest baby to have ever
lived during a zombie apocalypse. Interesting how he turns to Carol for
approval when she returns to the cabin with everyone else, informing her that
she shouldn’t go in there and see what he’s done. But this is the Tyreese the
group needs, the Tyreese who can help keep them safe. What else is he going to
use that football-player body for? (For real though, does anyone think Chad
Coleman looks even brawnier this
season than he has previously? As in, the literal definition of barrel-chested?
Just a thought.)
+ “We can put the
world back to how it was.” Oh, Bob. His hopes, even if they were only to
sway Gareth and his men from butchering the group, must be for not. Sure,
Eugene claims that he was part of a Human Genome Project research experiment to
figure out the zombie epidemic and fight “fire with fire,” but I refuse to
believe someone with such a rocking mullet could work for a biotech company. I
just cannot. Nevertheless, it certainly seems like Washington, D.C., is the
group’s next intended destination, even though Eugene clearly should not be
trusted. Clearly. CLEARLY.
+ “I don’t have any
friends. I mean, I know people.” This is an interesting idea from the
Terminus guy that Tyreese beats to death when he threatens Judith—are Rick,
Michonne, Carol, Daryl, Glenn, Maggie … would we consider them friends with
each other? Daryl and Carol clearly love and care for each other; Glenn and Maggie
are in a relationship; but, are these really friendships? Or are they alliances?
Or camaraderie? I wonder if only because as the season continues and they start
another long journey, shit will surely go down that threatens the
infrastructure of the group and the hierarchy, especially if people don’t like
the bloodthirsty road Rick may go down. Can a group of survivors with death
threatening them at all times really be friends? Just a thought.
And finally, some
other things of note:
+ So, the Terminus cannibals. I guess I’m confused by how
this would actually work, because hasn’t it been explained that every person
who dies becomes a zombie? And therefore everyone is actually carrying the
infection or whatever? So how can the humans of Terminus be harvesting other
humans for food, because wouldn’t they need to kill them first—as we saw them
doing by slitting the men’s throats, hanging them up to dry, etc.—but then
wouldn’t the killed people become zombies, and wouldn’t the Terminus people not
want to eat zombie flesh? I am legitimately curious about the logistics of
this.
+ Morgan is back! MORGAN IS BACK.
+ Are Gareth and his friends going to return to attack Rick
and Co. at some point in the future? It looked like Rick ended up shooting
Gareth in the left shoulder, and I don’t think we would have had the THEN
flashbacks if not to make us sympathize with Gareth somewhat. Hmm.
+ Next week brings the arrival of another alum from The Wire, Seth Gilliam, who will play Gabriel Stokes, a reverend who may not be the most sane guy around. The Walking Dead may do a lot of things that annoy me, but as long as it keeps casting people from the greatest TV show of all time, I'm good.
