Haven’t seen the latest episode of The Walking Dead? Then don’t click below! Spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 4, Episode 9: “After”.
Rick and Carl are really NOT my favorite characters. Just not. I get it. I get that they are in a post-apocalyptic world. I get that they’ve been put through the ringer. Rick has had to be the leader whether he wanted to or not and power hangs heavy – makes him the bad guy when as he’s trying to do is keep everyone safe. Carl is still just a kid growing up in a violent and unforgiving world, making the same mistakes that all kids make and a fair few extra ones that are much heavier than he should be dealing with now (killing that kid for instance). But after all is said and done, Rick just doesn’t do it for me and Carl is a psycho.
Okay, maybe they’re not that bad, but this episode is their father-son relationship in a nutshell and it’s painful to watch. Rick is beaten to a pulp and trying to reign in his son while Carl is just not having any of it. I do feel for Rick on this. It’s so easy to forget that he’s a kid because he’s become so good at surviving in that world. Yet, he is still just a kid, proven many times over by the very poor decision making skills he has. He still doesn’t grasp the same concepts as an adult because he’s so busy trying to prove he is one.
We get to see even more of that when Rick is unconscious on the couch. When Carl started leading the walkers off that gathered at their door, you knew he was going to get in trouble. He wasn’t watching where he was going – classic suprise!walker time. And there it came. He got to popping off his gun and was promptly sick after. We know that you survived kid, but damn. How many bullets are you going to waste to prove you can do it? It was when he was yelling at his dad that I was totally convinced the Rick died at the prison and Carl was dragging around his ghost like Rick did with Lori. Him yelling everything that had been piling up at a completely comatose Rick – I expected Rick’s body to evaporate like smoke at any minute. But he didn’t. Carl’s little diatribe was a good glimpse into his mind though. Carl is smart but he’s still a child and he doesn’t see the finer points. He’s suddenly confronted by how imperfect his father is and it has so shattered the in-control, righteous Law-man image he’s clung to so tightly that it’s like mourning the death of his father as surely as he has to for his mother and sister. Then he’s off to fill the Sheriff’s hat he still wears like armor.
Then the house. And the walker. And the gun. And the running out of bullets. No one is surprised. What I was totally surprised by was that Carl tried to escape through the window. For all that Carl reminds me of Scrappy-Doo – annoying, loud-mouthed, over confident, and over-courageous – I never expected him to run. But up until now, we’ve never really seen Carl on his own and when it boils down to it, he’s a kid trapped in a dead world. Now he survives, because that’s just this damn show and writes something dumb on the door only to each a shit-ton of pudding and run back to dad.
When Rick finally groans and reaches for Carl, I thought holy crap. They did it! They actually killed Rick! But no, they didn’t and for once I was grateful. Carl finally breaking down and admitting he was scared, that he didn’t want to live in this world anymore without the people he loves, was a huge growing up moment for him. And it was a bright, shining link to his father. When Rick finally wakes up and isn’t dead, he talks to Carl – really talks to him which is something that hasn’t happened in a long time. And just like that you know it’s going to be okay, and I was actually glad for that. They may not be my shining stars, but I like to see them happy.
Now on to the good stuff.
Introduce: Michonne! I was so excited about this though I can’t say it’s too much of a surprise. I suspect she will become a love interest this season. I always suspected it would be with Rick, but they did push some heavy Michonne/Daryl vibes for a while. We see her approaching the ruined prison, sword in hand, heedless of the many walkers, and just generally being a badass. Once she’s made two into her new walker-babies, she leashes them up and starts to leave only to find Hershel’s head. He’s turned, his eyes opaque and white, snapping uselessly with his teeth. If you’re going to have a death scene, his was the way to go, but I miss Hershel. He was a good man and a good regulating force for the group. I think his death made him the figurehead of the next chapter in everyone’s lives now that both he (good) and the Governor (evil) are dead. Michonne is affected, but puts her katana through his head then moves on.
Heading away from the prison, she finds boot tracks in the mud. And walks right past them. I was totally thrown. After all that she did for Andrea and how much loyalty she showed, I couldn’t believe that she was willing to walk away. So she moves on. We finally get some backstory on Michonne! While the Grimes are not high on my list, Michonne is and I’m glad we’re starting to flesh out her character. We’re getting glimpses of what she used to be – smart, sophisticated, well-adjusted. Happy. She had an obviously successful life with people she cared about and a family. We’ve all wondered since her little breakdown with Judith last season exactly what happened to her and I’m sure we all strongly suspected she herself lost a child. It’s still painful to know that for certain though.
Beth’s comment in that episode really stuck with me. We have terms like widow and widower, but what do you call someone who lost a child?
We are yet again forced to look at the difference between living and survival. Anyhow, Michonne’s got much larger balls than me becoming one with a mini-herd, even if she has her two dogs to camouflage her. I would NOT be doing that. She finally seems to snap out of whatever her funk is and snap right into crazy, as she takes out the entire herd she’s with including her pets. Then she finally backtracks to the boot prints she originally saw and passed by. I get it now. Loving, especially in that world, is painful and full of loss. It can break you like we’ve seen it break her. But maybe it’s worth it. We get another small glimpse as she talks to her dead “lover”, probably the dead boyfriend she admitted to talking to. How many seasons will we have to wait to figure out what mistake he made?
She finally ends up outside the window to the house Rick and Carl are camped in, crying upon realization that they’re still alive and okay. It was at this point that I had to pause it (for the millionth time) and start freaking out. When people finally find their loved ones and are happy, especially with a close shot like that, it means they’re about to die because a walker is just off camera. But no! Michonne actually lives and gets to knock at the door, I’m thinking with either Carl’s lost shoe or a large bag of stale M&M’s.
Overview: This is not the episode I wanted. With the exception of getting some of Michonne’s backstory (and ALDIS!), I don’t care! I want to see what happened to everyone else, namely the people I do care about: Glenn, Maggie, Daryl, Tyreese, Sasha, and Beth. And while I think it would be interesting to see how other groups are doing and for them each to get a full episode, this show is so Grimes-centric that I don’t think that will be the case. So I’m guessing next week’s episode will be a brief recap of all the other people and how the “new” Grimes family is getting on.
This post is used with permission from Fanofstuff.com.
