So it turns out a prison is a pretty crappy place to live. Surprise! The Walking Dead has been firing on all cylinders this season, keeping plotlines moving quick enough that they don’t get boring while still taking the time to really hunker down with the characters and get to know them better. This week’s episode was no different – tons of walker heads got smashed but the real meat was on the living.
We pick up right where we left off last week, with Rick driving back to the prison after abandoning Carol. Thankfully, this week didn’t spend a lot of time hashing over the morality of that decision – he had a brief scene with Maggie where he filled her in, seemingly looking for reassurance that he did the right thing, but that was it. I think the real action is going to be when that news gets back to Darryl.
This was a claustrophobic, prison-centric episode, mostly revolving around Hershel’s attempts to keep everybody alive until the medicine expedition returned. He’s pulling out all the ER stops, intubating dudes and knifing their brains when they pass on. Wait, I never saw that on ER. Sasha and Glenn are helping him but they’re both sick and reaching their limit.
Literally the only uninfected person outside of quarantine is Maggie, and being the only one keeping the zombie horde from breaching the fence is not wearing well on her. When Rick returns, the fence gives way, leaving him and Carl to mow down hordes of shambling skin-eaters with machine guns. At the same time, things get awful inside, with Glenn reaching the “vomit blood” stage of the disease. With people dying left and right, it turns into a game of cat and mouse with freshly-made walkers. Daryl, Michonne, Tyreese and Bob return in the nick of time, administering medication to the survivors, and by the next day things seem to have settled down. Oh boy! A happy ending!
Psyche, no – the Governor is back, and he’s right outside the prison. I sincerely doubt he’s here to make amends, so let’s see how Ol’ One-Eye makes life harder for Rick and the crew in the weeks to come.