The Walking Dead, S4 Ep 10: Inmates

~~~SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS~~~There you have it.So. We're still putting together the chess board that is Walking Dead World in the aftermath of the Governor's rampage on the prison, as Rick & Co. are still making their way through the woods, kind of freaking out to find themselves in groups of two or three, after a horrific expulsion from what had served them well as a fairly safe zone. Some wise person asked of the internets, "But why didn't they have a contingency plan? Why didn't they have a predetermined rendezvous point, like you do with your kids if there's a house fire?"Because that wouldn't have made for nearly as interesting TV. Why have them logically organized, when an unstructured dash for survival is so much more thrilling for the viewer?Maximizing my total geek cred, I couldn't help myself when a Lord of the Rings moment ran through my head:

There is no strength left in the world of Men. They're scattered, divided, leaderless.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbAPwwAXaWM](The quote in question is all the way at the end of this clip; forward to 3:10 if you also can't help yourself. Or, congratulate yourself on escaping the Nerdery and living a life less dominated by film/tv/book quotes. True nerds: I expect to see LOTR/TWD comparative essays tout de suite.)First: YAY! Daryl's alive! Ladies, let's all take a moment to enjoy a collective swoon before moving on.Finally...FINALLY they did something with that annoying Whatsherface...OK, I mean "Beth", whatever...Hershel's other daughter, the not-Maggie. She's escaped into the woods with the totally emotionally wooden Daryl, because Daryl and Michonne (as we saw her in the previous episode) seem to share a similar, "Shutting down is better, hoping hurts too much" mindset.  They kill zombies, they argue about having hope, they discover they work well as a team, Beth has a full-on crying meltdown when they come across zombies feeding alongside the railroad tracks. I get it; in her world, threats and horror lurk around every corner. The episode opens with a voiceover of Beth reading a passage from an old diary she kept, reminding the viewer that she's really only 16 or 17 and the kind of girl and writes in her diary so her wishes can come true. *sniffle*Which makes it that much more interesting when she burns the pages of her diary for kindling. If wishes were horses then beggars would ride...away from the hordes of flesh-eating undead.Next: Yay! Tyreese has Baby Judith, and a big congratulations to these folks, who nailed it at the mid-season finale![youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWJjSO5LvOU]Tyreese also has the girls Mika and the increasingly psychotic Lizzie, and they're trundling through the woods like a psychotic postmodern Brady Bunch.Lizzie is developing apace as a bona fide serial killer. She is a little young for autoeroticism and alcohol can't really be a factor for her development,  but traumatic childhood? Check. Animal torture? Check. (Those poor bunnies. More on that later.) If she starts wetting the bed or lighting fires, then we're in trouble deep. Baby Judith was just a few lungsful away from becoming the first official Crawling Dead, since fortunate timing is the only thing that prevented la Liz from smothering her.  And Judith was only saved because...Yay! Carol is back! She saw the prison go down and followed Tyreese & Co. into the woods. Tyreese clearly has no idea that Carol is the woman who stabbed his lady love, Karen, in the head and then lit her body on fire.  Which, at the moment, is probably better for all involved. We'll see how all that plays out, though I suspect there's going to be a, "Yes, that was me" moment of truth with Carol that will make Tyreese lose his mind. Then he'll try to kill Carol and attract a zombie horde, which will force him to have to trust Carol to get him out of it. Or, he'll bring about his own death because of his rage. As a side note, my boyfriend and I were talking about how, despite the crazy circumstances of the post-prison dash, Tyreese seems so much less vengeance-minded-ly insane. It's like he went, "Oh, crisis, right! Time to focus on saving my bacon and not lash out at my cruel and indifferent world." Which then got us talking about mental illnesses, and if there is a leisure-time component to them. So. That's a fun discussion to have with your sweetie as Valentine's Day weekend comes to a close.  And I digress.Yay! Maggie is still alive, with Sasha, also yay! Oh, and Bob Stookey is there. This is the third camp that's been destroyed out from under him.  Maggie is still reeling from the gruesome loss of her father and possible loss of her husband in one day, and sets off "with or without" the other two, who kindly don't let her go toddling off into the woods armed with nothing more than a...what was that, a 4-inch hunting knife?  She finds the bus that Glenn was supposed to be on (but was not), which has of course become a bus filled with Rolling Death.Maggie unleashes her rage and grief-fueled frustration on zombie after zombie after zombie. While the burning of the prison has shut Michonne and Daryl down and given Tyreese clarity, Maggie has become reckless in a desperate search to restore some of her family. Interestingly, she doesn't say a word about finding Beth. I can't say I blame her.Yay! Glenn is still alive! Once he and his still-pleuritic lungs lurched off the bus in an enfeebled attempt to help Maggie (ironically, saving his life), he ended up getting knocked out in one of two spots in the prison that's inaccessible to zombies.  Good for him! Though it did generate this text from my nephew:

How on Earth is Glenn still at the prison?

The next thing you know we'll start Skyping to watch it long-distance together. Ahhh, family times. Yes, they did cover Glenn's bizarre bit of impractical bravery in the story arc of the prison's destruction, but Michael, if it makes you feel any better, George didn't remember that either. Anyway. Glenn--one of the smartest characters--scavenges the prison, gathers a big bag of goodies and a riot control suit, which simultaneously turns Glenn into a live-action action figure while providing the TV viewer with a Glenn's eye view of zombie mayhem.As he's running through the grabbing, bitey chaos he sees Tara, still alive, and still completely flaked out after being party to The Governor's deranged last tango with Rick. (If you remember, Tara had one of the greatest "Fuck this, I'm out" faces I've ever seen.) With the cunning use of psychology, Glenn convinces Tara to get on her feet and out of the prison with him, saving her life even though he knows she was one of The Governor's people.  But.  Stranger alliances have been made in the zombie apocalypse.  They have a talk, find common ground, Glenn admits he doesn't want her company so much as needs it, then they beat the crap out of some zombies which finally exhausts Glenn, and he drops to the ground.See why he needs you, Tara?Then we meet this guy. This fucking guy.

I have no idea as of yet what to make of Abe Ford and his crew.  They're just...present.  And show up in a militarized vehicle, which has never once boded well for our intrepid band of survivors.Also introduced in this episode: a sanctuary called "Terminus", which literally means "the end of the line". That can't be good.As for what happened with Lizzie's bunnies, take a look at what was in a log as Daryl and Beth made their way through the woods.Remember, the timelines in these stories are linear unto themselves, but not contiguous. They're all starting at different times, so we're trying to piece together the timelines.  And it's sad and poignant--they're just missing one another.So now we know, sort of, where everyone is. Next week: Craziness ensues!