The Walking Dead S4, E4: Indifference

“Nobody’s died yet. I think a lot of people are going to die.  It always happens;makes me sad, but at least they get to come back.”

“Lizzy, when they come back, people aren’t who they were.

“Yeah, but they’re something;they’re someone.”

This conversation was fascinating. On the one hand, I still think Lizzy is a bit twisted, but on the other hand, perhaps she’s a mirror of Carl. Carl and Lizzy are growing up in a bleak reality with a different set of morals.  They don’t have to struggle with changing who they’ve been for 30 or 40 years; they just adapt. That’s what kids do and they always do it better and more successfully than adults.  Also, the fact that this conversation took place with a piece of glass between Lizzy and Carol cannot be ignored.

Alright, with this episode the team is separated into two different moral and ethical conundrums. While Daryl, Michonne, Tyreese and Bob are out looking for medicine, Tyreese has what looks like another suicidal moment when he won’t let go of the walker attacking him. Seriously, what is the deal  with Tyreese? When he finally “loses it”, I fear that he will take others with him. Tyreese is nothing but a liability at this point.

While Rick and Carol are out looking for food, Carol pleads her case in regards to setting people on fire and Rick isn’t completely buying it. When they run into  a couple hiding in one of the houses that they are pillaging, Carol and Rick disagree about how best to proceed with helping them. In the last few episodes, I really enjoyed seeing Carol come into her own, but outright questioning Rick in front of these people was unproductive and mildly irritating.

While Bob tells his story of how he’s seen so many people die, he also gives us insight into his “drinking problem”. I don’t know: I would probably want to drink too, if I saw my friends being eaten alive.  What I wouldn’t do, however, is put my group at risk for a bottle of liquor.( Or maybe I would if it meant that I’d get to be that close to Daryl. ) You’ve just got to love the story arc of Daryl; neo-nazi loner to the man who brings medicine back to everyone. I heard all of the women in the world swoon when he went head to head, literally, with Bob.

“Did you think it was right, letting those kids come back with us?”

“I think it was the humane thing to do.”

Where did this Carol come from? Did she watch Charles Bronson movies in between seasons? While I mostly agree with Carol’s viewpoint on why she chose to kill two people, I will not let her use the Shane argument against Rick. Rick had to kill Shane:it was self defense. Carol assuming that disposing of sick people is what’s best for the group was very Shane 2.0 of her. Admirable, but was it the best decision? The whole time Carol was pleading her case, I couldn’t help wondering if she would extend this same pragmatism to children. So, when Rick used that as his reason for not trusting her, I was totally with him.  I don’t believe Carol should had been ostracized, but I did love the visual of her driving away in a car that had the word “pardon” written on the window. The passive/aggressive move of giving Rick her watch was amusing as well. I seriously doubt this will be the last we see of Carol.

So, in summary, do not play a drinking game with this episode; if you take a shot every time the phrase “let it go” is uttered, you will be in the E.R. I will see the naysayers argument of the episode being too obvious and preachy, but if all they ever did was fight walkers and never have any kind of human emotion, or explore the complexities of their current situation, it would be a shallow, unentertaining show. Sure, it was a bit cloying to play music singing about how people change while Rick keeps looking in the mirror, but it’s a truth. People change and as they change, how will it affect everyone else?