The Walking Dead: Season 4 Episode 3 WDF Review

Things here at the WDF headquarters have gotten a little crazy this week so we couldn't post the normal episode synopsis Sunday night.  We'll catch you up now, but because we had to go back and use a source that didn't include the commercials, it won't be in the normal segments.

Episode Synopsis and Review:
Gleggie are out digging graves.  Dr. S and Hershel are stuck in the isolation ward working on the sick and dying.  Out in the courtyard, Tyreese explains to Rick, Daryl, and Carol how he came across David and Karen's (still smokin' and not in a good way) bodies.  Wanting justice, he freaks out on Rick and he attacks Daryl while he's trying to calm him down.  Tyreese and Rick exchange blows until Daryl intervenes.  Cue "shocked Carol face" from the promos.  The intro plays.

• Sooz:  Again, a lot of footage from the promos in this brief little bit.  It's always bothered me that when Andy yells "me" in his fake Southern accent it always comes out "may"... and I'm pretty sure later on Norman says "hey" wrong again.  Dialect coach anyone?  That's just me being picky; I'm SO Southern I can hear regional differences in the accent.  My guess at why Carol was so shocked in the promos was WAY wrong, but like Norman said at a con, the promos are full of red herrings.  I just wish so much of the promo footage hadn't been taken from these first three episodes.

Hershel is treating Rick's cuts to his hand and says it's sprained.  Rick is feeling discouraged.  Tyreese fervently digs Karen and David's grave, while Bob comes out to try to talk some sense into him but just ends up helping.  Hershel explains to Glenn that the disease can hit anyone at any time, there's no predictable time frame for the illness... but they're interrupted by a coughing and obviously ill Sasha, who stumbles her way into the isolation block to find Dr. S.  Dr. S tells her "we have to tell them (dramatic pause) it's spreading".   At the counsel meeting the group are discussing about keeping cell block A as an isolation ward and using the administrative buildings for at-risk people as quarantine while Glenn starts to fight through the initial symptoms of the illness.  Hershel suggests a place where meds can be scavenged, so Daryl and Michonne agree to go.  Carol goes out to pump water but the line is blocked.  Rick advises her not to go outside the fence to fix it and to just go about their business while revealing that Carl is being sent to quarantine. 

Tyreese finishes his burial duties.  Rick approaches and apologizes for the fight.  They have a conversation about finding who killed David and Karen.  Tyreese passes more sick residents on their way to the isolation ward as he's walking back to the prison.

Carl is packing up his stuff to go into quarantine.  There's a discussion that eludes toward Carl being a "Rick Jr" type now.  And Glenn tells Maggie that he's sick.

• Sooz:  I'm in despair about Sasha, I thought she could be a very rich character so I hope she's not killed off now; if so the writers need a giant spanking.  I'm not sure how I feel about them having Carl do a 180' so fast... he did go "full Shane" at the end of last season shooting Jody for no reason but for him now to be "Junior Officer Carl" is a little stretching for me. 

Outside Daryl is prepping the car for the medicine run.  Michonne approaches and they have a short conversation, one of the talking points being who should go on the run.  Bob is said to be going and it is revealed that Tyreese has been picked to go, but when Daryl approaches him outside of the isolation ward (because Sasha is inside) he seems to choose to stay to protect the block.

Hershel decides to go outside the fence to look for herbal remedies for the sickness, but Carl tries to stop him.  Carl decides to chaperone him there.  Carol is ushering the sick people into the isolation ward.  One of the girls approaches and says she's not feeling well, so Carol has her go inside the ward instructing her to have Glenn tuck her in when she asked Carol to do it.  Beth is in quarantine with Judith, while Maggie talks to her through a glass door.

• Sooz:  Really?  You're going to have Carol go through the whole have a daughter, lose a daughter, get a daughter, lose a daughter thing?  Knowing what happens to Carol in the Graphic Novel I could foresee that being her television counterpart's breaking point.  That said I don't think it is, I think just as they have continued to have done they'll build toward that idea and then diverge at the last second to something less fulfilling.

Carl and Hershel are outside the fence with Hershel gathering his remedy and Carl standing guard.  There is a little discussion about how Carl has grown up and taken responsibility since we last saw him. 

Sasha is talking to Tyreese through a glass window from her isolation room while she's sick.  He tries to subdue her fears by telling her about the medicine run.  Daryl finishes the checkup on the black Charger (which is established to be Zack's car) as Tyreese emerges asking if he can still go.  Carol attempts to get water but the storage drums are empty.  Tyreese asks her to look in on Sasha.  Frustrated, she freaks out a little, and spills the rest of the stored water. 

Maggie and Hershel have a confrontation about why Hershel isn't in isolation.  Rick approaches and Hershel explains how he knows how he can help with the illness.  Maggie goes to visit Beth/Judith.  Rick investigates the courtyard where the bodies were burned.  Carol ventures outside the fence to clear the clog in the waterline.  Rick finds her just in time to help save her from a walker attack.

Daryl and crew speed down the road.  Distracted by a voice they hear over the radio, Daryl runs into and swerves around several walkers, until the car gets stuck as they try to escape.  The group exits the car and runs for cover in the woods, leaving Tyreese who appears to be surrounded by the horde.

The three run into the woods and are joined by Tyreese.  Back at the prison, Hershel tries to tend to Dr. S who inadvertently coughs blood all over Hershel's face.  Hershel checks on Glenn.  Carol comes back with the water and is confronted about having left by herself by Rick.  Rick briefly questions her before she admits to being the one who killed Karen and David.

• Sooz:  Don't get me wrong, I love this show, but given that we only get 16 episodes a year and time is running out to the mid-season finale... I feel like they keep focusing on things that don't need to be said (or said again), and the time could be used to put in something that would be a little more emotionally gripping.  I wasn't gripped by this episode much.  The big reveal that Carol was the one who killed Karen and David came too soon and could've been replaced by more emotionally gripping content IMHO... delay that revelation a little longer.  Although I am looking at it with a highly critical eye at the moment, I do hope the back half of the first half picks up a little.  I still feel like we're dragging through backstory and groundwork when we should've been hitting the ground running a bit more.  Don't let the lessons from season 3 slip by, writers.  Bigger picture story telling, stop baiting us with these little cliffhanger ideas only for it to turn out to be pfffttt.