The Walking Dead Season 4 Episode 4 Recap
Indifference
Last week’s episode of The Walking Dead left fans with quite a few cliffhangers to hold on to over the week. Glenn and several other prominent members of the group fell ill to the nasty bug expanding within the prison. Daryl and company ran into a daunting hurdle (or a few thousand) while trying to collect medicine for the sick. Most shocking, Carol confessed to Rick that she was responsible for burning the first two victims of the illness. What will Rick’s course of action be now that he knows Carol is responsible for the death of two fellow survivors? Read on to learn what happened this week on AMC’s The Walking Dead.
Episode four opens with rotating scenes. In one, Rick reexamines the scene of Karen and David’s murder, seeing in his mind the grisly deed carried out by Carol before readying a vehicle for a new scavenge for supplies. In the other, Carol speaks with Lizzie through a plate glass window, sharing last minute survival advice (which incidentally includes Lizzie not referring to Carol as “mom”) before joining Rick for the outing.
Similar to the opening scene, the rest of the episode features a screen rotation between two different groups – Rick & Carol and Daryl & his crew.
Daryl, Michonne, Tyrese and Bob have survived the night, but someone still seems to be suffering a serious case of the grumpies–that, of course, is Tyrese. While the others remain focused on the task of finding a new vehicle and completing the mission to collect medicine, the big guy is all Mr. Negative, accepting that his sister and everyone else sick in the prison is most likely already dead.
Rick and Carol head out on their mission, and there is a definite awkward tension in the air. Carol breaks the silence first, saying that Maggie too wanted to join the quest for supplies. Rick counters her statement by simply saying that he needed someone to stay behind and keep an eye on things at the prison. Carol (most likely correctly) takes Rick’s words as an indication that he doesn’t trust her. After voicing this to Rick, she goes on a rant aimed at rationalizing her recent deadly actions, saying (again, most likely correctly) that someone had to do something.
On his way to a neighboring town with the rest of his crew, Daryl finds a chunk of jasper on the road. Michonne takes notice, quipping that the green color of the gemstone brings out the color of Daryl’s eyes. Daryl explains that one of the survivors back at the prison requested the stone for her husband’s grave marker. Surprised, Michonne asks Daryl if he knows everyone in the prison by name. His turn to return the sarcasm, Daryl takes a more unfriendly jab at Michonne, saying that she too would get to know people if she decided to stay put for a change.
Rick and Carol arrive in an abandoned (duh, right?) neighborhood, ready to scavenge for food and medicine. In the area, they notice another car that has visibly been used recently. Moving forward with caution, Rick repeats what is on the day’s shopping list. “In and out,” he says.
Daryl and his crew find a suitable car, but the battery is dead and they need to find a replacement. Luckily for them though (the episode is only an hour, remember?), the car is parked right outside a garage. Apart from a few Walkers spotted inside through a window, the only obstacle is a tangle of vines and weeds covering the garage’s main entrance. The team starts slashing away, but whatever gasket Tyrese blew at the end of last week’s episode is still leaking crazy juice. He hacks away at the vines like a madman, finds the door, and recklessly pulls at a web of wires binding the door as the team of Walkers attack him and his friends. Daryl, Michonne and Bob deal with the Walkers and save Tyrese’s life. Then Michonne gives Tyrese a much-deserved earful.
Back at the ghost town, Rick and Carol enter a house and begin their search. The place seems to be in good shape, even yielding some promising drugs to bring back to Hershel. While Rick collects the goods and Carol stands idly by, a Walker appears at the top of the stairs. Typical of a clumsy, flesh-hungry zombie, the Walker tumbles down the stairs toward Carol, who is narrowly pulled to safety by Rick. Carol finishes the Walker off with her signature move: a knife stab to the head.
With the threat eliminated, two strangers make their presence known at the top of the stairs. Bearing gifts in the form of fresh fruit, the young man and young woman share their stories with Rick and Carol. Both are injured though; the girl has a twisted leg from being trampled at a refugee camp, and the boy has a mangled and dislocated shoulder from fleeing Walkers in a nearby greenhouse. Sensing that the young couple needs help, Rick asks them the first in his trio of questions that determines whether they can join them at the prison.
With the way into the garage now clear, Daryl and Bob search the garage for a new battery, finding one suitable enough to meet their needs. Outside, Michonne and Tyrese clear the debris from the group’s new ride, and Michonne is still not letting up about Tyrese’s recent breakdown. She tells him his anger is making him stupid, which in turn is going to get him killed. This seems to silence Tyrese for a moment. Then he turns the tables on her, citing her constant expeditions to find the Governor. Agreeing that she wants to kill the sadistic villain, Michonne claims that she isn’t angry anymore. When Tyrese asks why, then, is she still looking for him, Michonne answers with a confused “I don’t know.”
Back inside the garage, Daryl discovers that the “douchebag” Walkers who attacked them had committed suicide Jim Jones-style via cocktails of anti-freeze. Somehow offended, Bob defends the action of suicide, stating that everyone has a right to decide which way they bite the dust. Daryl’s not buying it. He leaves one of the Walkers pinned and “alive.” Bob, on the other hand, stabs the Walker, ending its misery.
Rick decides that the young couple can join the prison, but he warns them of the illness still wreaking havoc on the survivors, noting that their safety can’t assured. Visibly desperate, the couple says they will take their chances against the illness. Rick tells them to stay put for the moment, saying he and Carol will circle back around after they have collected supplies. But Carol steps on Rick’s toes, suggesting that the young boy and girl help them sweep the area. Concealing annoyance with Carol, Rick reiterates that the injured couple should remain safely in the house. The boy and girl are persistent though, insisting they have to earn their protection. Rick reluctantly agrees, giving the young man his watch and setting a rendezvous time of two hours.
Installing the battery in their newfound vehicle, Daryl and Bob discuss the latter’s past. Bob admits that he almost denied Daryl’s help when the pair first met, his reason being that he was weary of being the sole survivor of a group. Bob then admits his motives of going on the run to the Big Spot (see episode one’s recap); he wanted to swipe a bottle of alcohol. Recounting his actions at the department store, Bob verbally takes responsibility for Zach’s death. Daryl silently listens to Bob’s confession, then frees Bob of his guilt and tells him that he won’t be standing alone anymore. The new car running, the group returns to their prior mission of collecting medicine for the sick.
In a new house, Rick and Carol sift through its contents for anything useful. Rick asks whether Carol believes he made the right choice by bringing on the new young couple. Carol is indifferent (hence this episode’s name), simply stating that it was the “humane thing to do.” Rick presses Carol though, and she admits that they’re in no position to be helping people. Sensing Rick’s scrutiny, Carol points out the big old elephant in the room and asks why Rick hasn’t said a word about Carol’s recent deadly act. “What do you want me to say?” says Rick. Carol’s answer is that Rick doesn’t have to like what she did. He just has to accept it.
Finally at the animal hospital, Daryl and his group carefully make their way to the medication. While everyone else collects the supplies on Hershel’s list, Bob wanders off to a strange pile of items, secretly stowing one of them in his backpack.
Rick and Carol continue their own search for resources, making a pit stop at a small garden to collect its fruits. After Rick asks her how she learned how to reset a dislocated shoulder, Carol opens up about her physically abusive (and now dead) husband. She concedes that she has changed a lot since being with him; fear is what kept her with him. Then she exhibits more indifference after Rick asks her why she never uses Sophia’s name. “It’s someone else’s slideshow,” she says.
Moving on to the next house, crushed fruit and a bloody trail in the grass catches Rick’s eye. Following the bloody path, Rick and Carol discover the severed leg of their new young female recruit. A short distance away, Walkers feed on the rest of her body. Rick looks solemn, but Carol unsympathetically says that they should keep moving.
Daryl, Michonne, Tyrese and Bob complete their mission, collecting everything on their list (and inexplicably leaving stockpiles of other useful stuff). All they have to do now is make it safely out of the hospital. Naturally, a few dozen hurdles stand in their way. Noticing that the Walkers pursuing them are infected with the prison flu, the group attempts to retreat with as little bloodshed as possible.
Back at the rendezvous point, Rick and Carol wait for their last surviving newcomer. Carol thinks it’s been too long, but Rick insists on waiting longer. Carol argues against Rick’s choice, agreeing that the boy might be fine but that they should leave him anyway. “It was a nice watch,” she says before moving out to the cars.
Backed into a corner, Daryl and his crew resort to desperate measures to escape the pursuing Walkers. Tyrese Hulk-smashes a window with a fire extinguisher, allowing the group to flee onto a walkway roof. With the Walkers hot on their tails, Bob clumsily loses his balance outside the windows, nearly dropping his pack over the edge. Instead of allowing his bags to go to the hoard of chomping Walkers below, Bob risks everyone’s lives as he tries to retrieve his bag.
Finally pulling him and the bag to safety, Daryl finds out what Bob secretly stashed and so eagerly protected: a bottle of liquor. Visibly steamed, Daryl readies to throw the bottle off the building. But Bob reaches for his gun, threatening Daryl. A high-school squabble ensues, with Daryl getting so close to Bob’s face that he could kiss him. The sound of reason comes from an unexpected source: Tyrese. Hearing the big guy’s reason, Daryl heeds Tyrese’s words, taking Bob’s gun and returning his bottle of alcohol.
Locked out of the car, Carol turns to Rick, who grows ever closer to making a decision about Carol’s crime. Declaring that Karen and David might have lived, Rick finally tells Carol that it wasn’t her decision to kill their fellow survivors. His decision made, Rick banishes Carol from the prison, saying he can’t trust her with Carl and Judith. For the first time in the episode, Carol displays emotion, insisting that she had to “step up” and do something.
Pouting like an old schoolboy, Daryl examines the jasper in the car as the others determine the best route to return to the prison. Michonne returns to the driver seat, finally admitting that the trail leading to the Governor went cold and that she will stay at the prison. Still pouting like an eight year-old, Daryl grudgingly accepts Michonne’s decision and the group take off on the road to the prison.
Accepting her fate, Carol readies to part ways with Rick. Before taking off though, she hands Rick a farewell gift–a watch. Explaining that it was a gift from her dead husband and that she should have given it up long ago, Carol turns and gets into her car. The episode ends with Carol and Rick going separate ways and facial views of each survivor seemingly reflecting on the events of the day.