Anthony Raffin ’17
The last time we had seen Rick Grimes and his group, they were taking in refugees from the Governors, Woodbury. Sunday’s episode opened up on a shot of Rick walking down from a prison to a vegetable garden. As the shot widens a large amount of Walkers are seen up against the fence. While working in the garden Rick comes across a pistol buried in the dirt. He then breaks it apart and throws it in a nearby wheelbarrow. Later on in the episode we learn that Rick doesn’t like to carry his gun, even beyond the Prison fences. That’s a big change from six months ago when Rick stormed Woodbury guns ablazing.

The audience is then introduced to many new cast members and the helter-skelter that has been built within the prison. We hear talk of a “Council”, and how they have voted for Rick to carry his gun with him as he checks the animal traps. The viewers than visually see that the group has put in the effort to build Hershell a prosthetic leg. There is also talk of a “Run” as it progresses through the scenes of the prison. Carl also is shown as young adult in the way he corrects the smaller children for naming the Walkers.
When Rick is walking through the woods and stumbles upon the boar a woman that first appears as a Walker stumbles out of the brush. She falls upon the animal and as Rick tries to walk away she grabs his attention asking for help. He agrees to help her and walk back with her to meet a person named “Eddie.” As they walk along they talk about statues at an airport. Rick (being from that area) asks her about a statue of kids playing leap-frog, she responds by saying that it was her favorite, in reality Rick was lying about the statue; a slick move that immediately threw up a flag.
When they get to the camp the woman tries to kill Rick with a knife while his back is turned. Only then the true identity of “Eddie” is brought forth. The woman then wants to be with “Eddie” and stabs herself in the abdomen. As she layed dying she asks Rick what the three questions he was talking about. He responds, “How many Walkers have you killed? How many people have you killed? Why?” Once she stops breathing Rick walks away.
What happened with Rick and the woman is best expressed in what the woman said, “Can we come back from things we’ve done?” This leads me to believe that is an example of Rick changing from a ruthless leader to a caring leader. This is a possible foreshadowing that Rick will return to his role as a tough-love leader.
Moving onto the supplies “Run” that a small portion of the group had gone on, I believe that the group’s first mistake was allowing Bob, a recovering alcoholic, go onto the run, as it proves fatal later on. When inside the abandoned supermarket Bob grabs for a bottle of whiskey when no one is looking. Resisting the temptation he slams the bottle back onto the shelf causing the whole entire alcohol aisle to collapse on top of him. The noise then attracts the Walkers up on the roof which falls through the weakened ceiling.
The Walker attack then leaves viewers in suspense as Bob is trapped as a Walker crawls towards him. As Bob is saved by Daryl, Zach (Beth’s love interest) is attacked by a walker from behind getting bitten in the leg and neck. The group escapes just as the helicopter falls through the ceiling killing an infected Zach. Back in the prison Daryl breaks the news to Beth, who is the uttermost unemotional about it. The viewer may have found that she acted emotionless as she reset the “Days Without Accident” board down to zero. In my opinion this scene was a display of the lack of emotion in Beth’s (Emily Kinney) acting which will hopefully change as the season continues.
Amongst the main plot line of the episode it is also important to consider how the life of other characters develops.  For example, the viewers see Carol use “Story Time” as a way to indirectly teach the Woodbury children about how to handle and effectively use weapons.  Additionally, Michonne is still searching for the Governor and there is pregnancy scare between Glenn and Maggie.
At the end of the episode, Carl’s friend, Patrick, is shown hacking as he walks out of his cell into a doorway, leaving wet footprints on the ground. He stumbles into the bathroom where he cools himself off with a cold shower. He then coughs one last time and falls to the floor. There is blood all around his head, his eyes closed; they then reopen yellow as a Walker.
Patrick becoming ill alludes to the disease the pig had. Think of this: Daryl is eating the pig; he licks his hands and shakes Patrick’s, his illness then progresses painfully until the time of his death. While this is my theory, there is also the possibility that there is a new virus that only some survivors have immunity to. I look forward to the answer to these unsolved plots next Sunday.
Rating: 7.5/10