Last week’s very subpar episode featured Daryl and Beth screaming at each other and then talking a lot about their feelings. This week’s installment brings even more uncomfortable sexual tension between the unlikely duo while also catching us up with Bob (aka: The Luckiest Man in the World), Maggie, and Sasha. Is it good?
What About Bob?
The episode begins with a cheerless Bob walking alone through the post-apocalyptic world. It’s a bit of a shocking sight, especially considering that he previously had the show’s two most attractive women at his side. Fortunately, Glenn and a ponchoed Daryl pull up and give him a lift, proving that what we were watching was just a (pretty pointless) flashback.
Aside from Bob’s slightly awe-inspiring ability to find alcohol after the world ended, this entire sequence doesn’t really give us anything new about him. Oh, the episode does try to link back to it a few times, but other than scaring the crap out of us over the prospect of Maggie and Sasha dying, it doesn’t have much of an impact.
Flashing back to the present, Bob and his angels are in the middle of a walker fight, which has been made infinitely more difficult and deadly by the presence of the thickest fog in existence. Bob almost get bitten, but survives, causing him and Sasha to have a bit of a moment. The trio then heads down the train tracks, where they come across signs pointing towards the town of Terminus that we keep hearing about. Maggie wants to go, mostly because she knows that if Glenn was still alive, he’d go there to look for her, as well. Sasha doesn’t want to because…uh…plot device, I guess. She later explains to Bob that going to Terminus isn’t the right decision because they need to find a place to hole up in…you know, LIKE A TOWN CALLED TERMINUS.
Traps and Piggy Backs
Back in the woods, Daryl teaches Beth how to track things. She seems to be doing pretty well until totally missing a bear trap, which simultaneously ensnares her and alerts a walker to her presence. As expected, Daryl comes in like a stud to save the day. He then offers her a piggyback ride through a graveyard, which is not something no one should walk over before or after a zombie apocalypse.
As the pair heads towards what they hope to be an unoccupied funeral home, they stop by the tombstone of someone remembered as a “beloved father.” This causes the two of them to hold hands while Herschel undoubtedly rolled over in his grave.
Every Girl’s Crazy ‘Bout a Sharp Dressed (Dead) Man
Inside the funeral home, Beth and Daryl find a spotless and well-stocked living area. This should have been a little unsettling, but it’s not nearly as creepy as the embalmed and well-dressed corpses that they also discover.
Daryl considers the whole scene to be pretty messed up, but Beth thinks it’s a “beautiful” gesture of respect for the dead. They also find various food items (including pig’s feet) and soda. That night, Beth plays on the piano and sings while her crossbow toting, hunky protector slumbers inside of a nearby coffin.
Have A Seat…Right Over Here…
Later, Beth and Daryl head to the kitchen and have a meal together. During dinner, a disturbance outside turns brings Daryl out to the front door. Fortunately, it turns out to be nothing but a one-eyed dog. When Daryl returns to the kitchen, Beth asks him why he suddenly seems so much more hopeful than before. Daryl grunts, looks away bashfully, and then stares intently into Beth’s eyes. Before anything can happen, however, they hear the one-eyed dog outside again. Daryl goes to investigate, but is shocked when he opens the door and is confronted by Chris Hansen a horde of angry walkers.
Daryl yells at Beth to get outside while he lures the pack of zombies away by using himself as bait. The walkers dutifully follow and trap him inside the funeral home’s basement, causing millions of women already angry about Daryl’s budding romance with Beth to go into hysterics over what seemed like his certain death (The potential foreshadowing of him lying in a coffin didn’t help things here, either).
Fortunately, Daryl was able to use his super power of being a complete badass to escape and run outside, where he discovers that Beth has been kidnapped by zombies who can still drive a car (or maybe just a creepy new group of people).
Heading Back Down That Same Road
Fortified with a healthy dinner of pig’s feet and grape jelly, Daryl attempts to run down the kidnappers on foot. There may be a lot that the man can do, but catching up to an automobile isn’t one of them. As dawn breaks, Daryl remorsefully gives up and collapses in the middle of the road.
Later, a group of people surround him that I’m pretty sure are the same ones Rick saw in the house from a couple episodes ago. They act in stereotypically bad buy fashion (including their leader laughing after being punched in the face) and offer to take Daryl in. To the horror of everyone who loves how Daryl’s character has changed since the first season, he agrees to join them.
Bob’s thirsty, but not for alcohol this time
Back at the camp, Maggie overhears Bob and Sasha talking and decides to strike out to find Glenn on her own. When Sasha and Bob awake the next morning and discover that she’s gone, Bob insists that they go after her.
The pair discusses philosophy and flirts a bit, with Bob explaining his constant optimistic demeanor being due to not having to be alone anymore. The pair eventually comes across a building that Sasha thinks they can use to create a new shelter. (You know what else probably had buildings that could be used for shelter? TERMINUS!).
In a last ditch effort to convince Sasha to stay, Bob leans in and plants on a kiss on her…which must not have been that great, because she decides to stay in the creepy old building while Bob heads out (once again) on his own.
Sasha Fierce
After Sasha heads up to the top floor, she peers out the window and sees a convenient plot device Maggie soundly asleep next to some walkers. This causes her to put her hand up to the window, which promptly falls to the ground.
Maggie may have been brave enough to take a nap next to zombies, but the sound of shattering glass was more than enough to startle her awake. It also brought down a group of walkers who did not appreciate having their window treatments messed with.
Realizing that she seriously screwed up, Sasha runs downstairs and combines forces with Maggie to create the most attractive zombie ass kicking team ever. After the two of them clear out the area, Maggie convinces Sasha to help her find Glenn…and Bob.
Hello, angels
Bob must not move very fast, because the two women are easily able to catch up with him. At the sound of them calling his name, Bob smiles at the fact that once again, he wouldn’t have to be alone…and because the two hot women he’d gotten used to having around had decided to come back to him.
Meanwhile, we see an overly body-armored hand trace over a map leading to Terminus. As it pans back, a determined Glenn is shown making the decision that Maggie always knew he would.
The Verdict
This episode was definitely better than last week’s, although that’s not saying very much.
As far as Daryl and Beth (Bethyl) goes, the episode did a lot to make a relationship between them seem more plausible. Unfortunately, Beth’s incredibly young appearance still makes me feel more than a bit uncomfortable when the two start making eyes at each other. If the show’s writers could just throw us a bone and have her mention something about one of her previous birthdays (preferably in her twenties), that would really help.
The new wrinkle with Beth getting kidnapped and Daryl possibly falling in with another group of Merle clones, however, was great stuff. Both of these threads should give us a great deal more insight into his character than last week’s episode (which was supposed to do just that) ever did.
On the other side of the tracks, the part with Bob at the beginning felt like nothing more than a cruel bait and switching. I know, I know…he wasn’t smiling before, now he is smiling, character arc, blah blah blah…that still doesn’t change the fact that the greatest impact from the opening was everyone collectively crapping their pants over Maggie and Sasha not being there.
Add in Sasha’s completely stupid reasoning for not wanting to go to Terminus (let’s go to ANOTHER group of random buildings instead!), and the whole storyline with that group just didn’t do much for me. By the end of their portion of the episode, we’re right back where we started (except for Bob and Sasha finally locking lips).
It was good, however, to see that Glenn is going to end up heading to the same place as everyone else. Hopefully the poor guy only passes out three or four times before he gets there.
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