The Walking Dead - Recap: Killing Time

Recap video and review of The Walking Dead - Season 4 Episode 15 - Us:

The Walking Dead has spent a considerable chunk of season 4 (and nearly the entirety of its back half) keeping its main characters completely separate. It takes more than a bit of finesse to make this compelling, since not every set of characters is equally riveting. For every stunner like last week's business with Carol and Lizzie, you have clunkers like...well, anything having to do with Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Carl (Chandler Riggs) and Michonne (Danai Gurira). But I'd argue the majority of the episodes in this second half of the season have been, at the very least, intriguing. With a set of unconventional pairings, The Walking Dead has managed to explore/create relationships that hadn't existed before, while also further fleshing out individual characters about whom we didn't know all that much, like Beth (Emily Kinney) and Bob (Lawrence Gilliard, Jr.). Basically, while "Us" isn't really a masterpiece or anything, I appreciated it for how it nimbly began the process of bringing all the characters back together, and illustrating the ways in which they've changed since their parting.

There's really only one lead story this week, and it centers on Glenn (Steven Yeun). But saying it's only about Glenn is a bit reductive, since so much of it involves the group with which he's surrounded; a group that is becoming a more relatable, flesh-out presence as the weeks roll on.

Credit: AMC

Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and Rosita (Christian Serratos) remain dead-set on getting Eugene (Josh McDermitt) to Washington so he can "save the world," but the scientist doesn't seem to be too intent on actually getting there. He's far more interested in flirting with Tara (Alanna Masterson) and offering to help Glenn (Steven Yeun) get to Terminus so he can find Maggie (Lauren Cohan). Of course, this is easier said than done. Glenn seems intent on killing himself to get to Terminus, deciding to take a shortcut through a likely walker-infested tunnel, simply because it'll save them a couple hours. He's also been keeping up a murderous pace, refusing to stop for rest for even a few hours. It's enough to get Rosita up in arms about how Glenn is taking advantage of Tara's willingness to help, stating that she'll do anything Glenn tells her to. Yet this has always been Tara's choice, as she continues to feel a certain obligation to Glenn over what The Governor did to Hershel. Aiding Glenn in his search is her shot at redemption, her way of ensuring that her girlfriend, sister, and niece didn't all perish for nothing. And so she decides to leave with him when Abraham breaks the news that his group can't follow him into the tunnel, due to the unlikelihood that he'd be able to get Eugene through the nightmarish gauntlet alive. As part of the deal for agreeing to get him this far, Glenn parts with his riot gear and gives it all to Eugene, essentially leaving him with even fewer defenses as he goes barreling into what seems like a surefire death.

As Glenn and Tara venture through the tunnel, they find the place overrun with walkers. At first, it doesn't seem as though navigating this mess would be entirely impossible, as Tara and Glenn stab the walkers (all of whom are helpfully pinned under rubble) one-by-one. But it becomes immediately apparent that they aren't exactly going to have an easy time getting through the next phase of the gauntlet: they climb over a downed train car and discover a mob of walkers waiting on the other end, slowly advancing. To make matters worse, Tara gets her foot pinned between a rock and a hard place, with Glenn refusing to leave her behind even as Tara shouts at him to run before they both get killed. Luckily for Glenn and Tara, having the weight of the world on his shoulders hasn't given Eugene any greater sense of urgency in getting to Washington. He tricks Rosita into driving him to the train tracks at the other end of the tunnel so they can wait for Tara and Glenn. In explaining why he doesn't want to abandon them, Eugene declares that even after he saves the world, he has to still live with himself. And so they wait -- and come across Maggie, Bob, and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green). The six team up, head into the tunnel, and save Glenn and Tara at the last possible moment, gunning down the walkers in a hail of gunfire.

The eventual reunion between Glenn and Maggie is a lot more understated than one might have expected, but it's still incredibly effective, thanks largely to how the chemistry of Cohan and Yeun has developed over the last three seasons. There's an effortlessness to their romance that makes them feel like a real couple whose relationship we can believe. And if the relationship is believable, then these moments of catharsis are even more potent. It's why a moment as small as Glenn and Maggie burning a picture of her, after Maggie vows he'll never need a picture of her again, can be so captivating. In fact, much of the cast does A-work this week: Alanna Masterson makes Tara feel more three-dimensional (through her pathos) than she's been at any point in the series, while Josh McDermitt takes a relatively bare character in Eugene, and makes him not only amusing but relatably human. He's a man of science who still privileges people above the cold, clinical business of science. And while we still don't know just how he intends to "save the world," it's clear the responsibility is weighing him down, as are all the deaths that have gotten him here. It could be why he seems so ill at ease when the group settles on heading to Terminus together to possibly recruit more people for their mission, since this only means more people who could potentially die in his name.

However, while he might not always agree with the mission, Eugene is committed to it, as is Tara, who announces her intention to leave with Abraham's group once they make it to Terminus, since her debt to Glenn has pretty much been fulfilled. Together, they all head to Terminus, passing by the train tracks where Rick, Carl, and Michonne were traveling at the start of the episode. Once they get there, they don't see Rick's group, but what they do see is a sanctuary unlike any we've seen in the show so far: it's idyllic in a way that almost doesn't seem real, between the fresh flowers, smoking grill, and the clean, uncluttered ground and alleyways that are all bathed in sunlight. It's like something out of a dream, and the woman welcoming is like the gatekeeper to Paradise, offering a hot meal and a place to sleep, all with a welcoming smile and the warm words, "Welcome to Terminus." Of course, if anything in this show seems too good to be true, it probably is, so the question remains: how is this all going to go downhill? There's something shady beneath the surface here, and I'll be shocked if it doesn't result in more than a few deaths in next week's finale.

Credit: AMC

But we've still got a week to go, and we've got some other people to get into position for what's to come. Chief among them is Daryl (Norman Reedus), who continues to struggle to find his place in the group run by Joe (Jeff Kober), who explains the "rules" of the gang, mostly that stealing is punishable by beating, if not worse. These rules form the crux of the conflict between Daryl and the gang, as Len (Marcus Hester) frequently antagonizes him, and even goes as far as to frame him for a theft by placing a rabbit he killed inside Daryl's bag. The conflict feels low-stakes, for the most part, and really the only elements worthwhile are the bits in which Joe attempts to bring Daryl around to his philosophy. Joe, whose group is headed to Terminus in search of a mysterious man who strangled one of their own, feels that it's far more expedient for a group to be emotionless and survival-driven, tasked only with enduring, one day at a time. This is a bit of an ideological clash, given how deeply Daryl tends to feel things in general (gruff exterior notwithstanding). Perhaps it's an attitude he inherited from Beth over their time together, but it no longer seems enough for Daryl to just live. There has to be more to life, whether it's friends, family, or even the simplicity of human dignity: after Joe has Len killed for lying about the theft, Daryl covers up Len's body with a sheet out of respect for the dead. It's a strange cue, but one that feels entirely in character, given the extent to which Daryl has suffered loss. He's still no closer to learning what happened to Beth, and while they're pretty close to Terminus, the episode gives the sense that answers are farther away than ever.

"Us" is a solid episode that serves as an effective table-setting hour for next week's finale. The Walking Dead has been taking some big risks in dividing its characters for such a sizable chunk of the season, and next week is when we find out whether it's paid off, and if so, to what extent. I'll be interested to see if this narrative structure will prove to have been worth the risk, but I would argue it's mostly paid dividends in the short-term, since we now know a lot more about some of these characters than we did before; and have experienced more with them, as individuals, than we might have otherwise. That alone is enough to be worth it, in my book.