The Walking Dead, Season 4, Episode 5: Internment
We take a break from the Carol subplot last episode, and we barely see Daryl's group in this episode. It's a very focused episode, starring Hershel... yet I dunno. I just kind of feel indifferent? After a very strong start, season four's kind of piddling out a little here. A good chunk of it really is because I'm very much indifferent to all the people that are sick, and really out of the actual cast members whose names I even know that are in quarantine, none of them really felt like they were going to die. Lizzie and Sasha aren't developed enough for me to care, it doesn't make sense for Glenn to die from a disease if we're going from a narrative standpoint (Khal Drogo this ain't) which only leaves Hershel. Lots of people die, including dr. Caleb whose name I had to look up, but none of them mattered.
This really felt to be built up like one of those 'death in the limelight' episodes, where a minor character gets slightly more focus than usual because he/she's going to die soon, but we didn't really get that. Hershel did get a lot of good scenes, admittedly, as he tries to hold the fraying quarantine area, so the episode isn't entirely un-entertaining, but honestly with Glenn coughing in most of his screentime, Hershel's strong acting is honestly the only reason I made it through this episode.
There's some silliness with the intubator and bag valve mask apparently instantly stopping you from coughing to death, and that's the plot device that saves Glenn at the end. It's not a bad episode, it's just... boring. Lizzie's creepy and dumb and I can't believe she survived.
Rick tells Hershel and Maggie immediately about Carol, which is good, but the conversation with Daryl's going to happen next episode it seems. He and Carl have a pretty badass scene as the zombies on the fence break through, and they machinegun down the zombies. It's a bit weird how the zombies are suddenly smart enough to mass at that one point on the fence -- couldn't they have done what Carol did and set up noisemakers to spread the zombie horde up? But a lot of the things that they do in this episode was really dumb, like Hershel not locking the patients in their cells, thus causing the mass outbreak that nearly damn well killed everyone, or Rick and Carl not going all machinegun before the horde broke through. Also, really, only Rick, Maggie and Carl are available outside the quarantine zone?
And the Governor's back, while the disease's not completely blown over. So hopefully the Governor's return and the conflict between Daryl and Rick's going to be enough interest to keep this season afloat, because I'm rapidly losing interest. There's probably an attempt to try and show how different Hershel's slightly more merciful and less drastic approach to things is supposed to differ from Carol's (and sets up Rick to be the ultimate leader, I guess?), but the execution ended up being relatively weak and unengaging. And I really didn't feel that Rick earned this leadership at all, beyond some studio/writer-dictated mandate that Rick is The Hero. Overall, despite Hershel's strong performance, the episode just didn't have that much going on for it and dragged on and on.
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