The Walking Dead, Season 4, Episode 11: Claimed
This is a bit of an episode that was difficult for me to really pay attention mostly because I just... don't really care about what's going on? I'm not sure whether it's the new influx of flat, new characters, or the very boring Rick subplot that runs throughout the episode, the absolutely slow pacing, or simply just exhaustion from all the depressive themes that Walking Dead has been having for the past few episodes leading to a cathartic and meaningless action sequence... I dunno.
The thing is, there really isn't any real newness to what's going on in this episode. Things suck, people are horrible, and we repeat the same few strokes. Yes, we get Michonne being adorable and bonding with Carl, but their journey to look for resources and Michonne stumbling upon a child's room and freaking out are things we've already seen far more effectively in the previous episode, and Michonne's room-by-room backstory revelation is far, far more inelegant and boring than the classy flashback we had two episodes ago, with Carl's pushy 'omg are there any others?' falling flat and off.
Rick hides under a bed as a bunch of assholes literally come out of nowhere and ransack the house they're holed in, and we get a far-too-long sequence of Rick being exhausted, Rick hiding under the bed, Rick sneaking out of the house, and Rick meeting up with Carl and Michonne. Easily the weakest of the three storylines that run in this episode -- the tension doesn't really work, and it really could stand to be reduced to one-third of its runtime. Yes, we've got a roving band of anarchist jackasses, but it's nothing really new -- it's something we've already dealt with ever since season two.
Meanwhile, Glenn's single-minded and wants to return to Maggie, and, um, that's all I can describe about his character, really, which is a shame. Glenn's been a favourite in seasons one through three, but ever since he became sick in season four he's either lovesick or sick-and-dying. And it's just boring and one-dimensional. Likewise, Tara is also a very flat character. She was indistinguishable from her sister back when she's hanging around the Governor, and now she's just kind of... around. I literally can't tell you a single thing about her character beyond the fact that she's slightly wracked by guilt.
Honestly I'm far more interested in the new characters: Abraham (a.k.a. Colonel EpicBeard), Rosita (a.k.a. Badass Military Girl) and Eugene (a.k.a. Arrogant Scientist). Somehow in the middle of this all there are these three people, in a mission to escort Eugene to Washington and apparently find a way to cure the zombie plague.
Of course, they end up being idiots for forcing Glenn and Tara to come along with them, Glenn throws a tantrum, Abraham and Glenn fight and in the scuffle zombies attack and their military truck got shot up. It's honestly a bit irritating, really, how we're introduced to this very interesting subplot of possibly saving the world (or maybe they're just delusional?) but end up just being waylaid and sent off to wander the road again.
It's a very uneven and honestly pretty bland episode.
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