The Walking Dead: Indifference (4×04)
Synopsis: Daryl’s group has yet to return to the prison, forcing Rick and Carol to go out and scavenge for food and medical supplies. They meet up with some other survivors and Rick makes a decision without the group.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Carol meets with Lizzie, with the execution chamber window separating them, to tell her that she and Rick are going out on a run – they lost all their food with the loss of cellblock D. Lizzie tells Carol that she’s happy they get to come back, while Carol is trying to explain to her that they’re not who they were. It’s actually a pretty awesome opening monologue where creepy Lizzie tells her she knows she’ll be different, but she’ll still be her. She says everyone changes; no one stays the same way they started. Carol’s trying to tell Lizzie that she’s strong, she’ll live and she’ll survive, but when Lizzie accidentally calls her mom, Carol gets pretty harsh with her. She tells Lizzie not to give up, to fight it, and one day she’ll change.
Meanwhile, Rick is bandaging up his hand and getting prepared for the run. They don’t have much gas left for the car. He has a few flashbacks to how Carol must have killed Karen and David, casting an ominous tone over the episode. They get out in the car and Carol tries to defend her actions – she made it quick, they were suffering. At the time, they were the only ones who were sick and she had to try to save everyone else in the prison.
On the other run, the group has cleaned up from the run, while Tyreese is taking longer than the rest to finish washing up. Bob urges him to come on as best as possible. They continue on foot to an old, abandoned gas station where Daryl finds a car in need of a battery. Inside the building are walkers, but also the needed parts. To get inside, the group begins to hack away at the kudzu. Tyreese is hacking haphazardly and manages to attract the zombies through the kudzu. They fight them off, but Tyreese won’t let go of his zombie for longer than necessary. Michonne calls him on it, but he says nothing about the incident.
Rick and Carol are searching medicine cabinets for first aid kits and food. In one house, Rick is clearing the cabinet when a zombie falls down the stairs towards them. Carol kills it and another door upstairs creaks. A man and a woman emerge, Sam and Ana, offering fruit to Rick and Carol. They’re suspicious of the two, but end up helping them. Carol puts Sam’s dislocated shoulder back in place and they tell Rick about the greenhouse where they got the fruit from. Ana has a badly healed leg from being trampled during a previous evacuation. They call the walkers “skin-eaters” and Rick begins asking them the three questions.
Inside of the gas station, Daryl and Bob find the battery while Tyreese and Michonne are still outside hacking away at the kudzu. Michonne tells Tyreese that stupid gets you killed and that he had been acting stupid. He turns it around on her, mentioning her anger with the governor.
Carol tells Rick that they should move on, while Sam asks if they passed the test. Rick warns them about the flu inside the prison and they ask if they’ve lost their kids. Carol says she hasn’t lost any of her kids – catching Rick off-guard – but tells them that one of her girls is sick. Rick thinks Sam and Ana should wait there for them, but Carol suggests they help clear the neighborhood. They also argue to pull their own weight and Rick gives them both a gun, warning them to fire a shot if they need help. He also gives Sam his watch, telling them to meet back in two hours.
Daryl asks Bob about the group he was with before when Bob admits he almost kept walking away from Daryl when Daryl found him. He’d been the last one standing of two different groups. He also confesses to Daryl that it was his search for alcohol that caused the first store debacle that killed Zach. Daryl simple says bullshit and has Bob help him with starting up the car. He tells Bob that it was him and Sasha that picked the spot, no one could have known, and that there was no reason to stand alone anymore.
When they’re alone again, Rick asks Carol if she thought it was right to let Sam and Ana come back with them. She says it was humane when pressed for an answer, saying she hopes it was the right call. Carol also tells Rick he can’t just be a farmer anymore, that he was a good leader once. He tells her he never murdered two of their own, with Carol telling him he only killed one – Shane, whom I miss dearly with every episode. Ultimately, she tells him he doesn’t have to like what she did, but he has to accept it.
He asks her how she knew to put Sam’s shoulder back in place and Carol explains she learned from the internet because it was easier than explaining to a nurse how her shoulder got dislocated again. Talking about her old life, she laments how stupid she had been about everything. Rick asks her why she can’t say Sophia’s name, but she does, brushing off Sophia as dead. Rick tells a story about Lori and how he misses her as they gather tomatoes. Unfortunately, they come across a dropped basket and blood. They follow the trail to Ana’s leg, where further off skin-eaters are feasting on the rest of her.
Finally making it to the veterinary hospital, the group begins to gather supplies. Bob notices a bottle of alcohol under a pile of other things and secretly squirrels it away. He explains some of the medicines to Michonne as the whole group collect supplies before following the exit signs out. The group comes across some zombies and is forced to run up a stairwell. When they hit another dead end, they break a window and climb out onto the roof of the first level.
Bob almost topples over the side, his bag falling over and attracting the grip of zombies. Everyone is urging him to let go of the bag, but he fights until he keeps it. Daryl takes his bag and finds the bottle in it, angrily telling him he should have kept walking that day. When he goes to throw the bottle, Bob says don’t and makes a move for his gun. Alpha male Daryl takes over, getting in his face and taking his gun from him, before giving the bottle back and warning him that if he takes one sip before the medicine gets to their people, Daryl will beat his ass into the ground.
Rick is still intent on waiting for Sam, but Carol says it’s been too long already, insisting that they go and telling Rick she’s sorry about the watch. When she goes to get into the car, it’s locked and Rick tells her that Karen and David might have lived. He warns her that Tyreese will kill her when he finds out, but she says she can handle Tyreese. He says no one will want her back at the prison when they find out, he won’t want her if it’s the two of them and the children left.
She insists no one has to know but the two of them, but he says he’s making this decision for him. Rick also tells her that she can’t take Lizzie and Mica with her; she’s leaving the group right now. He thinks she’ll survive on her own and that she’ll find a new group to join, but he leaves her bag for her and the gas can. She gives him her watch – it was a gift from Ed, but she doesn’t need it anymore.
Daryl is sitting in the van when Michonne admits to him that he was right about the trail going cold – she doesn’t need to go out anymore. Daryl thinks that is a good thing and the car ride goes on in silence. Rick is driving back alone. And no one is going to talk about the radio broadcast again I guess…
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