Most of the first ten minutes is juxtaposing images of slow-motion walking as a group with quick snapshots of whispered reconciliations. Tara and Rick fist bump after he declares her a part of the group. Carol and Rick reconcile as best as they can. Rick claims the group is hers for him to join, but the second she actually returns her watch to him, he's back in leader mode. Rick still isn't sure that she did the right thing, only that she thinks it was right. And he knows there aren't many people who would rescue his baby and care for it after he disowned them. Abraham tells Rosita that he's got to time asking Rick to join his group with his right, and he's confirmed when his former walking buddies all tell him that they'll join up only if Rick agrees to. Even Tara, who's literally the newbie almost no one knows about, is going to follow Rick's lead.
Bob and Sasha play the zombie-pocalypse version of Pollyanna's Glad Game. Sasha points out every complaint of their lives now. Bob re-explains each as a plus. No privacy? Well, that's a captive audience. Always in danger? Well, life will always be interesting. When they kiss, Tyrese has to work a bit to get over the shock of seeing his sister in love. Bob is back in his hopelessly optimistic mood, the one he had after re-uniting with Maggie and Sasha simply because he was no longer alone.
I admit, I'll be gladder when I get some clean clothes
Carol and Tyrese try to agree on exactly who should be told that she was exiled and what for. Carol thinks that everyone who needs to know knows already. Tyrese wants the others to accept what she's done. Tyrese also wants to tell the others about Lizzy and Mika. Carol, though, is adamant. Lizzy and Mika are not to be mentioned. Why bother? It's a sad story with no lesson. Why re-live the pain? Carol and Darryl have the only enjoyable conversation later that night, which amounts to Carol simply refusing to discuss the past with Darryl, and Darryl only nodding his acceptance. Hey, just because he hugs now doesn't mean he's going to become a talker. Because that could get in the way of suddenly hearing something in the woods, and staying on guard all night because you think the group is being followed.
Talkin' aint' gonna protect no one
The ramble through the woods is cut short when they hear screams for help. Carl, despite all that's happened, rushes to help, despite his dad once again trying to pull him back. When Carl is too persistent, they all find a lone man, climbing a rock before zombies can grab his nice leather shoes off. It's no surprise he's barely made it until now: he's dressed for parish visitations, not walking or surviving. He has no weapon whatsoever and can only beg Rick and Darryl and Michonne to help him, which they do quickly enough.
Darryl Crossbow Action Shot!
When they haul the priest down, he's searched for weapons and instantly given Rick's magic three questions. His name is Gabriel, and he's killed nothing. Not a zombie, not a human. When asked why, Gabriel falls back on the Bible, but Rick isn't terribly convinced. When they both ask about each other's camps, turns out Gabriel has a place for them to stay. As they walk together, with Gabriel in front, Rick demands to know what Gabriel's deal is. Gabriel, though unable to fight walkers, insists on keeping his past secret. His confessions are for his god. Rick's not impressed, but he leaves Gabriel be. After all, Gabriel agrees with him that the living can be more dangerous than the dead.
The team approaches his home cautiously, making Gabriel wait outside while Darryl, Rick, Carol and Michonne scope the place out. They find a church practically untouched by the apocalypse. The only reminder that Gabriel is hiding there are the remains of food cans, and his laundry. The rest are Sunday School projects, and Gabriel's noble effort to handwrite the Bible, word for word, with the commandment THOU SHALL NOT KILL emphasized. When Rick quizzes him for nearby resources, Gabriel offers up info on a good source of food still untouched. Because it's surrounded by about a dozen zombies. Rick is unfazed and his only demand is that Gabriel will come with them. Gabriel sounds like he'd rather go hide again.
My collar is magic zombie protection!
Before leaving, everyone decides what they'll do that day. Abraham wants to work on the bus in the parking lot. Presumably, Rosita and Eugene will spend the day helping him while he curses a lot. Maggie and Glenn are thinking of doing a supply run, which Tara will join. Rick will take Bob, Sasha, Michonne and Gabriel to said food source. Darryl and Carol will find water. Tyrese will reprise his babysitting role for Judith. Everyone looks a little sheepish asking a former football player to babysit, but Tyrese still hesitates to kill, so he's fine spending the day with his new bestie. Darryl takes Rick aside, with his suspicions that they're not alone. Rick doesn't try to talk Darryl down, but neither know what it is, so they'll just carry their concerns alone until they've got something they can really worry about.
Before he leaves, Rick wants to have a chat with Carl. He repeats to Carl that the world is unsafe, and he doesn't really trust Gabriel. Carl seems unfazed. So far, the church has turned out well, and Gabriel is spending all day with Rick and Michonne. Carl says he'll stay on alert while the others are busy, but maybe they can relax. About Gabriel, at least. Rick still isn't sure, but Carl's acceptance that they stay on their toes gives him enough to leave him with Tyrese, Abraham, Rosita and Eugene for the day.
Following Gabriel to a food source, Bob tries to talk Rick into going with Abraham. He plays the better-life-for-the-baby card. He also plays the let's-do-more-than-survive card. He's very persuasive, and the wheels in Rick's head are turning until Gabriel leads the others to the local food bank. He explains that he was loaded with canned goods because the church had just hosted a food drive before the dead rose over two years ago. The church had planned to stock the local food bank they now arrive at. The store inside is empty on the first floor, but the basement where the food is stored is literally flooded with problems. Namely, stagnant rain water that's fallen in over two years filling the opened up basement. Which just happens to be where a small cadre of zombies are shambling in the waist deep, dirty looking muck. No one looks enthused, but they spot a series of shelves that can be a useful barrier while they stab zombies on the other side until the coast is clear.
Midway through, a well-decayed zombie approaches Gabriel, who panics. The man is still unarmed, and instead of staying with the group, he staggers in fear and dread against a far wall, simply waiting to be eaten by one very determined zombie. Rick and Michonne save him, with only a look of pity and questioning on Rick's face for Gabriel, but he says nothing. Rick reminds himself that Gabriel, apparently, possesses horrible secrets for his god only. Bob is gleefully about to grab a plastic bin for stuffing their prizes in when he's caught by surprise. A mostly-skeletal zombie shoots out of the water, grabbing Bob with surprising strength, but Bob keeps it from getting to his shoulder and rips it back, slamming his plastic bin into the head until he finishes it off. Sasha is on high alert after Bob's close call, but Bob is calm and happy that they're about to stuff themselves on canned goods. The Glad Game is still on.
Darryl and Carol are walking back to the church with four gallons of new water, when they discover an abandoned car. Carol checks it out for supplies, and finds the car battery in the back, still functioning. She makes a show of playing with it in front of Darryl, and wants him to keep its existence from the others. She'll save it as a backup getaway car. Darryl's a little suspicious- why keep it a secret? And he's still not sure that Carol's gotten over being exiled. But, we all know Carol's gotten over worse. And we all know that Carol's plans work. Car thoroughly inspected, he goofs off with his gallon jug, and they share a laugh over what could have been a lot of wasted water.
It's hard to say how much supplies Glenn, Maggie, and Tara hope to recover with no bag for carrying them, but Tara should be able to hold onto the three silencers Glenn's found hidden in a freezer that somehow existed in a gun shop. At first, Glenn would love them to think he took on the zombies inside himself; but he has to be honest and admit that he got himself assaulted by cleaning equipment. The three share a laugh, with Tara still a little unsure that she belongs here. There's someone who doesn't know how she met Glenn, and it happens to be the woman who's grateful to her for helping Glenn survive.
Rick and Michonne have some time to talk on the way back, with multiple carts of plastic bins loaded with food and five people to push the carts home. Earlier in the day, Michonne had realized she'd lost her sword. At the time, she'd gotten through it, using her rifle to bash in a zombie head, but Rick is worried- doesn't she miss it? Michonne explains that it came from the time just after the world turned, with her lover, and she learned its use through experience, trial, and error. She goes on to say that she'll always miss the people she's lost much more than that sword, naming Andrea and Hershel. The conversation reminds the audience of lost characters, refreshing the grief at losing them. It also reminds the audience that Michonne is less just about surviving, and more about loving the people she's come to accept as family. Just in case you were wondering, Michonne's resolved her people issues.
Abraham is still under the bus when Rick finds Carl, who is already looking for more pudding in the food they brought back. Carl has stuff to show Rick, though. Carl's a little confused by scratch marks next to shuttered windows that look more like knives than zombie nails. And he's spooked by some recent grafitti, etched into the rear wall's paint. Somebody has decided that Gabriel's going to hell. For something. They don't know what, but Rick realizes that he may need to get to the bottom of this.
You never know, it could be something he posted on Facebook
For now, it's dinnertime. Everyone's done well today. Rick is nuzzling Judith and sharing dinner with her. Gabriel broke out the communion wine, and Abraham rises to toast their good fortune and teamwork. It seems like it will be a simple toast, until Abraham reminds them all that he's got a mission. And he has Eugene recite the safety that awaits them in D.C., while Eugene himself will be defeating the undead. Abraham declares that the dead will die and the living will rise, while Rick and his team rest in a safe, well-supplied bunker in the nation's capital. The speech is mostly for Rick, as the people they've been traveling all look like kids who want Dad to agree to go to Disney World.
Abraham plays the same cards Bob did, asking them all if they'd like to just survive, or finally re-establish civilization. He asks Rick whether he'd like a better world for Judith. Rick, who last heard of D.C. being impossible to get to and filled with the dead anyway, looks almost sold. Judith gurgles a bit, and Rick mistakes her gassy tummy for her approval. With Judith in a good mood, and everyone looking at him to agree, he realizes he has very little choice but to say that Judith has decided they're all going to Disney World. There's near-universal rejoicing, and Sasha decides that she has some Judith baby-holding time coming to her.
Judith is in charge. What a relief!
Abraham is happy that his patience and newfound eloquence have paid off. He's been in charge for so long of two. And his first attempt to sway Rick has succeeded. Does he think he's in charge? Is Rick going to needle him all the way to D.C.? Will they fight all the way there? Rick seems back to where he was at the beginning of Season 2. He's not asking to be in charge, but everyone seems to want him there. Which is puzzling- sure, he got them out- but he also walked half of them in. Why isn't he deferring to Carol? Why isn't the whole fucking world deferring to her now?
Rick wanders over to Gabriel, who has decided that his god is definitely okay with drinking away. Rick asks if he recognized the zombies earlier, at the food bank. Gabriel confirms that they were parishioners down there. Rick, thinking that maybe Gabriel just didn't want to kill his neighbors, is willing to give Gabriel a little benefit of the doubt. But only a little. He informs Gabriel that this is his family sitting around him. He's got a warning for Gabriel: if any of those secrets he shares with his god could get his family in danger, Gabriel's going to die. Gabriel looks unfazed. His sins are in the past, and the people he wronged are dead, so he's less worried about Rick and the future. He's more worried about staring at an old picture of the church organ player, in happier times, with a happier Gabriel. He's more worried about what his god thinks of his past, than Rick's worries about the future.
Tara decides that now that everyone's in a good mood, and full, that it's time to give Maggie some bad news. She confesses, while others celebrate around them, that she and Glenn met in the aftermath of the Governor's killing of Hershel, and attack on the prison. She briefly tells Maggie that they were lied to, but she doesn't minimize the fact that they all wanted the prison. Maggie, knowing that Glenn has already forgiven her, does the same. Tara is stunned at her good luck, to be accepted so willingly by people she's wronged, but she looks like she'll be putting the past away for good soon.
Bob lets Sasha enjoy Judith, and gives some excuse why he's got to go out alone. Maybe to pee? Nope, to cry. To be alone with the stress of nearly dying multiple days in a row. To just let it wash over him in the dark. His unloading, and the darkness conceal what Darryl suspected all along: they've been followed. Bob is out cold before he even realizes he's been hit.
Carol has also wandered off. Darryl follows her to find she's been prepping the car for a getaway. Possibly, a solo getaway. Darryl doesn't know what to make of it, and Carol really has no explanation. She's been exiled before; best to have a safe way to get out with some supplies ready for Rick's next bad day. Did she return the watch not to give him his leadership back, but to say good bye again? We don't find out, because car lights appear, and Carol and Darryl just manage to hide behind a lit car. The car that speeds by seems unconcerned as it speeds away back into the darkness. Darryl recognizes the cross on the back window. He excitedly kicks out the rear brake lights, and shouts at Carol that they've got to follow it to Beth. She asks no questions, even if Darryl has left the front lights working so they'll be seen anyway. They both race off without even letting anyone know they've gone.
No one knows where Bob is, either. Well, Bob's captors do. Bob awakes to one of the men from the opening and closing scenes of last episode, and Baseball Cap Guy, beaten but still alive, and Gareth. Gareth, who is still perfectly calm. Does Gareth ever lose his shit? No, probably because Gareth doesn't take anything personally. He's so calm as he repeats to Bob that none of this is personal.
Well, maybe it's a little personal.
Rick and the rest just didn't get far enough away. Really, Bob was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Well, Bob's legs were. Now, Bob's legs are in the right place- namely, the stomachs of his captors. Bob looks down and has his first Holy-Shit moment. He looks toward the fire and sees only his feet haven't been cooked over the fire. He sees everyone chowing down. He must realize, at that moment, that he's not going to survive. And he barely hears Gareth's compliment on how he tastes. We hear it, though. So, if you didn't guess by the last two episodes' butcher-shop scenes, that's the deal with Gareth. He and his people are cannibals. In search of the tastiest survivors left. And they seem to think Bob is the best they've had in a while. I guess that's something Bob can be glad about.
Fuck the Glad Game
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