I just hope we all get out of the zombiepocalypse okay
Noah, still limping but at least grateful to have found some other survivors willing and able to help, wanders the outside of the church. Rick, Michonne, and Carl take the boards Sasha has made and are barricading the windows. Rick and Michonne are now so well bonded that they see Carl as theirs, not his. They're deciding who should help rescue Carol and who should stay with Carl and Judith, and Michonne is the babysitter this time. Judith cries a bit, although why she misses Rick is beyond me, but she's got her own basket to play in while Michonne and Carl finish barricading themselves in. The only other to remain is Gabriel, who looks over the wreck his church has become (from his new friends' "protection") before noticing dried blood all over his floor. He gets to work, like Lady MacBeth with her own blood spot, trying furiously to wipe it away.
It's not long before Darryl, Noah, Rick, Tyrese and Sasha are cruising back to the city in the truck Darryl found in Atlanta. Tyrese and Sasha have the back to themselves, surrounded only by the weapons and supplies for freeing Beth and Carol. Tyrese, having lost Karen as hard as Sasha lost Bob, wants his sister to open up about the obviously shitty way she feels. She's now wearing Bob's old jacket, but won't talk. It's all she can do to push Tyrese away to suffer in private.
Abraham's group is realizing their fearless leader isn't much of a leader. Tara has renamed the group "GreatM", threatening that it will be her next tattoo. Glenn isn't impressed by her humor but it's that or a breakdown, so he'll take it. Without Abraham, who is still literally on his knees facing back the other way, the others confab on Eugene's condition. He's still out cold in the sun, and Maggie nixes moving him, as they don't what was injured and can't risk further stressing his spine. Tara has helpfully set up water bottles of carefully, equally proportioned water, and Rosita tries getting Abraham to drink. He's still in Terrible-Twos mode, and swipes the water away, wasting precious drops. When Rosita looks peeved at how the guy using her for sex is treating her, he leaps up to stare furiously at her. It freaks out everyone to the point that Maggie calmly points her own revolver at him, sending him back to his corner. The general consensus has Abraham sulking on his knees while they wait indefinitely for Eugene to wake up.
What's that? You're totally outsmarted by Noah?
Rick, who keeps saying he's not the leader, is drawing in the dust of the floor of some old abandoned building, presumably close to Grady. He's showing them his plan for invading the hospital quietly, slipping up the stairwell, and taking out the officers one by one, with his team split up and hoping not to be discovered until the odds are in their favor. Rick specifically saves Dawn for himself, implying that they'll have a showdown fight, either in this episode or the next. Tyrese hates the risk and bloodshed. Even if they're not ambushed, a lot of people could die. Tyrese proposes kidnapping two of the wandering officers, and trading them as hostages. Then, everyone goes home. Dawn doesn't exactly have a full army, so she'll deal to preserve the officers she has. Rick isn't convinced, but Darryl is. Why fight when they can drive home tomorrow morning no worse for the wear? Rick looks defeated for a moment, and gives Darryl his best Et tu, Brute? look. But he accepts that Dawn gets to live to fight another day.
Gabriel is still trying to desperately clean his floors. Carl has placed a wide variety of hand weapons in front of him, and finally stops him from cleaning long enough to lecture Gabriel on surviving. Gabriel is still horrified by killing Gareth and his Hunters, in his church, but Carl wants him to concentrate on learning the ins and outs of survival now.
Carl's new career as Life Coach
Gabriel is stunned that someone can so matter of factly state how brutal life is these days. Michonne, tending to Judith in a nearby pew, looks on in sadness and worry that Carl is once again hardening and Gabriel still can't deal. Gabriel finally chooses a machete, slowly lifting it by the handle, touching it as little as he can. Carl isn't happy with his grip, getting lost on some point about the hardness of zombie skulls, but Gabriel only stands, says he has to lie down, and wanders off with the machete, back to his office.
Tara, Rosita and Glenn trek off to find water at a nearby creek, with Maggie agreeing to watch Eugene while they're gone. Glenn's not happy to leave her, but Abraham might snap out of his funk if need be, and they're just going for water. They pass zombies downed by a telephone pole, in identical outfits. Utility workers, somehow working through the outbreak until disaster struck? The three water-bearers don't seem interested in them, pinned down as they are. Tara actually throws a joke in bad taste at them, musing that there's nothing for them in D.C. anyway. Rosita gets pissy, as that's been her goal for months now, and even Glenn has to try to stop Tara's burgeoning comedy career. Tara's definitely the least disappointed of all, and can't hold it against Eugene that he used the one skill he had, lying, to survive. Glenn will, though.
Back at the truck, Maggie decides the heat isn't helping Eugene. While Abraham stoically perfects his stare, Maggie manages to get a ladder down from the roof of the fire truck, and haul it to the front, where she stacks it over Eugene, and drapes it with a blanket, protecting him from heat stroke. Why all the concern? Is Maggie considering what her father would do? Maybe not when she marches over to Abraham, and informs him that it's time to get up and face living. She reminds him that he's not the only one disappointed today, on the verge of tears as she reminds him that they're all trapped in this hell, so he can stop the self-pity party and try being useful.
Dr. Stephen is surprised to see Beth appear at his door. And confused when Beth wants to know what Stephen would administer to his newest patient, until he figures out that Beth has the drug closet key. He tries to warn Beth that Dawn could be playing her, but Beth keeps up until Stephen gives her the prescription. He wishes her luck as she leaves without another word, disappearing into the dark corridors.
GreatM could use some humor when the stream turns out to be contaminated by the nearby slaughterhouse. Glenn and Tara are bummed, but Rosita's got this. She makes a filter out of her shirt fabric while Glenn and Tara get Rosita to tell her story. She met Abraham sometime after he obtained his original truck. When he helped her group defeat a zombie attack, he showed them Eugene, still in the cab, and asked for their help. Rosita wasn't so much impressed by Eugene's story, as she was by the fact that a burly fighting man needed her help. Maybe she's not so sure about that now, wondering if Abraham wanted something else from her for the long journey. But, hey the water filter that Eugene showed her how to make works. And Glenn sees something even more interesting- fish. It's ridiculous that there are fish in such contaminated waters, but he suddenly has an idea of his own.
Noah has attracted the attention of two of Dawn's officers, a woman and someone named Lambson. They chase him down via car, literally making him collide with the vehicle and fall. As they get out they carefully hold him at gunpoint while Lambson zip ties Noah hands, taking some care not to get them too tight. Lambson realizes too late that Noah was shooting at nothing, but he and his buddy are quickly surrounded by Rick, who smoothly takes them both prisoner. Lambson is an attentive man; he quickly susses out that this ain't Rick's first arrest, and makes Rick squirm a bit by guessing he was a cop. The moment is spoiled by Lambson's other buddy, another baldie who quickly shoots his car into the scene, picks up both officers and speeds off. Sasha gets off a shot that takes out a tire, and the gang rushes off to catch up to their prey.
Awesome kidnapping plot!
Only Darryl is left behind when they find the car abandoned, zombie guts stuck in the front wheel. At a FEMA evacuation point. And, we get our first look at the gruesome awesomeness that is napalmed zombies. They are neon orange, in pieces, and melted to the asphalt. They are littered across the drive. They can't move, so when Darryl stays behind to check out possibly hiding spots for the third cop, he doesn't put them down. When the third cop launches himself on top of Darryl, he quickly gets the upper hand and throws Darry down between two zombie heads aching for their first meal. But, Darryl's not done. He literally fishes around blindly with his one free hand, yanks a zombie head off from one side, and uses it to bash in the cop's head. Rick does the rest, having circled back just in time to hold the third cop at gunpoint. Baldie surrenders, but doesn't look like he's given up, and Rick can't decide whether to spare him until Darryl points out three hostages are better.
Darryl marches all three new prisoners into their hideout, but the cops have their own plans. They fear Dawn won't trade for them, as Dawn knows she's got a loyalty problem among her own people. And they've captured the guy who maybe hopes to someday take control from Dawn, Lambson. The woman suggests that Darryl let them go, and they'll take care of Dawn and free their captors' friends. That's a terrible idea for Darryl to take. The cops could just as easily leave, lead Dawn right back to her new enemies, and Team Darryl would be extra screwed. It's Lambson who calls off the bad idea, saying that he knows Dawn best. Sasha says they've got the Dawn angle covered. Lambson says they don't, and they're going to need help. He's willing to go along if it means everyone survives the day. So, Darryl takes him to mastermind Rick for more talking.
Meanwhile, GreatM has decided to put down the pinned zombies after all. Not out of any morals, but for their jackets. Specifically, the mesh inside their jackets. It will make the perfect net. Tara scores a muddy, buried knapsack from one of the dead, and they're all set for an afternoon of fishing. The three are having their first good time since yesterday, Glenn asks Rosita how she'd like to join the GreatM, be a part of a team. They're not saving the world, but hey, the Fish Fries are fun. Off on the riverbank, Tara is enjoying her new knapsack, declaring they're never going to believe what it contains.
Michonne, still trying to talk Gabriel into accepting the new reality, interrupts Gabriel's nap. He holds the door partially closed as she tenderly tells him that his new roommies just want to help. He thanks her, but goes back inside to his work, which has been prying up floorboards. Since the front door has been barricaded shut, the crawl space underneath is his only escape. Yes, in the south the building would have been on brick piers instead of a proper foundation. it's the beauty of having no frostline and small buildings. He limps away after digging out a gruesome splinter.
Beth's got her hands on some strawberries, but she doesn't keep them. She brings them to a fellow ward, who quickly has a breathing attack, distracting all the officers nearby while she stuffs the needed drug into her shirt and saunters off. Mr. Cough suddenly gets better, as she passes into safety. Beth heads right to Carol, setting up a drip just as her dad and Dr. Stephen taught, and taking the chance that Dr. Stephen has steered her right. Carol is still bruised, and sleeping, but Beth hopes Carol will hear her as she whispers to Carol that she's not alone. Beth, honey, Carol doesn't need whispers. She needs you to be ready with weapons.
Sasha finally has it out about Bob. All it takes is a rip in Bob's jacket. She's been beating herself up that she couldn't put Bob down herself, and she and Tyrese hug it out among the napalmed zombies. They're touched.
Lambson has some last minute advice for Rick: trust that Dawn will compromise, she eventually always does. Before Rick goes, he tries to tell Lambson, now Bob (oh, no, not another Bob!), that he is, still, a cop. But, Lambson says no one is anymore. Rick leaves him to his philosophical musings.
Gabriel is finally free of his protectors, but petrified of every sound in the woods. He can't handle the small rustlings of rabbits, and doesn't even catch the zombie coming. He defeats it by accident when he throws it onto a shard of wood that entraps it, chewing up entrails as the zombie thrashes around on its new point. Gabriel is all ready for his first zombie kill. But around her green, oozing neck is a cross. So, Gabriel loses his nerve, simply leaving the zombie where it lays.
Back in Atlanta, Lambson quietly curses to himself, and when Sasha, left alone to supervise him, describes to her that he recognized one of the napalmed zombies. Sasha takes the CMU block for a seat, and Lambson eyes her rifle unslung from her shoulders just a moment too long. And then launches into his story. There's the sight of someone in the distance, so the assumption is that Sasha's not alone. Lambson's story is of surviving when he shouldn't have, so Sasha offers to shoot his old buddy, put him down, as a favor. Is this the beginning of a new friendship?
Back at the truck, Maggie's starting to worry, and Abraham looks ready to crack. Timeout might just be over, so Maggie re-offers him the water bottle, refusing to believe he's not thirsty. When he still doesn't react, Maggie squats, and asks Abraham if he wanted to be shot, earlier. Abraham admits being on the fence about living, when a gurgling is heard. It's Eugene, and he's alive. Maggie looks relieved tending to him. Tara, Rosita, and Glenn take that moment to find the road again, with Glenn deciding that Tara's humor might be what they need, as she plays with her new, awesome, yo-yo.
Sasha walks Lambson over to where Lambson can see his old friend. He steps back so Sasha can take the shot. But it's not new friend time. It's ram Sasha unconscious and take off time. Still ziptied, he doesn't even bother with the gun before scampering.
So, is this the beginning of Lambson's play for Grady? Would he keep the ward/officer setup? Or would he try to actually govern a community holed up in the hospital? Whatever his plan, Sasha's not in. The episode bounces around a great deal, mostly lining people up for whatever will happen in the mid-season finale next week. So, stay tuned for stuff even better than napalmed zombies!
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