The Walking Dead: Infected

Going into the second episode of Season 4 we’ve already learned that the people of Woodbury merged seamlessly with the Grimes group, but we’ve also learned that other challenges linger for the community. The survivors have the everyday trials of keeping out the Walkers, the uncertainty of the Governor’s whereabouts and whether he will strike, and they are now faced with a deadly illness making its way through the animals and people of the prison. Here’s where we are after “Infected...”

 

Green Acres

Rick has showered and trimmed up that beard a bit since the last episode, but he’s definitely still in farmer mode. Each time Rick is shown outside near the crops and the animals, he seems to have a sense of accomplishment. With all of the deaths and gore and heartache, this is something Rick has been working on that he can actually see grow. He has a visible way that he is helping his community....which is great for him considering the failure he has been feeling. Let the man have his farm. He's earned it.

 

Carl has simmered down quite a bit too. When Michonne asks him why he doesn’t wear his dad’s hat anymore, he replies “it’s not a farmer’s hat.” Hmmm. Is Carl going to start pretending the guns have cooties too? Is he becoming a peaceful man like his father? Not exactly. As Rick and Carl tend to the crops, Carl casually suggests that they help the group clear out some clusters of Walkers. Rick’s not having it. He says they have other plans. Well sure they do – those veggies aren’t going to water themselves! Carl then asks if he can have his gun back but Rick presses on with the task at hand. So we now know that Carl isn’t necessarily farming by choice...

 

The Call’s Coming From Inside The House!

Tyreese and Karen are smooching and cuddling while Tyreese thinks about his recently fallen comrade, Zach. He's totally smitten by this girl and suggests that he and Karen, um, share a cell tonight. Karen is a good girl though and wants to take it slow. “Once we do that, we won’t want to stop.” Look Karen, you guys are kind of living day to day anyway…not sure that you have time for a courtship. Anyway, as Karen makes her way back to her cell we see Zombie Nerdy Patrick follow her. I immediately assume she's a goner but he lingers only briefly in her doorway. He moves on to the next cell  though, ripping out the throat of the poor guy sleeping there. Now the throatless dude is not only a Walker, he’s a Walker with Nerdy Patrick disease. Super.

 

The next morning there are shouts in the prison: “Walkers in D!” The group comes a running and Michonne nixes her plans to go out on a Governor hunt. When Carl opens the gates to let her back in, she is joined by some Walkers and she is immediately in danger. Our little farmer grabs a spare gun and helps her out…so I imagine he won’t have the urge to pick up a hoe again anytime soon.

The D cell block is overrun. Daryl and Rick try to get the kids out of the area quickly. Tyreese checks on his lady love. Carol is a badass and amputates a guy’s arm….well she would have if she hadn’t also noticed the bites on the back of his neck. Turns out the failed amputee is a father, and his two kids are the little girls who were naming the Walkers last week. Carol brings the sisters, Lizzie and Mika, to say goodbye to their dad and he dies shortly thereafter. Lizzie wants to be the one to prevent her father from turning into a Walker, so Carol hands her a knife and offers her support. The kid can’t make it happen though and Carol takes care of it.

Carol finds the two girls later on in the day and tells Lizzie she’s weak because she lost her nerve. Whoa! What!?! You’re giving this kid shit for not being able to put a knife through her father’s head?!? I get that these kids are going to need to toughen up, but how many "story time knife lessons" had Lizzie participated in before today? Sheesh. Mika tells Carol that Lizzie’s not weak at all…just messed up. No kidding.

Super Zombies?

Someone is feeding the Walkers. For whatever reason, the episode opens with a mouse offering to the Walkers on the other side of the fence. Who’s providing this dinner? We don’t know…there’s only one flashlight though so right now it seems to be a solo job.

 

But now the Walkers are more eager and more resilient. As the group begins to bury the dead from the D block, a swarm of Walkers attacks one of the outer fences and almost destroys it. Maggie, Glenn, Sasha, Tyreese, Daryl and Rick fight to hold them off…and in doing so they notice the many mouse carcasses along the fence line. Rick has an idea. He and Daryl take the truck and lead the Walkers away using a trail of bleeding pigs. Bummer. Watching Rick sacrifice that part of his farm makes me sad regardless of whether the pigs were sick or not. It's just one more thing that the Walkers have taken away from him. The plan works though and Glenn, Sasha, Tyreese and Maggie are able to re-solidify the fence. I guess that's the one "win" for the day.

 

We next see Rick tearing down the pig pen and setting fire to it. Carl approaches him to discuss Carol’s “story time,” and Carl thinks Carol should be allowed to teach the kids to defend themselves. Rick says he’s not going to stop her. He then gives Carl’s gun back to him and puts his own gun/belt on as well.  Fingers crossed we see a hat reunion in the next episode.

 

Get Down With The Sickness

After the D block fiasco, the group is starting to realize that not only is there a deadly flu strain going around, the group living in the D block and those who cleared it have also been exposed at this point. The council, which seems to include Hershel, Glenn, Maggie, Sasha, Daryl and Carol, convenes to discuss the next steps. The group decides that anyone exposed or showing symptoms will be quarantined in the A block immediately. Oddly enough – the A block had been death row back before the apocalypse.  

 

The conversation is barely over when we hear Karen coughing. Tyreese wants to take her back to his cell to rest (oh sure, nowwww she wants to bunk with you), but Hershel has to put his foot down. Karen is sent off to the quarantined area along with David who has been coughing as well. The episode ends when Tyreese goes to visit Karen, flowers in hand, and her cell is empty. Upon further examination, there is a large smear of blood leading from her cell and David’s cell out into the prison yard, as if they had been dragged out there. Tyreese follows the blood trail….and he finds their charred bodies.

 

Well then, the excitement of the season premiere was just kicked to the curb by this week's mysteries. Who is feeding the Walkers? Maybe Lizzie and Mika? They were playing a zombie naming game after all. I think it was Lizzie who said "They're not dead, just different." Orrrrr could this be one of the Governor's tricks? Is he lurking out there in the woods trying to pump up the Walkers? Could he also be behind this flu and the burning bodies? Does he still have a loyal Woodbury follower in the prison? Regardless, I was just starting to like Karen and I feel awful for Tyreese. How is he going to handle this and how many more "sick" people will end up this way? Time will tell.