The Walking Dead: Isolation

We begin this episode with many questions as the prison’s survival system is starting to crumble. The Walkers at the fence are nourished and relentless, a lethal flu virus is tearing through the community, and someone has taken it upon themselves to kill and burn the infected people. Who or what is causing all of this? Here’s what we found out during the “Isolation” hour…

 

Better Dig Two

We see Glenn and Maggie first as they prepare two graves, which I assume are for Karen and David. As the camera pans out, however, several other diggers are hard at work as well…so the mystery flu is clearly starting to take its toll.  Hershel explains that 12 people died from the sickness, not including Karen and David. Uh oh. So it’s really only a matter of time before we see some symptoms in the, for lack of a better term, more important characters.

 

Sure enough, Sasha has a cough. She’s on her way to see Doctor S in the quarantined zone where people are coughing up blood, convulsing, and ultimately dying and turning into Walkers.  Doctor S won’t be able to help anyone for much longer – he’s sick too and suspects an outbreak at this point. Lizzie doesn’t feel well and Glenn joins the infected as well…and now shit is hitting the fan.

We Gonna Let It Burn

Rick, Carol and Daryl join Tyreese in the prison yard with the charred remains of Karen and David. Tyreese is livid to the extent that he slams Daryl against a wall and punches Rick…who then unleashes all that pent up farmer violence on Tyreese. I guess they need to express their emotions somehow?

Later in the graveyard, Rick apologizes to Tyreese for essentially half blinding him, but Tyreese is still pretty pissed off. Rick points out that whoever killed Karen and David was probably trying to keep the virus from spreading. Tyreese quickly cuts him off. “They didn’t.” He also says that Rick doesn’t seem to be trying to find the culprit at all…he then quickly storms off.

Rick realizes that he needs to get to the bottom of what happened to David and Karen. He begins to investigate. He notices a bloody handprint on the door leading out to the prison yard and puts his own up against it for comparison. The hand print is much smaller than Rick’s...it clearly belongs to a woman.

Troubled Water

There’s some sort of mud stoppage causing severe problems with the water pump.  Carol is working her ass off trying to fix it but she’s not having much luck. Tyreese approaches Carol near the spouts and asks her to help keep an eye on Sasha because he knows Carol really cares about the people in their community. Carol says she’s sorry for what happened to Karen, and as Tyreese thanks her and walks away…Carol sits down and begins to cry.  

Carol realizes that clearing the water line requires a trip outside of the prison gates and goes on her own. Seeing this makes me so proud of her given how far she’s come. The Carol we saw in seasons 1 and 2 would have been terrified to go out near the Walkers with a “don’t mind me – just getting the mud out of the hose” attitude.   Rick sees her, curses, and then runs to help her. The Walkers are totally aware of her presence now and are on the prowl. She panics only momentarily but makes it back behind the prison gates with Rick’s assistance.   

With the water lines fixed, Carol resumes her duties of making sure the folks inside get the cleanest and freshest water possible. Rick stops her and tells her that she has given so much to the group. He asks her if there’s anything she wouldn’t do to keep everyone safe. She tells him “no” and begins to walk up to the prison with canisters of water. Rick stops her again and asks is she killed Karen and David. She turns says “yes” and walks away, continuing her task.  WHAT?!?!

 

A Miracle Cure?

The Council meets again to figure out a plan. Hershel says there is no stopping this flu, but he does believe ant-biotics will help the infected people fight the symptoms. Hershel mentions a veterinary clinic 50 miles away and so Daryl, Michonne, Tyreese and Bob are tapped to complete this quest.  

As the group drives to their destination, Daryl plays around with the radio. They hear a voice on one of the channels and Daryl is so distracted that he loses the control of the car for a second. He swerves around some Walkers but then quickly stops the car. We then see the road is completely overrun with Walkers. There’s no way that car is getting through and they realize they are going to have to make a run for it. Ohhh shit. That clinic is 50 miles away! Tyreese sulks in the car for a bit (come on, dude) and then gets out and BARELY re-joins the group.  I totally thought he was a goner.

 

 

So now we know Carol killed and set fire to Karen and David. Given the way the virus is spreading, she can’t really argue that she protected the group in any way by doing this.  What happens now? Rick is someone who has had to make difficult decisions in order for his group to survive. Will he be understanding of Carol’s intentions and keep her secret? Will he tell Tyreese and company about this? I mean, Tyreese would seriously kill her and I can’t have that. Rick has a tough choice ahead of him but I am really anxious to see how this all plays out.