‘The Walking Dead’ Episode 5.8 “Coda” (10 out of 10) Created by Frank Darabont; Starring Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Danai Gurira, Chandler Riggs, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan; Sundays on AMC.

After some hasty Internet research, I learned that a coda is a musical term that is used to designate the end of a symphonic movement. 

What a perfect title for tonight’s episode. 

From the show’s intensely kinetic overture to the intimately emotional final moments we were treated to one of the most operatic stories in “The Walking Dead” history.

BIG SPOILERS A-COMIN’!

Gabriel Has Issues

Before we get to the juicy stuff, we need to discuss Gabriel’s (Seth Gilliam) actions tonight.  He’s clearly suffering from some massive, guilt-fueled anxiety—and it’s making him a liability.  It’s difficult to tell whether or not he’s gotten some closure after leaving the safety of the church to see what was left of the congregation, mostly because of his profuse sweating. However, there is some metaphorical weight to the fact that he inadvertently let his zombified congregation into the church so Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Carl (Chandler Riggs) to board them up inside—and that shot that framed a zombie horde beneath the words, “He who consumes my flesh and my blood shall have eternal life” perfectly illustrated how that which was once comforting has become twisted and grueling in the world that our characters now inhabit. 

The Trade

Right from the get-go, we see feet hitting the pavement, efficiently setting the tension for the entire episode. The plan for hostage negotiation went a little awry last week, resulting in the death of Lamson (Maximiliano Hernandez)—Rick (Andrew Lincoln) hasn’t been too keen on second chances lately. Since Lamson’s death threatened the integrity of Rick’s hostage trade, we’re left with some uncertain feelings about the other two police officer’s in Rick’s custody.  Sure, they seem nice and cooperative, but that’s how they all are—right before they shove your head into a window pane.

It’s a problem not unknown to Dawn (Christine Woods), whose character becomes a bit more focused during tonight’s episode. After she and Beth (Emily Kinney) tag-team a duplicitous officer, Beth learns that Dawn’s whole management ideology is based around the fact that things are better in the hospital than they are outside. It’s an idea that she enforces through manipulation and fear, but it’s also an idea that she truly believes in. Which is why when Rick and his team show up to make the trade, she requests that Noah (Tyler James Williams) stay behind.  It’s a sneaky way for Dawn to assert her authority over the situation, and it goes to show how something that was building up to a peaceful resolution can go horribly wrong.

With the visceral grace of a Tarantino film, the scene explodes. In a final act of defiance, Beth jams a pair of scissors in Dawn’s chest, which triggers thirty of the most brutal seconds that I’ve seen on the show. Dawn discharges her gun under Beth’s chin, Daryl (Norman Reedus) retaliates by killing Dawn, and both sides stand disarmed at what has just happened.

These closing scenes demonstrate how good “The Walking Dead” is about creating tension and then releasing it in gushes of emotional acting. Reedus plays Daryl as emotionally restrained for the bulk of the series, so when we see him break down and carry Beth’s body outside—it’s hard to watch. Maggie’s (Lauren Cohan) reaction was equally heartbreaking—made more so with Michonne’s (Danai Gurira) mention that Beth was alive and would soon be back with them.

Verdict

It’s episodes like this one that make this show brilliant. All of the violence, zombies, dysfunctional humans, and overall grit serve to emphasize the power of human endurance. These characters continue to go through hardship and tragedy, but what makes “The Walking Dead” cool is that they don’t do it unscathed. They have physical and emotional scars that they carry with them, but, in many ways, that’s what makes us love them.

The season will continue in February, which already seems like it’s so very far away.

‘The Walking Dead’ Episode 5.4 “Slabtown” (8 out of 10) Created by Frank Darabont; Starring Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Danai Gurira, Chandler Riggs, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan; Sundays on AMC.

Remember Beth (Emily Kinney)? Teenager, abducted during season four, kinda had a thing for Daryl? Tonight’s episode was all about what she’s been up to while Rick and company were dealing with that Terminus nightmare. She’s been locked inside her own failed social experiment, and the entirety episode was spent focused on her character and the weirdos she’s come across.

Spoilers ahead!

Grady Memorial Hospital

The first scene of the episode finds Beth in an isolated hospital room—not unlike the scene in which we are introduced to Sherriff Rick Grimes way back in the first episode of the series.  It’s a cool move—not only are we reminded of how iconic that first scene with Rick is, but it’s setting Beth up as the focus of this new, weird chapter in her life. She’s the Rick Grimes of this episode, and she’s not afraid to show her captors how hardcore she is.

Right from the get-go, it’s easy to call Beth’s new friends captors. Despite the fact that they’re wearing badges and claim to be helping people, there is something bleak and colorless about their new surroundings—and it has nothing to do with the fact that hospitals are typically bleak and colorless. The episode escalates at a nice, slow burn as we start figuring things out along with Beth. When she meets the three characters who appear to be running things, it’s easy to see her sizing things up. Doctor Edwards (Erik Jensen) has some pull since he’s the only one on premises who knows how to use a hospital, while Officer Dawn Lerner (Christine Woods) and Officer Gorman (Ricky Wayne) appear to be calling the shots. The cops are eerily obsessed with the idea of gratitude and appreciation of service, which is simply the tip of their iceberg of weirdness. As it happens, the folks at this hospital are operating under a rudimentary Communist ideal—each person has a job, and each person gets only enough to help them complete that job.  Basically, the powers that be offer food and shelter to those that they pick up off the streets in exchange for a lifetime if indentured servitude. 

Beth and Noah

Once Beth gets a lay of the land, she meets a fellow indentured servant named Noah (Tyler James Williams). Noah seems to share Beth’s desire for freedom, and the two of them hatch an escape plan. It’s a grisly plan that involves feeding Officer Gorman to a zombified ward, and descending down an elevator shaft that is choked with the corpses of everyone Doc Edwards couldn’t save. When we see the pair cross a parking lot filled with different models of automobile that all have white crosses in the back window, the puzzle pieces shift into focus. Our hospital folks scour the surrounding areas for survivors, preferable those of the female persuasion, and uses the safety of their hospital to ensure their eternal service. Noah manages to escape, but Beth gets cuffed and brought back inside—with a smile on her face.

Verdict

Thus far, the show has fiddled with the different social microcosms that have started to spurt up amid the chaos of the zombie apocalypse—and none of them are doing it right. Woodbury was safe, but under the protection of a madman; Terminus was safe, but only for those who were okay with murdering people and eating them; and now we have the folks at Grady Memorial who have tried to take a rudimentary stab at Communism. This feels like an interesting direction for the show to take. The zombies have become less of the focus, and the show’s conflict now revolves around the myriad ways that people have tried to rebuild society. It’s been a fascinating way to explore the way civilization seeks to rebuild itself after sustaining a near-fatal blow. 

Serious praise goes to Emily Kinney this week. She’s come a long way since her role as a very minor character on Hershel’s farm—now she’s turning into one of the show’s most promising characters. And that moment when we see an unconscious Carol (Melissa McBride getting wheeled in to the hospital was a perfect way to finish tonight’s episode. Whether she let herself get captured or whether she was yet another person to get pulled away from Daryl (Norman Reedus), the moment of recognition on Beth’s face meant that there were going to be a whole lot of problems for the folks at Grady Memorial as soon as Carol wakes up. No news on Daryl’s mystery guest in the woods though. Let us open the floor to wild accusations!