‘The Walking Dead’ Episode 4.9 “After” (8 out of 10) Starring Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Danai Gurira, Chandler Riggs, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan; Sundays at 9/8 central on AMC.
Regardless of the fact that “The Walking Dead” takes place in a post-apocalyptic hellscape, when I see those haunting opening credits hit my TV screen once again, I can’t help but feel the overwhelming sense that I’m coming home after a long vacation. As the group has become scattered throughout the countryside after the epic mid-season finale, it looks like the first few episodes will be focusing on multiple plot lines that revolve around a few characters at a time. Tonight’s episode focused on two plotlines, one involving Michonne with the other involving Rick and Carl. As usual, there be spoilers ahead.
Michonne
We get our last glimpse of the blown-out prison through Michonne’s pissed off scowl. Right off the bat, we’re treated to some of her trademark swordplay. Let’s be honest—at this point, Michonne has become nothing short of an artist with that katana of hers. No two head-choppings are exactly the same, and it’s a gross, beautiful thing.
Aside from the prison’s smoldering ruins, there are two grisly reminders of what happened during the mid-season finale. The Governor’s slain corpse and Hershel’s severed head. As the latter writhed around on the ground, I became a bit more emotional than I was expecting. It was bad enough seeing Hershel coldly murdered in front of his loved ones, but now we have to see his reanimated zombie head? After rustling up two new armless, jawless zombie pets, Michonne skewers Hershel’s head, officially closing the book on that chapter of the series. It’s hard to see the prison fade into the background—so many memories. However, it also means that the show is moving forward into uncharted territory, which is something that “The Walking Dead” has traditionally done well.
Another aspect of the show that is always impressive is the time spent on character development. We’ve been getting these slow glimpses at Michonne’s life before the zombie holocaust—most notably her emotional reaction when holding little Judith—who is currently MIA. In a surreal and tragic dream sequence, we see Michonne preparing dinner with two gents in a well-furnished house. During this flashback, we also see that Michonne did indeed have a child. The scene shifts and becomes more aggressive—presumably a memory of life right after the outbreak. Michonne wakes up right after we see that these two men—one of which is Michonne’s significant other—have had their arms chopped off. Remember her first pair of zombie pets? Yeah. It’s them. Poor Michonne.
Michonne’s central conflict in this episode is whether or not she’s going to give in to the crippling depression that overcomes a person after seeing their home destroyed and their friends scattered into the wilderness. At one point, she and her new zombie pets just fall in line with a herd of walkers that are headed nowhere in particular. But, this is Michonne we’re talking about, after all. She embraces the fact that she’s still among the living by administering some of her cold steel justice to the entire herd. It’s an amazing scene—Danai Gurira makes you feel every slice and dice that she delivers. As she stands on a pile of fresh zombie corpses, we see that she’s clearly chosen to keep on tracking those mysterious footprints that lead through the woods.
Rick and Carl
Though Michonne’s storyarc was balanced with a good ratio of zombie killing and emotional gravitas, the episode belonged to Rick and Carl. They’ve escaped the prison together, but Rick’s fight with the Governor has left him injured and feeble. Between Rick’s inability to fight and his attempts to assert his patriarchal authority, Carl has lost his faith in his father. As Rick slips into a basically comatose state, Carl has himself a bit of an identity crisis. Claiming that he would be fine if Rick up and died, Carl heads out on a salvage mission to declare his independence from the Rick-tatorship. It’s a sad scene to watch, as Rick has been subject to all kinds of terrible crap without having his only living next of kin shout at him about how lame he’s become. However, it’s a scene that has played out since the dawn of time—every teenager reaches a point when they believe they can survive on their own without their parents’ meddling. Apparently, it’s no different during a zombie apocalypse.
This episode gives Carl a lot of solo screen time, and Chandler Riggs has developed into a decent actor—which is a rare thing among actors in his age group. He swaggers through the deserted town like he owns the place and puts down a fair share of zombies in the process. The most powerful scene comes that evening when Rick wakes up. Since it’s difficult to tell whether Rick has died and come back as a walker or not, Carl has his gun trained on his father. Regardless of Rick’s fate, Carl breaks down and drops his weapon. During his appearance on “Talking Dead,” episode director Greg Nicotero explained that Carl couldn’t kill Rick either way because his fear of being alone was greater than his fear of dying—proving that he’s got a little bit of growing up to do. Rick wasn’t a zombie, however, and the pair shares some much needed father/son bonding.
Verdict
After so much chaos during the prison attack, it’s good to see the show slow down a bit and remind us why we care about these slightly damaged people who are just trying to see the next sunrise. This episode did a great job of giving the audience more incentive to stick around to see if Michonne, Rick, and Carl can maintain their humanity in an increasingly hostile environment. Carl’s bout with teenage rebellion, though hard to watch since Rick was all crippled and broken, gave me a little hope for the younger generation who is growing up in this type of world. Regardless of how severe and inhospitable the world outside becomes, kids will always seek to assert their independence—the one difference is that living in a world of the undead makes them realize they’re not invincible pretty damn quick.