The Walking Dead Season 4 Episode 10 recap

We need to talk about Lizzie. At one point in this episode, I was legit worried she was going to murder Baby Judith and then cook and eat her. Judith is, indeed, alive, scooped up by Lizzie and Mika on their way out of the prison, which is a total cop out. I’m not rooting for infant death, nor do I think the show has to echo the comics exactly, but so far The Walking Dead has shied away from committing to the more traumatic moments in the comics.

We didn’t get our Red Wedding moment—since it didn’t happen, this doesn’t count as a spoiler—of the Governor cutting off Rick’s hand, and they made Lori’s death a lot easier to take—in the comics, she’s shot in the back during the prison fight and dies, crushing Judith beneath her. That’s really awful, but can you imagine how powerful that would be realized on film? I recently re-watched the Red Wedding episode of Game of Thrones, and what makes that so tremendous is commitment to the moment. We don’t get similar commitment from The Walking Dead, and sparing Judith is another example of this show being afraid of its own material.

Anyway, back to Lizzie. I was kind of joking about her being a budding psychopath in the first half of the season but it’s not a joke anymore. She is a F*CKING PSYCHOPATH and I hope the show has the nerve to take this to its extreme, which is Carol being forced to confront the fact that her protégé is a F*CKING PSYCHOPATH. Oh yeah, Carol is back. I wish her encountering Tyrese and the girls in the woods was more random than “I saw you fleeing the prison, and followed you”, but I also like the unspoken subtext, that she was defying Rick’s banishment order and was on her way back to the prison. Makes you wonder if Rick and Carol will ever discuss this, especially as her not listening to Rick directly contributes to saving Judith.

For now, though, one of our splinter groups is Tyrese, Lizzie, Mika, Baby Judith and Carol. And Lizzie is a bunny-murdering, baby-smothering monster who zones out during a zombie attack because she’s having so much fun slowly choking the life from an infant. Carl is a budding sociopath, but I don’t think he enjoys killing the way Lizzie clearly does. Did you see her face as she was smothering Judith? She was loving that sh*t. Carl is more like Carol—willing to do terrible things if it means protecting his designated family unit. But I don’t think Carl would, say, skin a bunch of bunnies alive or anything. WHICH LIZZIE DID.

The other splinter groups are Maggie, Sasha and Bob, who are the least interesting sub-group, Daryl and Luna Lovegood, who have a lot of potential, and Glenn and Tara, which we’ll deal with in a moment. Maggie, Sasha and Bob could have been cool, but it’s quickly made clear that strong-willed Sasha is going to entertain Maggie on her quest to find Glenn, instead of insisting they look for shelter. I was looking for some conflict, but they immediately become an effective zombie-killing troupe, so whatever.

Much more interesting are Daryl and Luna Lovegood. They’re opposites in every possible way, and Luna is a weak fighter—this ought to force her to get it together and become a better zombie slayer at least. The opening of the show is the strongest segment of this episode and it’s because of the contrast of these two characters. They’re the smallest sub-group, and Luna Lovegood is, for now, a fairly serious handicap. Carol and Tyrese have a showdown coming, but Daryl and Luna Lovegood…you feel like she could really get Daryl killed. Or he might be forced to leave her behind. Their fate is very shaky.

The final sub-group is Glenn and Tara, the last survivor of the Governor’s group. She feels guilty, he needs her help but doesn’t have to like her, yadda yadda ABRAHAM FORD. All I care about re: Glenn is that his storyline culminated in the long-awaited arrival of Abraham Ford, a stand-out character from the comics. He’s the big dude with the elaborate mustache who turned up right at the end of the episode. The framework for the rest of the season has been laid, linking Rick’s group with Abraham and setting Tyrese et al on the path to the mysterious “Terminus” and its promise of sanctuary. Now if they can just keep Lizzie from murdering everyone in their sleep.

Status Check:
Glenn & Maggie – Separated, but searching.
Carol – Surviving.
Lizzie – F*CKING PSYCHOPATH.
Baby Judith – Doomed to be Lizzie’s next victim.
Abraham Ford – Is here ya’ll.

Worst thing seen/heard this week: Lizzie smothering Baby Judith. JESUS CHRIST.

Zombie kill of the week: Maggie smashing a head against the bus.