“Four Rooms and a Roof,” the stirring third episode of fifth-season The Walking Dead, marks what looks to be a dramatic swerve for the series. First: events are building up rapidly—as with the easy disposal of Gareth (Andrew J. West) and his cannibal crew—a welcome change of pace, given last season’s curious lethargic tendencies. Second (although it feels less a change than a mere return to the roots): the series re-embraces the brutal and the grotesque—a good service to the fans. Third and finally: it seems that the series is now keeping a set of balls in resisting the urge to kill off characters too easily. If anything, it promises control. Imagine this: there is a well built-up assault sequence, featuring Gareth & Co. busting into the church in which Rick and the rest of his group are nested. If show-runner Scott M. Gimple is any more faithful to the series’ history of bloodbaths, this would have been the perfect opportunity to take out one or two of Rick’s allies. But no. No fatalities in that assault, at least from Rick’s group. What did I say? Swerve.
To expound on this episode further, I fear spoilers are inexorable. So here’s your word of caution, bold-faced and all-caps: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
The episode resumes with the capture of Bob (Laurence Gilliard, Jr.), whose left leg made Gareth and the cannibals supper. The Terminus-survivors relish on the human barbeque but vomits hell when Bob reveals that he has been bitten. “I’m tainted meat,” he exclaims. “I’m tainted meat!” The opening sequence sets the theme for the episode—mortality—which while problematic is only interesting. In a series that is all about survival and living on, does it ever occur to these people that In the End, You Die Anyway? Gareth and his group’s quick doom is an affirmation of this; they could have turned into the brainless walkers he so-enjoyed watching from his window, but it has not dawned on him that they are going to die anyway. He and his group encounter the thought literally—and in a gruesome end.
Another question that the episode poses is how monstrous should one become in order to survive. Remember that these survivors’ minds are clouded in the prize of survival. In the scene of Gareth’s death, Rick inquires, although it sounds more like a declaration: “it could be anyone, right” and whooshes the machete to the cannibal. Michonne, who finds her lost blade, glares at it with mistakable disgust (? Or fraught?). She looks over the carnage. Their doing.
So Bob is dead, and Sasha () is torn. Bob entered the group an as-ran, like Beth Greene, who is now one of the biggest mysteries of the series (I think there’s a hashtag for that: #WhoTookBeth). Marking another significant shift in the series, Bob’s death is in peace, more than what most of the remaining survivors will get. It is only appropriate. He was the guy who picks out the best in the ‘worsest’ of worsts. When Sasha asks: “So what is it now, Bob? What is the good out of this?” Bob does not answer, and dies ever so restfully holding her hands. With this, the episode closes on an incredible note: tense, tender and affecting, “Four Rooms and a Roof” is one of the better episodes the series have aired since last season’s “The Grove.”
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Next Episode’s Promo:
Stray Observations:
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- Tyreese seems to be the go-to vessel of hurt and agony in the group; he is also their only ally with sensible conscience. The horror in his face as he witnesses the carnage unfold in the church is telling that he is whirling inside, especially when Sasha almost lets her inner monsters outgrow her, refusing to stay with Bob in his last few hours on earth.
- I’m glad to see Glenn (Steven Yeun) middle between Rick and Abraham. He’s clearly past his days of the guy in the sidelines.
- Even in his quieter moments, Rick has a “diva”-ness almost imprinted to him. “You’re not taking the bus,” he breathes out cockily. Here’s your leader, folks. Go figure.
- Gabriel Stokes’ back-story is revealed. It is familiar to those who are reading the comics (including myself) and I know that the folk he refused to take in are kind (and weak?) enough not to force the doors open; yet they are ratchet enough to leave him a note: You’ll Burn for This.
- #WhoTookBeth? We’ll find out in next week’s “Slabtown” (see the promo above).
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THE EPISODE IN ONE QUOTE:
Nightmares end. They shouldn’t change who you are. And that is just this dead guy’s opinion.
~Bob
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