The Walking Dead: Four Walls and a Roof   Show Only 
October 26, 2014 9:07 PM - Season 5, Episode 3 - Subscribe

"As Bob fights for his life, Rick and the group take a stand to defend the church against Gareth and his gang of cannibals." —IMDb

Glenn, Maggie, and Tara take get on the bus to DC with Eugene, Abraham, and Rosita, leaving the rest to wait for Daryl and Carol. The rest of the episode is stuff you knew would happen, because you have the second sight.
posted by Sys Rq (52 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Or the comics.
posted by entropicamericana at 9:17 PM on October 26, 2014 [1 favorite]


I saw surprised at how Glenn and Maggie just peaced out without much of a goodbye. I get that they plan to meet up but... I dunno. Especially after the looks of horror they had after the Termite extermination, I'm wondering if they aren't backing off from Rick purposefully.

Bye, Bob. You lasted longer than I thought you would, but you were always clearly destined to be zombie fodder. TAINTED MEAT!
posted by gatorae at 9:17 PM on October 26, 2014 [4 favorites]


Every time I hear a crackle in the woods I exclaim "Morgan!" excitedly and every time I'm disappointed. At this point I half-expect him not to show up again until the season finale. :(

I really like Glenn stepping up as a leader / peacemaker / voice of moral authority.
posted by Jacqueline at 9:24 PM on October 26, 2014 [2 favorites]


What bothered me the most about the obvious stuff (bite! machete! katana!) was not so much that it was so predictable, but that it all happened so soon. Now what? Is the rest of the season just gonna be Stuck at the Farm 2: Episcopal Boogaloo?
posted by Sys Rq at 9:42 PM on October 26, 2014 [4 favorites]


I never really dwelled on the whole idea that this show can only have a certain number of guys who look a certain way, but I'll be damned if the moment the preacher showed up, bye bye Bob. Get it together Walking Dead.

Aside from that I liked the suspenseful moments and whem Michonne got her sword back I said yall done messed up now!
posted by cashman at 9:51 PM on October 26, 2014 [3 favorites]


Poor Bob. Yup, it was like he had zombie fodder/talking extra stamped on his head.

Will the DC crew become the spinoff?

In the face of the Governor, Terminus, and the wrongs committed by Rick's gang, the sad pastor's story fell flat. Very flat. It felt like the gang gave a big ole shrug and eye roll. I'm not sure I care enough about his character to actually hope he becomes more than an object of pity.

I liked this episode.
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 10:10 PM on October 26, 2014


Well, that was dark.

TAAAAAINTED MEEEEEAT!!!
posted by A Bad Catholic at 10:11 PM on October 26, 2014 [1 favorite]


I don't get Maggie. If I knew my last blood relative was still out there, I wouldn't be hightailing it for D.C.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:31 PM on October 26, 2014 [8 favorites]


In the face of the Governor, Terminus, and the wrongs committed by Rick's gang, the sad pastor's story fell flat. Very flat. It felt like the gang gave a big ole shrug and eye roll.

Man, that scene was all kinds of duh. We already know the sob story! Korl found the clawed windows and the scrawled message last week! You'd think they'd all have put two and two together, but then here they are all in paranoid freakout mode, talking about how the preacher just showed up out of nowhere and something something termites. No, Rick. It's his church. You showed up and found him, and he brought you here to safety in gratitude for your having rescued him. The termites just followed you, kinda like they're people who left a place you left after you left that place. Duh. DUH. I get the feeling the gunpoint interrogation was supposed to be all super tense and dramatic and fraught with uncertainty, but it was just Rick being a big ol' stupid. And then, after the big confession of stuff we already knew, everyone's just like, "Oh, I guess Father McScaredycat's not a monster after all...except for all that stuff he just said." That's kind of a weird thing to have to communicate with just a facial expression.

I don't get Maggie. If I knew my last blood relative was still out there, I wouldn't be hightailing it for D.C.

Her husband said so. What more can you expect from guns'n'faith'n'babies-at-all-costs Republiporn? (Also, pretty sure the writers just plumb forgot they were related.)
posted by Sys Rq at 11:03 PM on October 26, 2014 [4 favorites]


Here's how I wish the Terminites would have gone out:

The night crew comes out of the church and is in the woods in front of the Terminite camp at the school. The Terminites are all sick from Bob's tainted meat--puking and moaning, etc. Sasha is about to go for them, but Rick stops her. We hear a crack, then a crash as the zombies break the glass and begin pouring out of the school. They set on the Terminites and make quick work of them. Rick and crew watch long enough to ensure they're all dead, then head back quietly to the church.

It gives Bob his revenge, and it's an extra ironic death for the cannibals. Fewer moral dilemmas than the one on the show though.
posted by sleeping bear at 11:39 PM on October 26, 2014 [3 favorites]


In the face of the Governor, Terminus, and the wrongs committed by Rick's gang, the sad pastor's story fell flat.

Yeah, when he told his story, I was just like, "Oh, that's it? You didn't systematically butcher and eat people or keep an aquarium of decapitated heads?"
posted by A Bad Catholic at 11:40 PM on October 26, 2014 [6 favorites]


I don't understand why the termites dropped Bob off at the church. The show implies that the termites believe that this will cause the group to charge over to the school but that seems like an unbelievably stupid plan.
posted by rdr at 12:19 AM on October 27, 2014 [1 favorite]


What bothered me the most about the obvious stuff (bite! machete! katana!) was not so much that it was so predictable, but that it all happened so soon. Now what?

I had the exact opposite reaction. I'm much happier with this season's pace so far. In the past, this show would have stretched the events of this episode over 3 or 4 episodes for sure. In the same way that it took more than one episode to get the priest's back obvious back story out in the open. Now we can move on to something else already, and then something else after that too. Like Beth and then Morgan and then maybe see what's up in DC.
posted by dogwalker at 2:24 AM on October 27, 2014 [4 favorites]


I don't understand why the termites dropped Bob off at the church. The show implies that the termites believe that this will cause the group to charge over to the school but that seems like an unbelievably stupid plan.

It is, which is why Rick and crew didn't actually do it, but only made it look as if they did. The Termites opinion of themselves is only really matched by the competence of Rick's gang (and not the cannibals).

That part of it I thought was done pretty well, because one of my main problems with past seasons of Walking Dead is the cast doing stupid, stupid things that are transparently just to move to the next plot point. The long take when the gang are walking off and then the cannibals sneak out of the woods was awesome, too.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:23 AM on October 27, 2014 [6 favorites]


It is, which is why Rick and crew didn't actually do it, but only made it look as if they did.

Was the audience given any hint that Rick and company was going to double back? 'Cause I only remember them being all "Hell yeah, let's go mess'em up!"

This particular episode seemed unnecessary, from Gareth's ridiculous mugging for the camera, to the idiotic plan and response from Rick. It all felt very padded.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:01 AM on October 27, 2014 [2 favorites]


The sheer brutality of the slaughter scene in the church was a shocker to me. Rick is definitely the kind of man who keeps his word - remember he told Gareth earlier that he would use Michonne's katana to kill him? Well, that he did - and it was something to behold, especially with Gareth begging and pleading for his life and promising to leave Rick's group alone. Andrew J. West said in Talking Dead that we were now seeing a new side of Rick. It was Andrew's belief that, had this happened in an earlier season, Rick might have been more inclined to show mercy. He also said, interestingly enough, that if the walker virus were cured then Gareth would be one of those people who would not likely survive long because of the things he had done.
posted by Telpethoron at 5:15 AM on October 27, 2014 [1 favorite]


He used the red-handled machete, not the Katana.

I cheered, I did.
posted by Thistledown at 6:40 AM on October 27, 2014 [4 favorites]


The show implies that the termites believe that this will cause the group to charge over to the school but that seems like an unbelievably stupid plan.

I totally that that Rick & Co were just going to go to the school because the shows creators have made them so stupid for so many seasons now.

I was actually thinking Carl was going to be the one to save the day and Tyrese will be forced to participate in something he wants no part of by helping Carl, making so that every time Tyrese declines to help with the big fight, fate still forces him to participate in this horrible world.
posted by LizBoBiz at 7:29 AM on October 27, 2014 [3 favorites]


When Carol was wandering in the darkness last episode, I was annoyed. Then at the end of this episode when Michonne wandered out into the darkness, I yelled at the tv "come on!". I can't stand it when they just wander off in the darkness, alone or even with two or three of them. But then it occurred to me this morning that I actually like that as well. If you're not dumb enough to be shining a flashlight and giving away your position, moving through the darkness is often times preferable to the light.
posted by cashman at 7:56 AM on October 27, 2014 [2 favorites]


Speaking as someone who walks around in the dark a lot, if you're trying to keep an eye on the whole area and not just the ground in front of your feet then it's better to NOT use a flashlight so that your eyes stay adjusted to the dark.
posted by Jacqueline at 9:47 AM on October 27, 2014 [3 favorites]


Well, guess we don't find out whether or not eating tainted meat turns you into zombies.

Also, ever since they found out that having "pet" zombies kept the other zombies at bay, why don't they all just wander around with their own jawless zombies? Or at least use them around the perimeter of the camp to figure out if what's coming is actually zombie or human?
posted by astapasta24 at 10:10 AM on October 27, 2014 [3 favorites]


then it's better to NOT use a flashlight so that your eyes stay adjusted to the dark.

Yep, I was trying to get that across.

why don't they all just wander around with their own jawless zombies?

I think they use it as a technique from time to time but don't do it all the time because that's a pretty macabre thing to consistently do, and also I'd have to guess chillin with multiple dead bodies all the time the smell is horrendous. Also not really hygenic.
posted by cashman at 10:37 AM on October 27, 2014 [5 favorites]


I'm guessing that when Daryl says "Come on out," who comes out of the woods is Beth, not Carol, or maybe both Beth and Carol. Then we get the "Oh, man, your sister just left for DC like 10 hours ago!" and Beth insisting on trying to catch up.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 11:25 AM on October 27, 2014 [1 favorite]


Beth has been such obvious zombie fodder that I've been waiting for her to die since she was introduced in Season 2. Had they fleshed out (heh) her character a bit more from the beginning I might find her more interesting, but she has been so undeveloped as a character that anything they try to do with her at this point in the story is IMO too little too late. She went from her suicide attempt at the farm to being a glorified extra/singing babysitter at the prison, whose only character trait appeared to be that she couldn't/wouldn't cry when people died. Okay. But then in the "I want to drink!" episode with Daryl she finally showed some personality and spunk - I actually LIKED that she acted like a bratty teenage girl because it was refreshingly normal. But it still felt fake and bizarre to me in the context of the overall show since the writers had completely ignored her for two seasons, almost as if she was such an afterthought that they forgot to have a zombie eat her along the way. So, I'm not exactly eager for a Beth-centric episode, but I'm kind of morbidly curious what the hell the writers will do with her.

Also, can they give Maggie something to do? Please? She is/was a great character but she is well on her way to becoming Beth II.
posted by gatorae at 11:40 AM on October 27, 2014 [4 favorites]


CDC this, CDC that.... Is no one in the gang going to mention that they blew up the CDC in Atlanta?

Was the audience given any hint that Rick and company was going to double back?

I know I didn't see it coming. Even though I was secretly hoping they would appear I didn't actually think they would so it was exciting either way.

Sasha's up-close encounter while looking through the telescope was probably the best WD scare I've had since that scene with Penny and The Governor.
posted by Room 641-A at 12:19 PM on October 27, 2014 [2 favorites]


I know I didn't see it coming.

Or hear it. That big door, all those boots on hardwood... Utterly silent. Are they ghosts? Did they walk through the wall and float over the floor? Did the termites, knowing full well that even if Rick & co. went to the school, they'd be coming back immediately thereafter upon finding their camp abandoned, really not think to guard the entrance?
posted by Sys Rq at 12:59 PM on October 27, 2014 [1 favorite]


"I had the exact opposite reaction. I'm much happier with this season's pace so far. In the past, this show would have stretched the events of this episode over 3 or 4 episodes for sure."

Yeah, I was so pleasantly surprised at that. I wasn't even aware that I was dreading them dragging the whole termite plot until they concluded it so unexpectedly. It's funny because, as a rule, I prefer shows to be take their time and pay attention to details of characterization and such. But when it's mostly just sucking every last tiny drop of suspense they can possibly get from a scenario, it just bugs me.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:32 PM on October 27, 2014 [4 favorites]


Or hear it. That big door, all those boots on hardwood... Utterly silent

weren't they just hiding in the shadows at the back? I don't think they opened the door and snuck in when the 2 cannibal guys were there but I haven't been paying too close attention to this show (too grim and depressing for me at this point).
posted by Hoopo at 3:38 PM on October 27, 2014


Was the audience given any hint that Rick and company was going to double back? 'Cause I only remember them being all "Hell yeah, let's go mess'em up!"

I thought it telegraphed that the obvious thing -- what they would have done in previous seasons -- wasn't what they were going to do. They intentionally didn't show them discussing a plan, only afterward talking about how risky it was. Maybe I'm giving the show more credit than it deserves.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:21 PM on October 27, 2014 [1 favorite]


CDC this, CDC that.... Is no one in the gang going to mention that they blew up the CDC in Atlanta?

I was waiting for someone to mention it. Dr. Crazypants told them every other station went dark ages ago, and he also claimed his station was wired to blow up if it ran out of fuel (suggesting similar protocols in U.S. based facilities). It's possible they would choose to believe Eugene over him, what with how Eugene is merely socially awkward and he was suicidal, but it still seemed worth bringing up. Like, "What if it blew up, what's Plan B?"
posted by mordax at 5:09 PM on October 27, 2014 [1 favorite]


I thought it telegraphed that the obvious thing -- what they would have done in previous seasons -- wasn't what they were going to do. They intentionally didn't show them discussing a plan, only afterward talking about how risky it was. Maybe I'm giving the show more credit than it deserves.

Nope, you're right. If you rewatch the "let's review our plan" scene, everything they say could apply either to attacking the Termites at the school or to drawing them into the church ambush. The great part is that the plan used Terminus-esque Venus flytrap tactics.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:53 PM on October 27, 2014 [2 favorites]


I thought so many WTF questions would come from the Eugene storyline after seeing how awkward it looked being introduced last season, but maybe this is one of those "Hail Mary" plot/character changes Kirkman wanted to take with the TV show.

This show vacillates between "best X Files eps" and the movie version of Swamp Thing, but is still a shockingly successful franchise for having whored out source material in less than a decade on par with the Whovian fandom... I guess it takes all ages, and all types of folks.

Pretty ones and babies, especially.

Ooh what if Beth is pregnant???
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 11:09 PM on October 27, 2014 [1 favorite]


Beth can't be pregnant. There's already one silly baby on the show. A fat, healthy, in-no-way-starving-or-nutrition-deprived, pink-cheeked baby.
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 5:09 AM on October 28, 2014 [1 favorite]


To be fair, nobody's starving but a healthy baby is just damn egregious.

Where are the roving packs of animals, BTW? Was that ever addressed? All eaten by zombies? I would have expected feral dogs and wild animals to be able to hold their own.

I love this silly show.
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 5:35 AM on October 28, 2014


I imagine most dogs were eaten long before they or their offspring ever had a chance to become feral. Most wild animals flee from or avoid regular humans, let alone predatory zombies -- at least in my neighborhood, the many deer, squirrels, turtles, skunks, raccoons, porcupines, mice, chipmunks, groundhogs, snakes, toads, and rabbits vanish the moment they sense a person approaching, and those are the ones that are used to living in highly human-traveled areas.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:20 AM on October 28, 2014


Where are the roving packs of animals, BTW?

Animals do get eaten by zombies -- the horse in the first episode got et. I imagine there are some parts of the world that haven't had too many zombies wander into them and nature has started to run its course, which means in an area where there are no zombies, there is nature, red in tooth and claw, waiting for you.

There do seem to be a lot of little critters still around. Thank goodness the group has Daryl, who seems like he never met a squirrel he couldn't eat.
posted by maxsparber at 8:33 AM on October 28, 2014


I assume the lack of wild animals falls under the long list of things they haven't shown us because it isn't necessary and doesn't greatly impact the story they want to tell. Presumably zombies can't catch most wild animals, but then again, it seems likely that zombies couldn't catch a human walking at more than a snail's pace.

Can you hunt deer with a crossbow? Seems like it would be a lot more efficient to hunt deer than squirrels.
posted by 2ht at 8:58 AM on October 28, 2014


Seems like it would be a lot more efficient to hunt deer than squirrels.

It would, but there are problems with deer: 1. too big & heavy to carry back to camp; 2. field dressing a deer is going to attract a shit-ton of walkers.

Now I kind of want to play Oregon Trail with zombies in it.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:19 AM on October 28, 2014


My girlfriend has gotten tired of me saying "I can't wait to eat that monkey" every time someone asks to hold Judith.

I'm moving on to "Actually, it's about ethics in video games journalism" every time someone gets swarmed by walkers.

I'm not the easiest person with whom to watch television.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 10:20 AM on October 28, 2014 [8 favorites]


Now I kind of want to play Oregon Trail with zombies in it.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:16 PM on October 28, 2014


oh my god
posted by Sys Rq at 2:26 PM on October 28, 2014


No joke—I was playing a game of Organ Trail after Ray Walston's link reminded me of it, and this happened.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 4:29 PM on October 28, 2014 [4 favorites]


Holy fucking shit, Organ Trail Bob. Every Walking Dead iteration of you IS the darkest timeline.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:03 PM on October 28, 2014


My poor husband got fed up with me saying, "Tyreese has feels," every time he was onscreen.
posted by tracicle at 10:46 PM on October 28, 2014 [4 favorites]


First off, thanks to FanFare, I now call the kid with the hat Korl.

Second off, (and you will have to forgive me if I missed this plot point) I thought everyone has the virus, and therefore are they not all "tainted meat"? Do you just die faster if you get bit?

Lastly, I thought this episode was really dark. Literally. I could not track people. Maybe I should fix the contrast on my TV.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 11:47 PM on October 30, 2014 [1 favorite]


Second off, (and you will have to forgive me if I missed this plot point) I thought everyone has the virus, and therefore are they not all "tainted meat"? Do you just die faster if you get bit?

The virus isn't fatal at all if you're not bitten.* It's just that, however you do end up dying, you come back as a zombie.

*It is unclear if eating the meat of a bitten person would transmit the fatal form of the virus.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:53 AM on October 31, 2014


It's okay, guys! They cooked it!
posted by maxsparber at 9:58 AM on October 31, 2014


It's okay, guys! They cooked it!

The meat they use for the zombie actors to eat is ham. It had a BBQ sauce on it, but the vinegar in the sauce cause their makeup to run, so no more of that.

Remember Dale's intestines? They were chicken breasts.

Happy Halloween!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:20 AM on October 31, 2014


It's just that, however you do end up dying, you come back as a zombie.

This keeps annoying the crap out the rational side of me. It makes not a lick (or mouthful) of sense from a scientific perspective. Instead it crashes through that barrier out in the field of WOO, then turns around and gives you the finger while doing doughnuts.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:21 AM on October 31, 2014


Eh. I don't have a problem with it. It's entirely conceivable that when you get bitten, it's not the virus that gives you the fever, but the millions of other types of microbes that the disgusting, dirty, rotting corpse that bit you is basically made of. You'd be infected with just about everything all at once.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:03 AM on October 31, 2014


I didn't want to stop the episode (and thereby annoy my girlfriend) so I'll ask those of you with replay ability at hand instead:

Can someone get a screenshot of the bible verses on the wall inside the church? They showed them over characters' shoulders so frequently that I'm guessing they're some little ha-ha message from the producers but like I said, I didn't think I was in a position to pause it, take a picture of the screen, then look them up later.

But I swear one of them was a verse from Revelation which, you know, usually doesn't come up during the sermon. I think the rest were New Testament as well, but ...
posted by komara at 12:42 PM on November 4, 2014


Dang it, it just occurred to me that they would have been visible last week, and sure enough someone's already done the work for me.
posted by komara at 12:45 PM on November 4, 2014


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