S4: E3: "Isolation"

Oh shit. So much for the idyllic glimpses we saw of prison life in episode 1.  The plague has taken over the prison, poisoning not only first victim/nerd Patrick but many, many others.  The slow, quiet  dread of episode 3 is punctuated with several moments of "oh shit"-ness:

Example 1: 

Oh shit. Tyrese is going to lose it, I just know it.  He is hovering over those smoking bodies... and oh no!  He's shouting!  He's advancing on Rick!  He's pushing away Daryl and confusing cops with detectives, demanding that Rick solve the mystery of who has killed his girlfriend.  This puzzles me, but I don't have time to think - OH SHIT a fight breaks out!

Tip: never insist that you know what Tyrese is going through.  He will punch you in the face!

Example 2:

Oh shit, Sasha is sick.  This is just terrible.  Her brother Tyreese is already having such a rough day.

Example 3:

Oh shit!  The water hose is clogged!  This means someone's going to have to go beyond the walls... and of course, New Carol (aka, fearless, tough, survivalist Carol) takes it upon herself, and nearly gets chomped.  Why did she try to go it alone?  In her words, "We don't know if we'll get a tomorrow.  Plus, she seems a little off - a fairly straightforward conversation with Tyreese sends her into a water-barrel kickin' hissy fit.  Overwhelmed by grief, or something else, Carol?

We don't have to wonder for very long.  Detective Rick figgers it out:

"Carol, did you kill Karen and David?"

"Yes."  

Example 4:

We who have read the graphic novel get "ah shit!" moment, as the gang drives out... for some reason I missed.  It doesn't matter.  They hear voices on the radio - a transmission!  But before you can say "what the hey," they realize they have driven into a massive+gigantic zombie swarm.

Tyrese has gone catatonic, refusing to fight his way out.  He's had a rough one, so I can sympathize.  But rage and a decision to survive kick in, and we get a pretty sweet scene taken directly from the novels:

HAMMER TIME

All in all, we're back in business with "Isolation."  I admire how well this episode's ambiance plays against Episode 1, "30 Days."  That episode was hard to stomach because it was too Disneyland, crawling with happy Woodburyites and smiling Michonnes.

Which I guess that says something revealing about the TWD audience (or more specifically me)- honestly, nobody wants to see things work out for these poor characters. 

Ultimately, "Isolation" brings us back to familiar narrative territory, with an emptied and still prison that makes us feel more keenly the loss of vitality and relatively good spirits.  The characters had a nice chunk of time in which they were actually living - livin', lovin', even collecting comic books.  But this, of course, is the walking dead. 



"You don't have a choice.  The only thing you can choose is what yer risking yer life for!"