The Walking Dead Season 4, Episode 4: Don't Call me Mom.

Change is the inevitable result of living in a world populated by zombies & it is the theme to this week's episode. Episode four entitled "Indifference" takes place outside of the secure walls of the prison and sends our characters into the harsh wilderness of the apocalypse. We begin with Carol giving a very motherly speech to Lizzy, who accidentally call's her mom, and brings up Sophia's death all over again. What I like about this opening sequence is that it really sets the tone for the episode, it sheds a light on how these guys have changed since the days when Rick was just a man looking for his wife & son, and Carol was helplessly trapped in her abusive relationship. I've said before that Carol has become one of my favorite characters and I can now use this episode as a clear marker for why I feel that way.

So with Daryl and co off traveling the back roads of Georgia, Rick & Carol decide to head off to find some supplies, but upon re-watching the episode it's clear Rick has other intentions. So the two take a road trip and eventually reach what seems to be an abandon house which is actually being occupied by two fruit bearing hipsters who have somehow managed to survive the undead hordes. They get acquainted and Carol finds that the blonde dude has a dislocated shoulder. Turns out she has a deep knowledge of shoulder injuries from her time spent with Ed and is able to heal the guy.

Meanwhile back on the road, Michonne and the shabby crew search for the animal hospital. Eventually they find it and scoop up some much needed meds, but not before ol' Bob snags a bottle letting his alcoholism get the best of him. Zombies chase our heroes through the hospital and they make a narrow rooftop escape, but upon leading out of a window Bob looses his footing, and almost lets his bag of alcoholic goodies fall into the clutches of a group of hungry walkers. But when Daryl finds that his backpacks full of booze he gets all alpha male with the former medic. Maybe the reason why Daryl gets so pissed is because of some kind of emotional wound his father left him that time never really healed. We don't know much about his past, but its pretty clear that his old man put the bottle before his family. This is the kind of stuff I'm really liking about this season. Gimple is thankfully deciding to focus on the characters and their development as opposed to forcing us to watch the Governor plot against the prisoners for another season which is what I was afraid the show was gonna turn into at first.

So Bob is left to think about where his priorities lie, with booze or his new family. But if you ask me, if farmer Rick wised up and started growing some chronic like the survivors did in Romero's "Day of the Dead," I don't think we would have this problem. I 'd rather Bob hit the peace pipe every now and again and have a mellow stoner on my team than an unpredictable alcoholic, just sayin'.

Meanwhile back in the zombie hood, Carol and Rick have a heart to heart about life, and loss. Both survivors are understandably emotionally wounded from losing their loved ones. Turns out Carol can't even utter poor Sophia's name anymore and Rick is still waiting for some poorly made pancakes from Lori. It's a delicate scene and it's performed pretty beautifully by the two leads. After they pick some fruit, they find poor ol' hipster girls corpse. Which kinda made me happy, something about that chick rubbed me the wrong way maybe it was her stupid crooked pigeon foot? I dunno, but I was happy to see her turn into walker grub for some reason.

So they wait around for that dreamy blonde dude, who seemed a little too happy, but they eventually leave the poor bastard behind. And this is where my mind imploded in on itself like Spock's planet did in J.J. Abrams's Star Trek. Carol gets voted out of the prison! I can kinda see Ricks logic in doing this. Carol's actions would have rocked the boat for sure, I don't think many would have been comfortable with her around after what she did. But on the other hand, Jesus officer friendly! You seriously just left her on her own? Part of me can't accept that, team Atlanta has to stick together you don't just abandon one of your own like that. But like it or not, Carol heads off into this soulless world by herself with nothing but her precious knives to keep her company. If this is the last time we see Carol, which I highly doubt it is, but if it is I think this was a good send off to her character. She came full circle in the end of this episode. She reconciled her feelings about the daughter she couldn't protect and the husband she couldn't bring herself to leave. She recognized how far she had come and in the end, just like that bug eyed wild lady in the woods said to Rick, sometimes you can't come back from the things you've done. This world does change you and most of the time it's for the worst, but in Carol's case I think it was for the better. The new world made her strong, I believe Carol will survive, and somehow return heroically to Ricks group, at least I hope so. Seeing her take off down the road with that soundtrack playing in the back dampened my eyes a bit, I maybe even shed a tear... I cried OK, you happy now? Carol was one of my favorites and seeing her cry made me cry alright?

So I really liked the character development in this episode specifically with Bob and Carol. Season 4 is getting good, I'm loving the direction its going, and the meditative atmosphere is adding a lot of much needed emotional weight to the show without it coming off like some kind of zombie soap opera like parts of season 2 did. So I'm giving "Indifference" another solid 8 out of 10


Written by Isaiah Mueller