Fanboys Anonymous

It's that time of week again! Yours truly, Chris "The Dace Man" Dace, is back with another review and synopsis of AMC's horror drama The Walking Dead!

Last week in the episode "Alone" we were left with some major cliffhangers. Beth is missing, Daryl has met a new group, and Glen is now on the path to Terminus. "Alone" was a huge marker for where the series is going; point all of our subgroups to one destination to become whole again while simultaneously taking each character and emphasizing their independent drives. At this point we're a few episodes removed from Rick's group and several episodes removed from Carol and Tyrese's group. Judging by the teasers we were given last week, this episode will focus largely on Carol and the kids. Is this the episode where the twisted sisters finally bite the dust? Also the clip Hardwick gave us during Talking Dead last week really left us bewildered. I recall sitting in my seat saying, "What the hell? Is this still the same show?" Regardless of how the clip incorporates itself into episode fourteen, we can bet our zombie lovin' asses that with three episodes left, Kirkman and AMC are most likely building us up for a "holy shit" finale that will have us eagerly awaiting October. So sit back relax and enjoy the next installment of season 4: "The Grove"


Remember that clip Hardwick showed us last week? Well, its creepiness kicked off this week's episode and rolled right into the credits. What the hell? Anybody else get emotional when they showed clips of the prison in the opening theme? Just me, I figure. Back to the details. We see Carol and Lizzy discussing the events at the prison where she made the fatal headshot. Lizzy pries a bit into Carol's personal life, asking about Sophia, and is a complete dick. Lizzy asks Carol if her daughter's not there because she was soft. I really hate this little girl. Carol then observes Tyrese having a nightmare before we cut to daybreak. Carol is tending to Ty's wound, and they keep discussing the children. Lizzy's sister outs her while walking with Carol about how Lizzy isn't afraid of dead rabbits. This is a reference to what Rick, Ty, and Daryl saw in the prison moments before the Governor's attack. Carol had commented that Lizzy is tough but doesn't understand the walkers, whereas Mika is worse off due to her not having a mean bone in her body. Carol goes off to investigate a fire smell in the distance. While she's gone, Ty and Lizzy spot a walker and Lizzy pleads with Ty to let it live. In the woods we see Carol walking with Mika; they're discussing the events of the prison and how Mika needs to become tougher and more logical about her surroundings. Mika retorts that she understands what the walkers are and that despite the attack on the prison she could never bring herself to murder a live human. After a heated debate back and forth between the two, Mika is still a beacon of hope and humanity in a world that is severely lacking it.

Back from commercial and the group approaches a house and sees smoke in the distance, most likely the shack Daryl and Beth burned down. While investigating the house, they leave Mika and Lizzy outside. While the girls talk, a walker makes it way outside and off the porch at them. Mika saves the day and kills the walker. Lizzy breaks down in tears as Carol and Tyrese look on. Mika calms down Lizzy, and we cut to the next scene. After a night scene inside the house, we see Mika fine and Lizzy shaken up. Cut back the opening we saw at the top of the incident; Lizzy is leading a walker around and has seemingly justified in her mind that walkers are living people. She's outside playing with it and giggling, drawing the attention of Carol who rushes out and immediately stabs it in the head. Lizzy begins yelling at Carol it was her friend and Carol murdered it. This solidifies my judgment that Lizzy is off her walker and will ultimately get someone killed. I like Mika and want her to be Carl's new squeeze if that mathematically works out.

Mika and Carol take us into the next segment, walking through the woods talking again. Mika seems to be a smart child and needs to protect Lizzy because she's clearly not all there. Carol and Mika approach a deer but Mika can't pull the trigger to kill it. The two turn and head back to the house. The next scene sees Ty justifying to Carol that they could live there and he can trust them all. Back to the psycho child, Lizzy who has made her way back to the walker stuck in the tracks. Lizzy decides she wants to be like them and extends her hand to the mouth of the walker. Mika is begging her sister to return to the house with her when a horde of burned zombies appears. Lizzy takes her good old time getting her crazy ass up and running. The two lead 'em back to camp, where they form a firing squad with Carol and Tyrese to mow the walkers down. Carol glances over at Lizzy during the showdown, and to me it looks like a face of concern. I also question if Lizzy actually hits any of them. At least Mika did, nothing kill-worthy but she still hit them. With that exchange we head into yet another commercial.

Did I mention I really hate this girl Lizzy? We open back up with her face staring off into the distance. We go through the whole schtick about the girls needing to be tough and find the gray area between right and wrong and be able to do it. They then have a few minutes of normalcy before we cut over to the next day. At this point Carol has bought into Ty's idea of staying. Ty brings up Karen to Carol, which is obviously a tender topic. The look of "Oh shit" on Carol's face is priceless as Ty starts to break down a bit. I'm getting the sense that Carol might get offed as Ty talks about his feelings and dreams. This emotional scene between the two raises so much tension. As a fan, I'm yelling at the screen "She either killed Karen or knows the kids did!" The two are seen walking back to the house, and there stands Lizzy with a knife and baby Judith to her right. Behind her is Mika, dead. Lizzy then draws a gun on Carol, saying they need to wait for Mika to turn. Carol in tears gets the gun from Mika and tells Ty, Judith, and Lizzy to go back to the house. Carol completely breaks down as the other three exit. I think it's safe to say that Lizzy has just become the new Lori, and I eagerly await this character's death. [Side note: a terrible Hooters commercial came on, and I feel dumber for having watched it.]

Decision-making time! Ty cleaned out Lizzy's room so she wouldn't have any weapons. He and Carol begin weighing options about what should happen with Lizzy. The obvious decision is to feed her to walkers, right? Or am I just messed up? The next scene has Carol walking off with Lizzy as Tyrese watches. As Carol starts to break down, Lizzy panics and starts apologizing for pointing a gun at her, completely missing the whole murdering-her-sister thing. Lizzy begs Carol not to be mad. Carol tells her to calm down and "Look at the flowers Lizzy." With Lizzy distracted by the flowers, Carol slowly draws her gun and pulls the trigger. Damn. Later that evening, Carol slides the gun to Tyrese and confesses that she murdered Karen and David to prevent an outbreak. He asks her about Karen's final moments and then slowly grips the gun. Seeing this, Carol says, "Do what you have to do." Tyreese slowly releases the gun and forgives Carol, telling her he will never forget. After probably the darkest and most emotional episode of The Walking Dead, Tyrese and Carol head back to the tracks and head toward Terminus.

That's it! See ya next week, walkers! As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no, not just porn), as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until then, for the few, the proud, and of course the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and, in this case, lots of tissues—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!