Review: The Walking Dead ‘Alone’

While I wasn’t too impressed with last week’s installment of The Walking Dead (mostly because it felt drawn out), this week brings a high point in the series. With ‘Alone’, we get many interesting developments as well as a look into the back-story of one of the series’ lesser-known characters. In the end, this episode is all about the crappier side of living life on the road, whether you seek to keep moving or stop in and settle down for a while. No matter where the characters go, things just seem to suck.

On one side of the story we see Bob, Maggie and Sasha as they continue their hunt for a potentially alive Glenn. Maggie is determined to find him, but Sasha wants her to accept the fact that he’s probably dead so that the trio can concentrate on setting up a new base of operations. So Maggie decides that setting off on her own is the best way to let the others get back to more practical affairs. Bob decides that he’s not okay with this so, despite Sasha’s complaints and the growing relationship between the two, he keeps following Maggie. Eventually, Maggie and Sasha meet up under dangerous circumstances and the group agrees that sticking together is for the best, even if it means they have to stay moving.

On the other side, we are once again in the presence of Daryl and Beth. They find an old funeral home stocked with food and decide to set up shop there for a while. Daryl even goes so far as to let Beth know that he’s taken a fancy to her (hurrah! you go Daryl!). Unfortunately, The Walking Dead is never kind to those in love. Zombies invade the funeral home and then Beth gets carried away by some mysterious kidnappers. Daryl, despondent over losing her, is about to give up when he gets approached by a group of what seem to be bandits. He joins up, though whether this is for the best or not remains to be seen.

One of my favorite parts about this episode was the introduction, where we see Bob during his back-story. We get a look at what it means to be living on the road during the zombie apocalypse, including all the small details and inconveniences. This theme continues throughout the episode, with the trio hunting Glenn despite the hardships and then the supposed temporary happiness that Daryl and Beth try to achieve. And now that Beth is somewhere unknown and Daryl is hanging out with some rough-looking dudes, we’re going to see a whole other part of what it means to be a survivor.

The story with Bob, Sasha and Maggie did run a bit slower than it could have, but it wasn’t so distracting as to cause boredom. The switch to Daryl and Beth helped a lot with that as well. And watching Daryl and Beth grow closer was absolutely perfect. Of course the bastard writers had to immediately interrupt that with a plot twist. And though the random kidnapping felt a bit forced, I am eager to see where they take it.

All-in-all, another great episode from what is proving to be a melancholy and introspective season. Next week’s ‘The Grove’ brings us back to Tyreese, Carol and the kids, which should prove to be interesting. Will Carol let Tyreese in on the secret of what she did at the prison? I hope not, or he’s gonna bash her head in with that hammer of his. For a sneak peek at next week, head to this site and check out the trailers.

Photo Credits -           

Alone courtesy of whatculture.com