Review: The Walking Dead ‘Claimed’

Once again, the new Walking Dead showrunner, Scott Gimple, is proving that he knows how to put together a season that brings us all the zombie-stomping action that we could hope for while still managing to explore the characters involved in the story. This week’s episode, ‘Claimed’ follows half of the group, splitting between two stories, but still develops both halves of the episode to satisfaction.

The first group that shows up this week is Rick, Carl and Michonne. They’ve got a nice place to stay low for a while. Or so they think. While Michonne and Carl are out looking for supplies, some random human beings come in and make themselves at home there. Rick is caught by surprise, but is clever enough to squirm his way out of the situation with out too many people getting killed.

On the other side, there’s Glenn and Tara. They’ve found some potential new allies in Abraham, Rosita and Eugene. The three-person crew seems pretty amiable and not just out to rob and kill them. So, with Glenn too messed up to even move, they take off down the road. When Glenn awakens, however, he has an urge to go back to the bus and find out if Maggie is still alive. Some conflict ensues, ending with the revelation that Eugene supposedly may have some sort of cure for the zombie virus. Of course, he won’t tell anyone what it is, so his motives are suspect. When Glenn tries to leave, zombies strike and their ride gets hit. So the entire parade ends up on their way back to the bus.

This was definitely a slower-paced episode, but that pacing served it well. We got a lot more insight into the character of Michonne as she opened up to Carl. We learned a little about who Abraham is. And we got to see Rick play ninja. The few zombie-oriented moments were more like asides to the main story. They didn’t provoke any sort of tension, but if that weren’t the case it would likely have detracted from the episode as a whole.

In the end, ‘Claimed’ wasn’t the absolute best episode, but it was put together very well and did many things to drive the story forward and keep us wanting to know more about these characters that will probably end up dying off at some point. With all the screen time they’re giving to Michonne, I’d put money on her.

Next week, it’s back to the rest of the gang, particularly Beth and Daryl. If they continue with their pattern of picking up the pace after a slow episode, it should be another avalanche of zombie-horde madness. Let’s hope they still present the deeper level of character development that they’ve bringing.

If you want to have a brief look at next week’s episode, ‘Still’, head to this site and check out the trailer.

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Claimed courtesy of guardianlv.com