The Walking Dead Review: “Slabtown” (Season 5, Episode 4)

Ultimately, Beth did a lot of growing up this episode. She’s depended on others, whether it’s her family, the other members of the group, or even just Daryl. But on her own, she had to be practical,  proactive and assertive. She and Noah put a plan into effect to get out through the basement, past the walkers and out of the hospital, and although Beth doesn’t make it before getting caught by Dawn’s cops, she does smile as she sees Noah get away. Whatever was about to happen to her didn’t matter because at least Noah has the chance to return to his family. And she’s proved that she’s not as weak and useless as Dawn would have her believe.

Speaking of belief, it’s the one thing that might separate Dawn and Gareth in terms of their ends justify the means mentality. In Dawn’s case, the belief is hope, hope that if she and the others hang on long enough then rescue will be coming because somewhere, there’s some semblance of government and order left. Abraham has that same hope as he makes his way to Washington with Eugene and his supposed cure, a compounding dose of hopefulness in The Walking Dead’s usual nihilistic world view. With so much new found hope that there’s an old world to go back to, or a new world that can be built out of it, this can only end with some very burst bubbles when reality comes crashing in. Even Beth, typically one of the most optimistic people in zombieland, tries to dose reality in Dawn’s kool-aid by screaming at her that no one’s coming to their rescue them.

But sometimes there is such a thing as hope. Although Beth’s on a very thin thread, seemingly betrayed by one of the few people she thought she could trust, the hospital staff bring in a new patient, Carol. Carol’s unconscious, but can Daryl be far behind?

The fate of Beth and Carol will have to wait though, because it seems that the Walking Dead crew has set-up a situation where they’re duplicating the format from last season’s second half where we follow the separated group, and focus on one portion of it per episode. Next week, we’ll catch up with Glenn, Maggie, Rosita, Abraham, and Eugene. I wonder if their paths will intersect with Noah, whose family is situated in Richmond, VA, which, if my geography serves me well, is somewhat close to Washington D.C. Coincidence? I doubt it. Plus, Tyler James Williams (famous for playing young Chris Rock in Everyone Hates Chris) was very good as Noah, and it certainly would be a shame if this was the last we saw of him.

Four episodes into season five, and I can easily say this has probably been The Walking Dead‘s strongest run of consecutive episodes since season three. Who would have guessed that the answer to the question of “What Happened to Beth?” would have opened up another interesting avenue for the show to drive us down, and who would have guessed that spending an hour with Beth solo would have been so effectively tense and dramatic? It’s almost disappointing that we won’t be following up with Grady Memorial next week, but it’s something new to look forward to as the season goes on.