So, it looks like I was wrong last week – Bob was bitten. Despite having both a zombie bite and missing a leg, it still took him a good 36 hours or so to die. I guess this is just another example of adjusting zombie lore to fit the needs of the story. It was a sweet death. I’m glad they killed Bob before he turned – seems respectful.
As Gareth and his crew munches on “shish kaBob,” Gareth waxes poetic about their methods (“It was going to be a choice: join us or feed us”) and who tastes better (“I like the taste of women better and I think pretty people taste better, too”). He thinks he is being human to Bob. Bob starts laughing hysterically, shows off his bitten shoulder, and starts screaming “Tainted meat! Tainted meat!” Gareth’s crew freaks out, but Gareth is pretty sure they are safe because they cooked the meat. I guess this group doesn’t know that everyone is a carrier of the zombie virus.
While Bob is being eaten, Rick finally confronts Gabriel about what he will “burn for.” As I suspected, he locked himself in the church (“I always lock the doors at night”) and didn’t open up when his parishioners started begging for sanctuary. He could hear the dead ripping them apart, and he did nothing. Gabriel believes his god sent Rick and his crew to punish him.
Rather than killing Bob, Gareth’s crew leaves him on the church’s doorstep. After Sasha and Tyreese get him inside, he explains what happened and shows off his zombie bite. Abraham decides it is time to get the convoy to D.C. moving, which sets off Rick. He doesn’t want to leave without Carol and Daryl, and Abraham plans on taking the bus he fixed up. Their fighting almost comes to blows several times, Glenn stepping in each time. He finally agrees to wait until noon, and at that point he is taking Tara, Maggie, and Glenn with him. Rick tries to tell him he can’t have Glenn and Maggie, but Glenn pointedly tells him that it’s not Ricks choice.
Rick wants to make a move on Gareth’s crew immediately. They set a plan in motion: Rick takes half the crew into the woods to hunt Gareth’s team, while Carl, Tyreese, Judith, Gabriel, and a few others stay behind to hold down the fort. Sure enough, the two crews miss each other in the woods, and Gareth’s team enters the church. He is so smug, knowing that Rick and the strongest members of the team took most of the firearms and left. But joke’s on him, as Rick’s team circled back around and sneak up on Gareth in the church. Using the silencers Glenn found in last week’s episode, Rick drops two of the enemy crew before Gareth notices him.
Out-armed and outnumbered, Gareth and his remaining people surrender. Suddenly he turns into a big pussy, begging for his life, swearing that they will never bother Rick and his people again. Rick isn’t buying it, and the massacre begins. Rick and Sasha kill with knives, while Abraham uses the butt of his gun. It is shockingly brutal, and I’m not sure why it comes across that way. It certainly isn’t the first time Rick and his crew have brutalized humans, and it’s not like Gareth’s team didnt deserve it. Maybe it was because of the looks on the faces of the others in the group. Tyreese seemed especially pained by the brutality, but I think that is because it was the first time he saw Sasha react so violently. Maggie and Glenn also look stunned, but they quickly return to Rick’s side when Gabriel starts shrieking, “This is the lord’s house!”
“No. Its just four walls and a roof,” Maggie replies flatly.
I am kind of surprised at how quickly the cannibals were killed off. The scenes for next week tell us we will finally find Beth, and it seems to hint at a more fearsome foe. But I liked the cannibal plot. I guess once their dirty secret was out, there isn’t much else you can do with them.
The group says their goodbyes to Bob, and Sasha remains with him until his last breath. Tyreese offers to finish him for her, and does it in a very peaceful, respectful way: A quiet, steady knife to the temple. Noon has arrived, and Abraham packs his crew into the bus. He gives Rick a map of their planned route, and implores him to find them, or at least meet them in D.C. Rick looks at the map after they leave. “Sorry I was an *sshole. Come to Washington D.C. The new world’s going to need Rick Grimes.”
That night, Michonne is sitting on the porch, enjoying the feel or her newly-recovered katana. A rustling puts her on edge, but it is just Daryl. “Where is Carol?” she asks. “Come on out,” Daryl says. But that’s it. We don’t actually see Carol. This is highly suspicious. If she were dead, Daryl would show emotion. Is she badly disfigured or injured? Is it Beth? Are all those preview scenes where Beth is in a hospital a flashback? I think Daryl met up with Morgan, who had been following the marks the cannibals had been leaving.
But that still begs the question: Where the hell is Carol?
