The Walking Dead: Season 4 Episode 3 Isolation Review:
This episode did start off with big emotion, but I would have never foreseen the opening as a brawl between Rick and Tyrese with Daryl stuck in the middle. It was interesting to see a battle between both characters as they descended into madness. Daryl shows control here, telling Rick to back away when Tyrese pins him against the wall. Daryl reminds Tyrese that “We’re on the same side”. This scene sets up the entire episode, leaving Rick and Tyrese to split off and make decisions of their own based on what they have experienced from the last episode.
Tyrese is filled with fury as he digs a grave like a mad man, unhappy with the fact that no one seems concerned about finding the killer. Rick later apologizes to Tyrese, but he’s still upset. Rick explains that he wants to make the place safe and protect everyone first. Tyrese disagrees and says “You worry about that. I’ll worry about what’s right” and storms off. However, he really doesn’t know what he’s doing and mostly walks around while infuriated. Later, he visits Karen who seems to be slipping under her sickness and losing all hope. In advising her that Daryl’s group is going out to get medicine, Tyrese notices that Karen has regained some hope. This ultimately shifts his driving focus of finding the killer to helping his sister and he knows that he can do this by joining Daryl’s run.
After being on the road, Daryl hears a voice on the radio. Just as this happens, they drive into a horde of apparently 7500+ walkers. Daryl, Michonne, and Bob leave the car to fight their way through the horde, but Tyrese stays in the car. He seems mad at himself and mad at the situation he’s stuck in, but he eventually does leave the car and gets nutty with the machete. It kind of reminded me of the scene in the original “Dawn of the Dead” where Ken Foree’s character decides to back off in a room and put a gun to his head to end it all. He gets a sudden instinct to live and decides to fight through the zombies and escape. I’m not sure if Tyrese was contemplating suicide, but I see it as a definite possibility.
During this, Rick does some investigation and asks Carol if she burned the two bodies. She comfortably says “Yes” and walks away, feeling that her decision was justified. This is great, because it makes sense and adds depth to an earlier scene. It’s when Tyrese stands behind Carol and waits for her to turn around. She gets startled by him, but then he asks her if she can look after Karen because she trusts her. After she says she will, he walks away. When Carol is alone, she has a freak out, knocks over a water barrel, and drops to the ground crying. Earlier I wasn’t sure if she was the one who burned the bodies, but now it all makes sense considering that she has been making many hard and logical decisions recently. On top of that, it also adds a lot of tension. What happens when Tyrese finds out? Will Rick even tell Tyrese or will he tell someone else and will it will sneak it’s way over to Tyrese. Either way, this episode set up a huge time bomb and Tyrese is it’s name.
It was good to see a variety of different characters and the changes they are going through instead of focusing on one character. Glenn is sick, Hershel has been exposed as well, and Beth is seeming like a robot, repeating the phrases: “We all got jobs to do” and “We can’t be upset”. It’s not really advice she’s giving Maggie, it’s more a defence for herself to prevent from getting emotional and possibly going mad. Everyone is going through turmoil, but if Tyrese survives the run and makes his way back to the prison, it’s goin’ down! Either way, it seems darker days are still ahead and it will be interesting to see how some of these mysteries, potential problems, and decisions will unfold. One thing I will say: the mystery of who burned the bodies has been solved and it has not been stretched to another episode. It’s minor progress from the previous subpar episode last Sunday, but there is a lot of work to be done in order to get Season Four up to the heights of the previous season.
