While most of the healthy people are absent from the prison for their various reasons (supply run, the other supply run, getting abandoned on a supply run), Hershel and Glenn and Sasha are fighting a losing battle against the lethal flu bug still ravaging Cell Block A, while Maggie's the only one left to clear the fences. She's shocked to learn about Carol when Rick returns, but agrees with his decision. And Dr. S. warns Hershel that he's going to need to prepare for the imminent time when he starts losing people -- including Dr. S. himself. And soon it's no longer a waiting game to keep people alive, but a race to get the dead ones out of view and safely skull-stabbed.
Rick and Hershel's reunion kicks off with a philosophical discussion rather than a handoff of whatever meds he and Carol collected on their run. And when Hershel returns to the cell block, he gets too busy trying to save an unconscious Sasha to notice that another patient has died -- but, as always, only temporarily. By the time he revives Sasha, Glenn is alone and coughing up blood, more patients are dead, and Hershel's got a full-on zombie outbreak on his hands, with a negative amount of help from Lizzie.
Rick and Maggie get back to shoring up the fence outside the prison where the walkers have built up again, but when they hear gunshots inside the cell block, Maggie goes to the rescue. That leaves Rick and Carl on fence duty -- until it gives way and the zombies get inside both the outer and the inner fences, and the Grimeses finally break out the assault rifles. Meanwhile, Maggie shoots her way into A Block just in time to help Hershel intubate Glenn and save him, using a bag that Hershel had to rip out of a dead zombie.
Rick and Carl manage to keep the yard from being overrun, and finish mopping up just as Daryl and his away team return from the veterinary college. Hershel's worst day ever is finally over, and the extras cast is a lot smaller. The morning, all seems well, considering. Michonne clears out the walker corpses, Glenn is breathing unassisted, Rick and Carl sample some of their first peas from the garden, and Daryl has yet to hear the news about Carol. But there's another problem just outside the fence that nobody knows about yet. Yep, the Governor is back. We'll just have to wait until week to see what he's getting up to.
After ditching Carol on their supply run, Rick's driving back to the prison. He contemplates the dead leaves blowing on the highway, his bandaged right hand on the steering wheel, and Carol's watch with half its band missing on the seat to him, which says it's about quarter to six. I like to think that at some point, the prison council made a conscious decision to just fuck Daylight Savings Time once and for all. The Hyundai passes a legless but still moving zombie being picked at by dogs at the side of the road, and as the watch keeps ticking, Rick puts his head down and drives with renewed determination. Or else he's getting sleepy.
Back at the prison -- which is a place nobody missed at all last week -- a very sick Sasha and an even sicker Glenn are struggling to assist an un-sick Hershel as he intubates a guy named Henry, who is sickest of all. Henry is also wide awake, so it's not going all that well. Eventually Hershel gets the breathing tube in and starts squeezing the bag to help Henry breathe. With the immediate crisis resolved, Hershel orders his nurses to drink some tea and remarks, "Some council meeting, huh?" Sasha points out that they're two members short, so Hershel suggests they make some new rules in their absence. "I hereby declare we have spaghetti Tuesdays every Wednesday," he says. "First we have to find some spaghetti." And no, Hershel is not temporarily being played by Robin Williams in a Snickers commercial. For one thing, this is a much tougher room. Hershel asks Sasha to take over the bag-squeezing and drafts Glenn to join him on his rounds. On the way out of the cell, Glenn asks Hershel how long this will keep Henry alive. "As long as we're willing to do it," Hershel says. "As long as it takes." Better appreciate it, Henry.
Cell Block A is pretty quiet except for sporadic coughing as Hershel, holding a lantern, leads Glenn down the stairs from the upper level and among the occupied cells. The first patient he looks in on has already checked out, with the trademark blood-muzzle of the flu's victims. Glenn goes to draw his knife, but Hershel tells him to wait and goes to get a gurney. Glenn wonders how this is going to work when Henry dies, being upstairs and all, and Hershel says Glenn will help. "What if I'm gone?" Glenn asks. "Shut up and help me get him on this," Hershel hisses. I assume you won't consider it a spoiler that when the time comes, discreet disposal of Henry is going to be the least of anyone's problems.
Cut to the two of them rolling the covered gurney into a separate room, which is of course when stupid Lizzie comes up all curious about what they're up to. Hershel makes some excuses and tasks Lizzie with reading his copy of Tom Sawyer, because it's always better to have Lizzie somewhere else whether you're disposing of a body or not. Once she's been gotten rid of, Glenn pulls his knife again and asks whether Hershel has had to do this yet. Hershel explains that Sasha did one last night, but he doesn't want the others to see it. Just then the dead guy stops being dead, so Glenn sinks his knife into its skull before it can even sit up. This is some hospital, where the patients have to do the dirty work.
Hershel meets Maggie through the glass of the visiting room, though she was expecting Glenn. Don't ask me how people are able to arrange meetings here in the first place. Hershel says Glenn is resting and everything is under control and there's no need for Maggie to come in, as tired as Hershel is. He assures her that they're going to make it. Well, probably not all of them. Back in the cell block, Glenn thanks Hershel for not letting Maggie come in, and Hershel sends Glenn to go rest. Like he told Maggie Glenn was already doing.
Out at the fence, Maggie is wearing some of her riot gear and poking a long garden tool into walker-faces all by herself, though the group pressing against the chain-link has to number a hundred or more. She leaves off long enough to run and open the gate for the returning Rick, who hops out of the car to ask about Carl, Judith, Glenn, Daryl, and Sasha. Screw Beth and anyone without lines, I suppose. Maggie's obviously curious about why Carol isn't with Rick, so he tells her about how Carol killed Karen and David. Maggie is rocked by the news as Rick continues that he didn't think Carol should be around when Tyreese got back, and he didn't want her there either. "She has a car, supplies." Rick says. "She'll figure it out." Maggie continues to look stunned, which is understandable; of the eight people who originally fled Hershel's farm together (not counting Andrea and the then-unborn Judith), there are only six left. This is actually not that bad, considering. Rick wants to keep this between the two of them and Hershel for now, and wonders if Maggie would have done the same thing. She says Rick was right, but isn't sure if she could have done it. Rick thinks so; "You've done harder things. Don't doubt yourself. We don't get to any more." What harder thing has Maggie-- oh, right, that teenage girl she shot to death in Woodbury. As he gets back in the car, Maggie remembers to warn him about the dangerously large group outside the fence, and Rick promises they'll take care of it. There are more important things to do right now and I can't wait to see what they are.
Rick calls to Hershel from the other side of the glass. Obviously they have a lot to catch each other up on in this urgent situation, but Hershel starts talking about a Steinbeck quote this latest victim shared with him yesterday: "A sad soul can kill quicker than a germ." This is why Hershel has been trying to keep the deaths out of the other patients' view. Well, except for Sasha and Glenn. Rick assures Hershel that they see him, and asks, "It's not gonna be like how it was, is it?" He wonders if it was denial, and Hershel says they caught a break. 'You needed some time. You got some. You got lucky. We all did." Hershel still thinks there's some divine plan or reason at work, and when Rick wonders if it was a test, Hershel says life was always a test. I'm glad they're able to find time for these important philosophical discussions while supplies run low and pestilence decimates their numbers by the hour and zombies are pushing down the fence. Finally Rick brings up some actual business: "I need to talk to you about Carol."
When Hershel emerges from the visiting room, further rocked by this latest bad news, he pauses only a moment before getting back to shutting cell doors. But then he stops when he sees Sasha's feet sticking out of her cell as though she's passed out on her floor, which of course is exactly what happened to her. Given the urgency of this situation, he leaves off door-closing to attend to Sasha, rolling her on her side so she doesn't drown in her own bloody phlegm. Too bad that he's failed to notice another patient inside a neighboring cell, which is just now opening its eyes after having died, unnoticed. Clearly being on the council has its perks around here.
Rick is out helping Maggie shore up the fence with tree trunks from the back of the pickup, working against the snarling undead horde outside. Rick tells Maggie that Hershel looks pretty good (if ever more Santa-like), and she asks if Rick wouldn't be in there if Carl were sick. When a walker grabs his ankle from under the fence, yanking him to the ground, Maggie hacks its arm off and he says, "I'm just glad you're out here with me." Aww, how sweet.
Sasha wakes up on the floor of her cell, and Hershel welcomes her back to the land of the living. They have a conversation about how stupid Hershel is to even be in here and how it saved her life. But don't worry; Hershel's stupidity is about to risk a lot more lives.
Glenn is still pumping Henry's breathing bag, but realizes he isn't getting a pulse any more. He starts CPR and tries to call for Hershel, but the effort of raising his voice soon leaves him flat on the floor, coughing his flu-ridden guts out. Hershel should hear that at least, right? Well, no, he's still closing cell doors. He pauses at the doorway to the cell of what may be the show's first gay couple (let's call them Aaron and Eric, just because), but the conscious one tells Hershel he wants to stay with the unconscious one, not letting Hershel in to look at him and closing the door instead. No red flags there or anything.
It's gotten fully dark outside in a hurry, as Carl and Rick are now working on the fence by lantern-light. Rick seems impressed with not only Carl's willingness to help but also his ability to help, but the moment is short-lived -- because the timbers they've already put up are beginning to snap. Rick tries holding up that section of fence with his bare hands, but the effort is doomed, and he yells at Carl to run. Carl listens for once, and as the zombies pour in to run after him, Rick is able to push down those in the front of the pack from behind as he sprints to catch up with Carl. They make it inside the guard tower and through to the inner yard, but most of the zombies that were outside the outer fence are now inside the dog run, meaning there's now effectively only one fence around the place. And they're already beating at that one now. Rick and Carl emerge from the guard tower's other door and into the outer yard, and stand there at a loss for a moment watching the inner fence start to buckle. Rick considers parking the bus against it, but after giving Carl a pained look, he drags him off in another direction. Are they just going to get in a car and go? That'd be a new twist.
Inside the prison, Hershel grabs the shotgun Dr. S. brought to his cell. And outside, Rick and Carl run up to where a huge stash of small arms and ammo is piled in open laundry carts parked along the inside of the fence, because it's important to have your firepower both readily to hand in case of an emergency and also totally exposed to the elements. Rick grabs them each an assault rifle and some clips, and as they head back to where the zombies are trying to bash through the inner fence Rick gives Carl a crash course on how to fire them. I hope Carl is following what Rick's saying, because I don't. I get this, though: "You shoot or you run. Don't let them get close." Finally the walkers trample down a section of inner fence and come inside like they own the place. The Grimeses stand and meet them, opening fire and mowing them down.
Hershel, however, isn't so bad-ass. Realizing that kids are watching, he holds off shooting the zombie coming up the stairs after him, instead luring it out of sight so nobody has to get their feelings hurt by seeing him be mean to zombies. Sure, there's time for this while Glenn is dying.
Rick and Carl are working well together, falling back to reload as their clips empty. Rick watches Carl operating coolly under pressure, tossing his dad a fresh magazine and then getting back to the machine-gunning. Rick may have worried about his son turning into a stone-cold killer, but a stone-cold killer can come in handy at times like these.
Maggie gets to the visiting room, which is empty, and shoots the glass out so she can hop through. Guess the quarantine is over. Hershel lets the zombies in that block back him into a corner before opening fire, because it's still important that nobody see him blowing heads off. Carl and Rick are still doing that out in the yard, of course, in front of God and everybody. Hershel returns to Glenn, who is flopping like a fish on the dock, and says they still have what Glenn needs. But of course it's still hanging from Henry's mouth, and Henry's still in that chain-link net, which apparently works on zombies like a cattle gate or something. "Son of a bitch," Hershel mutters before climbing through the railing after it. As you do. Maggie comes running into the block and is menaced by newly-undead Eric for about half a second before shooting him through the jaw and hollering, "Daddy!"
She looks up and sees Hershel grappling with Henry and raises her gun again. Hershel yells down at her, "No! You could hit the bag! We need it for Glenn!" And sure, Henry can't bite Hershel with the tube in its mouth, but what happens when Hershel pulls it out? So instead of lowering the weapon, though, Maggie just takes more careful aim and fires anyway. Fight's over. Maggie runs up the stairs to Glenn while Hershel rips the bag off Henry's face, and finds sticky pink slime pouring out of his mouth as he goes about the urgent business of suffocating on it. While Maggie holds him down, Hershel quickly preps the bag and sticks it down Glenn's throat, saying, "Come on son, you know how this works." Yeah, it worked great for Henry. But soon the bag is in place and Hershel's manually pumping air into Glenn's lungs. Maggie tells Glenn that they're going to be okay, and Hershel reminds Maggie that he didn't want her in there. Good thing she didn't listen. Just then Lizzie wanders up, even though Hershel told her to stay where she was (away from people, where she belongs), and asks, "Is it over?" Maggie says she hopes so. And Lizzie charmingly drags the toe of her boot through the sticky puddle of Glenn's gore-stained lung-butter on the floor. Now she can track it all over the place. Carol would be so proud.
Rick and Carl have brought down all the zombies in the yard, and are now just using the fence crew's tools to finish them off as they lie on the ground. If that was an option, why didn't they just do that to begin with before they brought the fence down? The gunfire doesn't seem to have brought on any more, for once. No sooner has the last one been dispatched than the minivan the away team found rolls up to the gate outside. "Dad, everything's gonna be okay," Carl says calmly, and runs off to open the outer gate. Even though they don't recognize the car. A much more exhausted-looking Rick shambles after Carl to open the inner one, and the van isn't even stopped before Tyreese is out the side door asking about Sasha. Obviously Rick has no news, so Daryl sends Tyreese on in there while he, Michonne, and Bob handle the unloading. Tyreese finds Sasha still on the floor of her cell; her breathing labored, and gathers her into his arms. A bit later, Maggie is assisting Hershel and Bob as they get some of the new medicine into Glenn, and she tells Hershel to go rest now that the others are back. Too tired to argue, Hershel instead stumbles to Dr. S.'s cell while that song starts up again. He closes Dr. S.'s remaining eye, then sits down on Dr. S.'s bed with his Bible, which he just manages to get open before he starts to cry. Yeah, rough day.
The final scene starts much the same way the season itself did. It's a bright, sunny morning when Rick comes out of the prison, splashes water on his face from a rain barrel, and heads out to check his garden. One difference is that Michonne is loading last night's harvest of walkers onto the trailer behind the Jeep, and though he offers to help, she politely declines. Carl catches up to Rick, again saying Rick didn't wake him, and Rick says he decided to let him sleep, given that he was up late killing zombies (though he doesn't say the last part). Rick says he needs to go talk to Daryl. "Right now?" Carl asks. Rick decides no, not right now, and heads over to the garden with Carl instead.
Hershel meets Tyreese and Daryl in the yard, and tells them that Glenn survived the night. "He's a tough sumbitch," Daryl says as Tyreese heads on inside. Hershel agrees. "You're a tough sumbitch," Daryl adds, with which Hershel also agrees. Daryl asks about Carol, but Hershel just tells him to talk to Rick about her. As Daryl heads off to do just that, Michonne invites Hershel along on her disposal run, which he gladly accepts, and they hop into the Jeep together for a pleasant morning's mass corpse disposal.
Amid Rick's tall rows of plants, he takes a pea pod off one of the stalks. He holds it in front of him in an arty shot where the small, healthy green thing in his hands blocks the view of the hard, black, deadly thing hanging at his hip. He offers one of the peas to Carl, munching on the other himself. Just two peas in a pod, enjoying two literal peas from a literal pod. In case you missed the symbolism.
Oh, but there's someone watching the prison from near a tree outside, not trying too hard to stay concealed. At first we can only see the back of his head, but then he turns so we can see the patch over his right eye. Well, well, well, looky who's back. But what's he Governor of now?
M. Giant is a Minneapolis-based writer with a wife, a son, and a number of cats that seems to have settled at around two. Learn waaaay too much about him at Velcrometer, or just e-mail him at m.giant[at]gmail.com.