The Walking Dead 4.1, "30 Days Without An Accident" Review
The Third Most Competent Person Still Alive...
As Rick prepares to leave the prison to check the snares, Hershel approaches to tell Rick that he and the other members of "the Council" are concerned that Rick has stopped carrying a gun. We learn that the Council is comprised of Rick, Hershel, Daryl, Carol, Glenn, and Sasha. Rick agrees to take his gun with him as he goes beyond the fence. I formulate a theory that Hershel is actually an evil mastermind who has formed an alliance with Carol to get all of the other members of the Council out on simultaneous death missions to ensure that their coup goes smoothly.
Rick visits the snares and retrieves various dead woodland creatures. One of the snares seems to have captured a larger animal, and just as Rick is either going to celebrate the forthcoming feast or groan that he has to drag it back to the prison all by himself, he sees a Walker stumble into view and bend over the injured creature. Rick prepares to sneak away but stops in his tracks when the Walker calls out to him. He turns around and finds that the Walker is actually a young woman called Clara, still very much alive but whom I distrust immediately. Trying to haul away a full-grown wounded boar singlehanded is one thing, but what sane person would honestly try to navigate a Walker-riddled forest with three feet of black hair falling in her face? That's what ponytails are for, Clara.
Anyway, Clara desperately pleads with Rick for help, claiming that she and her husband haven't eaten for days and need to be taken to his camp. Having heard this story before, Rick gives her a sandwich but balks at allowing them at the prison. He agrees that he will consider taking them both in--but only if he meets the husband and both of them can satisfactorily answer him his questions three. Clara agrees, presumably already knowing her name, quest, and favorite color. Or maybe she's just luring Rick into a trap to feed him to a Walker. Probably one of those two.
So, Rick and Clara wander through the forest, Clara trying to gain Rick's sympathy as Rick tries to figure out what she looks like underneath all of that hair. Eventually, they reach their destination. From what Rick can see of the small camp, only one person has been sleeping there. Clara goes to coo to her husband, but instead of leaning over a person, she leans over...a crate. Then, she rushes at Rick with a knife, and Rick learns that Clara has been traveling her husband's Walkerfied head and capturing live animals for it to feed on. Before Rick has the chance to absorb this new level of crazy, Clara stabs herself in the stomach and begs Rick not to shoot her in the head, so that she might reanimate and become a Walker just as her husband had. Ah, romance. Rick is torn, no doubt remembering his own breakdown after Lori's death. Before he can answer, she asks him what his three questions were. "How many Walkers have you killed?" he begins, his voice shaking. "How many people have you killed? Why?" Clara answers that her husband killed all of the Walkers and that the only person that she'd killed was herself. And then she dies.
After she is very clearly dead, Rick chooses to honor her final wish and allow her to become a Walker. Awesomely, as he gets up to leave, Rick remembers to retrieve his sandwich and take it back with him. Back at the prison, Rick cuddles his daughter and tells Hershel what had happened. Hopefully, this choice will not come back to bite him. (Haha, get it? I'm so funny.)