The Walking Dead 4.2, "Infected" Review

Daryls Mask ...our first Council meeting! Hershel, Sasha, Glenn, Daryl, and Carol theorize about transmission of the disease and agree to quarantine those who show any symptoms. Without much else to do, they adjourn just in time to hear Karen coughing as Tyreese walks her back to his cell, planning to serenade her with "You Give Me Fever" this time. The Council tells her as gently as possible that she is going to have to come with them to the Tombs for quarantine, and she helpfully rats out "David from Decatur" as also having a cough. Daryl announces that he is going to go out to bury the bodies, and Hershel tells Daryl to wear gloves and a mask. As if Daryl is going to get sick! Between devouring bloody meat straight from the squirrel, reusing the same crossbow bolts over and over again without sanitation, splattering himself with zombie guts on a regular basis, and an overall aversion to hygiene, Daryl probably has the strongest immune system of anyone in the prison. Nevertheless, he covers his mouth with a handkerchief that is probably as filthy as the rest of him. Rick shows up to help Daryl dig, and Daryl gives Rick a pep talk. They understand that Rick needed a break from the pressure, says Daryl, but Rick was not at fault for everything that went wrong in Season 3. Suddenly, Maggie screams, and they see dozens of Walkers pressing against the outer fence, which is starting to buckle. A handful of people begin to frantically stab at the Walkers, but Rick realizes that picking them off won't do any good. Sasha finds the remnants of the bait rats, but everybody is too preoccupied by the collapsing fence to care very much. Rick says that he has an idea. He tells Daryl to get the truck and heads toward the pigpen. I don't like where this is going. Daryl drives a pickup truck beyond the gates of the prison, towing a flatbed upon which sit Rick and a large wooden crate. In a scene that is honestly more affecting than any of the human deaths in the episode, Rick pulls the first pig out of the crate. He makes a cut in the pig's side that is just enough to draw blood, and he drops it behind the flatbed. The squeals are pretty horrifying, and Rick looks as though he is going to vomit. The plan works, and the Walkers that had been threatening to take down the fences turn and advance on the wounded pig, eating it alive and giving the prison folks time to brace the defenses. Fortunately, the one pig was all that was necessary to distract the Walkers, and now they can go back and...oh, wait. Nope. Rick has to pull out, carve, and toss two more terrified pigs to the Walkers. Okay, yes, the pigs had to die. Yes, they were carriers of the mysterious illness and could not be kept at the prison. But this was pretty awful. Later, looking about as happy as most of the audience felt after that scene, Rick tears down the pigpen. Carl tells Rick that Carol is secretly teaching the children how to use knives, and I applaud Carl for the honesty. Rick decides to keep Carol's secret. He also decides to return Carl's gun and to begin carrying his own Python again. Dismissing Carl, Rick pours gasoline onto the wreckage of the pigpen and sets it on fire, tossing his own blood-soaked shirt onto the blaze for good measure. That night, Tyreese heads to the Tombs with a bouquet of flowers for his lady love, prepared to woo her with a rendition of "Burning Up." Instead of Karen, however, he finds trails of blood leading out of David from Decatur's and Karen's cells. He follows the trails outside, where he finds their torched bodies and two empty gas cans. Meanwhile...
Contributor
Contributor

Fiction buff and writer. If it's on Netflix, it's probably in my queue. I've bought DVDs for the special features and usually claim that the book is better than the movie or show (and can provide examples). I've never met a TV show that I won't marathon. Follow on Twitter @lah9891 .