Episode Title: “After”
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Director: Greg Nicotero
Previously on “The Walking Dead”:
Shortly before the fourth season began, “The Walking Dead” creative team promised an episode of the series that would directly adapt a story from the original comic book. This week’s midseason premiere, “After” is the episode in question, as it takes on the events from The Walking Dead issues 49 and 50 which were published nearly six years ago.
Series creator, Robert Kirkman adapts his own story for this episode alongside director/zombie maven, Greg Nicotero. Unsurprisingly, that duo delivered an episode that ranks among the best of the season. “After” was almost a bottle show for “The Walking Dead,” as it kept its focus on only three of the main characters with minimal locations and zombies.
The real surprise in this episode was Chandler Riggs, the young actor who has been playing Carl on this show since he was eleven years old. This is the first time that Carl has been called upon to carry a full episode almost by himself and Riggs delivered a compelling performance. Where other shows would probably hide or ignore Riggs’ age, “The Walking Dead” is actually allowing Carl to grow up. It’s not inconceivable that Riggs could be on this show until he’s 20. “The Walking Dead” is designed to go on and on. Kirkman’s comic is already six years ahead of the TV show in terms of story. So, there’s potentially life after Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) if Kirkman and AMC ever decide to make Carl the main focus.
From this point on, there are full spoilers ahead for “After,” so if you missed last night’s episode of “The Walking Dead” then you should probably skip this review or else a zombie will keep your other shoe.
In the early part of this episode, Rick and Carl are not exactly in a good place with each other. Carl doesn’t bother to hide his anger towards Rick over his father’s perceived failure to protect everyone. Carl also rejects Rick’s authority over him when he tries to act like a father and discipline him. Really, Rick’s grasping at straws when he’s ordering Carl to watch his language or trying to force him to eat. It’s all Rick can think of to get some measure of control back, but Carl doesn’t allow it.
As much as Carl thinks of himself as a man, he’s still a fourteen year old kid and he can’t physically do all of the things that Rick can. There’s a very funny moment in the episode where Carl attempts to break down a door and he ends up bouncing off of it. In a similar situation, Carl finds that he can’t overpower a single walker in the way that his father can. It’s all Carl can do to make it out of the room with only a single shoe missing.
I found myself counting Carl’s remaining bullets in this episode, but not because I was bored. Instead, I was invested in his survival even though I have clear memories of how this story turned out the first time. The episode was very effective at putting Carl into dangerous situations that he barely got out of alive.
One of the few weak spots in this episode was Carl’s monologue to an unconscious Rick in which he defiantly told his father that he doesn’t need him anymore. That’s pretty close to Carl’s dialogue from the comics and Riggs does the best that he can with it. But it wasn’t quite as powerful as Kirkman and Nicotero probably intended it to be.
Michonne (Danai Gurira) had a similarly clunky moment when she spoke out loud to her long dead lover late the episode and vocalized where she was emotionally for no other reason than to let the viewer in on what she was thinking. But it just wasn’t necessary. While Carl took center stage, Michonne took over the B story and “After” revealed some interesting aspects of her past.
When Michonne shed tears while visiting baby Judith earlier this season, it seemed to indicate that she was once a mother. “After” confirms this with one of the first dream sequences ever on this show. At least I’m fairly certain this is one of the first dream sequence. Rick’s visits to Crazytown last season all seemed to happen while he was awake.
“Leverage” veteran Aldis Hodge made a guest appearance as Mike, Michonne’s lover and future zombie pet, with Brandon Fobbs (“The Wire”) as Mike’s friend, Terry. I enjoyed the way that the sequence was revealed to be a dream by the placement of Michonne’s sword in her kitchen. I also appreciated the glimpse into her past, even if it wasn’t exactly a flashback. Previously, Michonne’s only said that her zombie pets weren’t ever human. But clearly, they were once very important to her.
Michonne makes two new zombie pets in this episode, but it just isn’t the same. Along the way, Michonne puts the severed head of Herschel out of his undead misery. If you’ve read the comics, you know that Michonne dispatched the head of the original beheading victim in the same way. And it was genuinely unsettling to see Herschel reduced to being a zombie head.
At one point in the episode, Michonne notices the tracks belonging to Rick and Carl, but she opts to travel in the opposite direction within the protection of a walker herd. Along the way, Michonne keeps spotting a zombie that looks a lot like her. Symbolically, Michonne was trying to hide among the Walking Dead. But she just can’t do it anymore. It’s always fun to see Michonne cut loose with her sword, as she dispatches her pets and the mini zombie horde around her.
With a new sense of purpose, Michonne retraces her steps and she picks up the trail to Rick and Carl. It’s funny, but in The Walking Dead comic, Rick and Michonne will probably never be a couple. Yet it seems almost inevitable on this show, although the pace of that potential relationship has been appropriately slow. At this point, Michonne is more in love with Carl as a surrogate son than anything else.
Remember, it was Carl who first recognized Michonne as “one of us” in season 3 and he was the first person she really bonded with out of Rick’s group. Michonne and Rick are friendly with each other… maybe too friendly, considering the way that Rick almost sold her out to the Governor. But there is something there.
The end of the episode doesn’t depict the reunion between Michonne and the Grimes boys, but they are back together. They’re almost the perfect makeshift family for the zombie apocalypse. Because the family that slays together, stays together.
