The Walking Dead Season 4 Episode 10 Review: Inmates

We saw what happened to Rick, Carl and Michonne last time: but what about everyone else? Inmates (see what they did with the title there) dealt with the others who escaped the prison, and are struggling to accommodate to the outside world.

Playing out in an anthology style, this episode dropped in on a group of characters for a few scenes to let us know a) they're alive b) they're upset and confused. First off we had Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Beth (Emily Kinney), where the latter provides a Terrence Malick-esque narration full of childhood naivety about the prison, over images of the two fleeing zombies at every turn.

Terminus

They come across a massacre by a solitary railway track, which we later learn is after the events encountered by Tyrese (Chad L. Coleman) and the two children, Lizzie (Brighton Sharbino) and Mika (Kyla Kenedy). In the oddest pairing of them all, Tyrese if protecting the two, along with the baby Judith, who turns out to have survived (even though we knew deep down she was alive all along).

Tyrese runs off to leave the two children and baby to fend off against the walkers by themselves (probably not the smartest idea) as he sees two men bitten away by a pack of zombies. Thankfully Carol (Melissa McBride) re-emerges to save the day, and in a delicious piece of dramatic irony, Tyrese is pleased to see her as opposed to enraged that the women who burnt his girlfriend alive has returned. They are told by the dying stranger to follow the mysterious tracks to sanctuary, but we are left to wonder what the mysterious 'terminus' is.

Maggie and Glenn

The most effective moment from the episode comes from Maggie (Lauren Cohan). Already grieving for her decapitated father, when along with Bob (Lawrence Gilliard, Jr.) and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) they find the prison bus overrun by zombies, she fears the worst thinking that husband Glenn (Steven Yeun) has also perished. Awaiting the walkers to come off the bus, her terror and trepidation that one of them might be Glenn was a powerfully moving moment that intimately captured the distress she is suffering.

But Glenn is in far more danger than she realises, trapped above the prison walkway with the zombie hordes trying to reach him below. Again another close-up is used to great effect by director Tricia Block, as Glenn battles his way back to lie in his old bed, a quiet breather in a world that never allows you to rest. He charges out to meet the undead in full riot gear, with the POV shot from his visor another neat touch to showcase the multiple walkers who surround him. He finds Tara (Alanna Masterson), quickly forgives her for being part of the Governor's group that destroyed the prison, and they head off to safety.

It's an episode that leaves you with mixed emotions. This was glacial television, lacking in the usual fear factor but allowing us to properly soak up the character's emotions after the traumatic events of the prison. But as last week's instalment already dealt with these issues, it certainly could have done more to change through the gears. The return of Carol and the appearance of the mysterious paramilitaries at the end kick-start the second half of season four's story, but these last couple of episodes have meandered and felt strangely lifeless.