I enjoyed the episode as well. Yeah it wasn't the most exciting episode, but it wasn't intended to be that way. Next weeks episode looks like it is intended to be intense. Can't wait!

But... But then he won't have something to bitch about.

I never bitch about this show. I love it.

But goddamn was last night bad. I don't want to watch an annoying insignificant character cry about alcohol and throw a tantrum for an hour.

Character building episodes. I was fine with it. I actually thought it was more about building Darryl than Beth. Definitely not "worst episode" of the series.

I'm perfectly fine with this type of episode. Unfortunately, I don't feel like I learned anything about either character. Their back story reflections were exactly what they've been portrayed to be if you've watched from the beginning. So basically it was an hour of blandness IMO, with no revelations that reveal something new or unique about either character.

I disagree. I think we learned how much Beth and Darryl need each other; Darryl keeps their bodies alive, but I think Beth is keeping Darryl headed toward finding the/a group. You can see from the episode that Darryl had gone into full-on survival mode. Beth was keeping them moving, keeping them looking. Without her, I think Darryl would live out the rest of his life as a loner in the woods.

Also, I think you learned that Darryl puts what happened at the prison squarely on his own shoulders. His breakdown was a good scene and showed his grief and guilt.

And finally, I think you saw a little development with Beth, how she handles the grief, but how she really is a survivor.

Just my 2 cents, but it certainly wasn't a wasted episode, IMO.

Was anyone but me wondering how deeply they thought through the concept of starting a raging forest fire during the zombie apocalypse?

I wondered why they hadn't been using car trunks as shelter longer...

Perfectly said. :thumb:

To expand on this, the fact that Darryl finally told someone what he was before the zombies (he was a worthless redneck just following his worthless brother) adds weight to his breakdown about the prison.

Before he was nothing, had no purpose. Now he has a purpose and he puts it all on himself that it (the prison and the hope it contained) failed. People respected him, looked up to him, counted on him and his feelings of letting them down was powerful.

I would guess that because there isn't really a back way of a trunk. They get caught inside of one, there isn't anything they can do to really get out.

All newer vehicles (last 10 years or so) have emergency releases, and most back seats fold down for access to the cabin.

True. But in the case like last night - had they made noise and attracted that herd to the car, they would have been done for.

Beth pushing Darryl to keep moving was clear and important enough I guess. As for Darryl's ownership of the prison fallout, I thought we'd already established that he had leadership tendencies and had taken the loss of security and people hard. He referenced the loss of Hershel earlier this season in sadness. As for Beth, she did what she's done all along. Survived, despite an apparent innocence. I'm not saying the continuation of these concepts isn't important, we just didn't need an hour to call them out.

Exactly, I'd rather try to out run them than be stuck in a car surrounded. Zombies aren't the type to move on when they get bored if they know there are live humans in the car. At least, that's my perception of zombie behavior without ever having had any first hand experience. :D