We left off last week with Patrick (or NotHarryPotter as fans from the now-defunct forum TWOP call him) turning into a zombie, making all the residents of Cell Block D zombie bait. Patrick the Zombie Gourmand, leisurely snacks on just one cell dweller until sunrise, helping delay the inevitable massacre.
But the zombie bits hit the fan and all hell eventually breaks lose as Patrick's breakfast turns into a zombie himself and then the two attack the cell block. Farmer Rick rushes in and has to kill his first zombies in a long time. I would feel sorry for him except, hello, did he really think he could go the rest of the apocalypse without killing ANY zombies? Not realistic. And of course realism is what I'm looking for in a show about zombies.
After the immediate threat is taken care of, Hershel and Dr. S announce something potentially scarier - a plague. This whole bleeding-out-of-the-eyes and dying-in-24-hours thing appears to be unrelated to zombies and is presently posing a bigger threat than flesh-eating monsters. Yowza. Since they don't know yet what to do about it, they propose a half-ass quarantine (seriously, my 15-month-old knows how to stay out of no-no rooms better than this group) to keep the sick away from the rest.
Karen, Tyreese's new squeeze and the sole survivor of the Woodbury Highway Massacre of last season (which reminds me, we still haven't heard the last of The Governor, sigh), has The Plague. I don't really care since she's a bit of a red shirt to me but I think we're supposed to care.
Oh, and right before all this went down, Michonne was about to go out on a Governor hunt but came back to the prison when she heard shots. In a rare moment (for her), she actually got hurt, and so now she's temporarily out of commission, which has landed her in the company of Beth and Judith. Must be super boring for Michonne but I think there's something interesting in store for us.
As if the gang doesn't have enough problems, a zombie horde is threatening to take down the fence. Well, it's been there since the start of the season but it's REALLY threatening now. So Rick, who has already started to come to terms with losing his farmer lifestyle, goes balls to the wall and makes the ultimate sacrifice. He has Daryl drive a truck while he slices pigs and tosses them out the back as zombie bait. Poor piggies! I don't know what was harder to watch - those poor innocent (disease-ridden) piggies biting the dust or Rick finally accepting that there's no peace in this new world. Poor everyone!
Back in the prison, we get our payoff with Michonne. Judith spits up on Beth and Beth asks Michonne to hold the baby while she cleans up. Michonne pulls a face (as you do when you see carrot puke) but does it anyway, and then she breaks down and cries while holding Judith, making us think she pulled a face for a not-yet-revealed-but-gonna-be-interesting reason. I think some dust got in my eye during that scene.
Carol coldly asks Carl to keep her secret about Knife Klub but Carl smartly tells Rick anyway. Hey, if you're doing something you need to keep a secret, then maybe you need to rethink what you're doing. And if you're asking a kid to lie for you, you REALLY need to think about it.
Gentle Giant Tyreese brings flowers (excellent zombie stabbing tool, idiot) to visit Karen in quarantine (excellent ability to follow protocol, idiot). As he walks through the creepy dark hallways, we wonder what awaits him... I'm guessing it won't be Karen's smiling face, and not just because last time we saw her she was coughing up a lung. I was right! We see two blood trails (oh yeah, she was quarantined with some other guy named David) leading outside to two burned bodies.
We'll find out next week if Tyreese remains so gentle, the repercussions of Carl telling on Carol, where Daryl buys his hair dye, and if Glenn and Maggie will remain this show's most boring pair. And maybe we'll find out who killed Karen and David.