Episode Title: “Claimed”
Writers: Nichole Beattie & Seth Hoffman
Director: Seith Mann
Previously on “The Walking Dead”:
Outside of the prison’s walls, “Claimed” seemed like the first “bottle episode” of “The Walking Dead” in a while. There was still some zombie action, but the most intense moments took place under a bed as Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) feared for his life.
This was probably one of the cheaper “Walking Dead” episodes to produce, but the interaction between Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Carl (Chandler Riggs) demonstrated some of the most promising character development of the season. Combined with Rick’s story, “Claimed” was about two thirds of a really good episode. But it’s that last third that’s a problem.
There are full spoilers ahead for “Claimed,” so if you missed last night’s episode of “The Walking Dead” then you should probably skip this review or else you’ll have to drink Judith’s formula.
Let’s get the weakest part of the episode out of the way. After last week’s introduction, we get a little bit more on the newest additions: Sgt. Abraham Ford (Michael Cudlitz), Rosita Espinosa (Christian Serratos) and Dr. Eugene Porter (Josh McDermitt). It turns out that Abraham and his companions are trying to get to Washington so that Eugene can start fixing the zombie plague. In short, they want to save the world.
Of the three, Abraham seems to be the most sincere about his mission, although he clearly enjoys putting down zombies. He’s also got a major temper, as demonstrated when Abraham gets into an extended fight with Glenn (Steven Yeun). To be fair, Glenn started the fight. But Abraham took it much farther than it needed to go… to the point that the new group almost let themselves be overrun by walkers.
That was kind of a contrived way to build up the prerequisite zombie action scenes. It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t anything that “The Walking Dead” hasn’t done better many times before. At least Cudlitz has some charisma and screen presence. McDermitt and Serratos barely registered at all, making Eugene and Rosita seem like props rather than characters.
However, this was the first time that I really liked Tara Chambler (Alanna Masterson). Tara barely knows Glenn, but she’s been very loyal to him. When Glenn decides to leave Abraham’s group, there’s not even a question about whom Tara will follow. She even wrote down directions to get Glenn back to the bus.
Given their refusal to continue to Washington, this would have been a natural place for Glenn and Tara to leave Abraham’s crew behind. But because Eugene managed to spray their truck with bullets, the new trio will be sticking around for now.
Meanwhile, Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Carl (Chandler Riggs) go on a supply run in which they get to know each other much better than before. Michonne’s attempts to get Carl to laugh were clumsy, but intentionally so. When that fails, Michonne unexpectedly opens up about having lost her three year old son, Andre to the zombie apocalypse and Carl’s interest immediately perks up. And rather than just spill out her entire backstory, Michonne makes a game out of it to keep Carl engaged.
This was a good bonding experience for Michonne and Carl. I really enjoyed their dynamic, as both Gurira and Riggs rose to the occasion. It’s also been refreshing to see Michonne come so far this season. The last time we saw Michonne, she rejected a return to her solitary state of existence and she sought out the Grimes family. Essentially, Michonne has adopted both Rick and Carl as her new family. She even deffered to Rick as to whether their current place was “home” or whether they should keep moving.
Which brings us to Rick’s side of the story. While still recovering from his beating at the hands of the Governor, Rick is awakened to find that their current home has been invaded by some well armed men. Rick quickly realizes that a head-on confrontation would be suicide and he spends a good deal of the episode hiding under the bed while witnessing just how vicious this new group of survivors can be.
Lincoln’s facial expressions really helped sell the horror of Rick’s situation. And the focus never left Rick’s point of view. Thus we never get a clear picture of how many men were in the house because we only see and hear what Rick could perceive. That went a long way towards making the ordeal convincingly terrifying for Rick.
I loved Rick’s impromptu fight to the death with one of the men, when he stumbled upon him in the bathroom. Rick’s subtle choice to leave the bathroom door open may have also led the dead man to reanimate and attack his buddies late in the episode. But either way, the house is lost to Rick and he barely manages to warn Michonne and Carl to get away.
In the end, Rick, Carl and Michonne decide to head to Terminus, the so-called sanctuary where Carol (Melissa McBride) and Tyreese (Chad Coleman) were heading last episode. So it looks like the prison survivors won’t be separated for too much longer.
If the Abraham and Glenn storyline had been better executed, “Claimed” would have earned a higher grade. But it was still compelling and a nice change of pace. There’s another five episodes to go this season, so there’s still a lot of time for “The Walking Dead” to regain its momentum before the finale. I’m enjoying it so far, so let’s see where the road leads.
