“Us” is a good title for last night’s episode of The Walking Dead. We saw a few different interpretations of the word: Carl and Michonne, betting a candy bar on who can balance on train tracks the longest; Glenn, Tara, Abraham, Eugene, and Rosita, whose uneasy alliance is blossoming into a full-fledged friendship; and Daryl and Joe’s band of miscreants, which is a pretty shaky example of “us.” Most importantly, we saw the reunion of our favorite “us,” Glenn and Maggie.
Eugene is basically what Chris Hardwick likes to think he’d be during a zombie apocalypse. Wearing full riot gear, he talks to Tara about undead dinosaurs and video games. Josh McDermitt shines here, as previous episodes indicated that Eugene was kind of a dick and an idiot (remember, he did shoot their APC to hell). Abraham’s group gets fleshed out nicely, and Abraham himself is far nicer and more understanding than people with handlebar mustaches tend to be in zombie stories (I’m looking at you, Michael Kelly in Dawn of the Dead). The group splits briefly, with Glenn and Tara going through a tunnel to Terminus, with the other three finding a car to continue on to DC.
What happens next really surprised me (Jesus, when did I start writing like an Upworthy article?). Eugene navigates Rosita to the other end of the tunnel, so they can wait for Glenn and Tara, and help if need be. And boy do Glenn and Tara need help. The Stygian passage is reminiscent of the Lincoln tunnel sequence in The Stand, probably the scariest few pages Stephen King ever wrote. But when Glenn and Tara are pinned down, the cavalry arrives in the form of Sasha, Bob, Maggie, Eugene, Abraham, and Rosita. The eight of them decide to go to Terminus.
Also, where did Rosita get her new clothes? Last time we saw her she was dressed like she picked up the “slutty soldier” costume at a discount Halloween store.
Terminus seems…off. Maybe after Woodbury I’m just gunshy, but you know who else should be suspicious. Literally everyone. The group is met by a woman named Mary, who looks and talks like she took too much of the brown acid while hanging out in Haight-Ashbury in the 60s.
More importantly, Joe and his group are heading to Terminus too – not only that, they’re hellbent on getting revenge for their friend Louis, who Rick killed in “Claimed.” This does not bode well for Rick, especially when we see how Joe’s group operates. There’s a kind of savage morality at work here, where “claiming” something makes it yours. Lying isn’t tolerated, though, as another member of the group, Len, tried to frame Daryl for stealing, only to be caught in his lie by Joe, who says to his men, “Teach him. All the way.” The next morning, Daryl sees Joe’s body outside, with an arrow through his head. He almost puts a blanket over the dead man, out of decency, but at the last second decides not to. I think it’s a little early to say Joe’s rubbing off on Daryl, but the man has shades of Merle Dixon and if anyone comes close to “getting” Daryl, it might be Joe. I’m curious to see how everything pans out when Daryl’s surrogate brother meets the man who doomed his real one.
(Note: The original version of this review said “Sara” instead of “Tara.” This is because I am a moron. It’s since been fixed.)
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