The Walking Dead: Season 4

Midway through Season 4 when it first aired, I decided not to watch the show anymore. I didn't care for where the show was going and they killed off Andrea. However, I keep seeing interesting things on my newsfeed about the show that make me want to give it a chance. So I bingewatched it over the summer. Read on for spoilers and thoughts on this season.

The Good

* Broken Humans

The people who simply can't adapt to the world and break are fascinating. Clara in the very first episode tries to feed Rick to her zombified husband. Even the Governor's group only wanted someplace safe and allowed themselves to be manipulated into needless violence. Lizzie simply thinks zombies are still people, but different. She feels bad for them and doesn't want them to die. She even makes friends with them, which is sweet and a nice thought on the surface. The reality is that this mentality is dangerous and insane. Her actions put their whole group in danger and eventually ends up murdering her best friend without even knowing the full ramifications of that act.

* Carol

Carol is my new favorite character. She used to be incredibly annoying, but she was the victim of abuse and really grew as a person. She does what's needed and what others shy away from: trying to prevent disease from spreading, adeptly killing zombies, and teaching the children how to survive. With her help, the children come to terms with the new world and are exposed to harsh realities. She also makes the hard decision to kill Lizzie when she proves to be a danger to any human.

* Hershel

I was annoyed with Hershel before, but he's proven to be amazing. He took care of the sick even though he could contract the disease and deals with the most dangerous situations with calm and caring. He's just so reasonable and makes the impossible seem possible. His death was all the more tragic because he really shined this season. I love the flashback in the last episode showing how Hershel influenced the group to settle, farm, and become a real community.

* The Death of the Governor

Yay! No more of his boring story.

* The separation of the main group

This created great opportunities to explore unlikely friendships and relationships like Daryl and Beth, Maggie and Sasha, and Carl and Michonne. We get to see the characters in different settings than just scavenging and in the prison plus they reveal more about their respective backgrounds.

* Bad-Ass End of Season Rick

Rick is back to his old self when he saves Carl. He's on top of his game when he notices the Terminus people wearing their friends' clothes. I respect him so much more when he's in his real leader position, making split second decisions and protecting his group. Also, his scene where he was recuperating and hiding from the psycho hillbillies throughout the house was an amazing scene. Crazy suspense everywhere. More of this Rick please.

The Bad

* The Governor

The Governor should have died at the end of last season, but the writers kept him alive just to interrupt the entire story in the middle of the season. Why have a series of episodes just focused on him? I personally don't care about him and his new found family. He's still an awful person and I don't care about his softer side. Sure he has feelings and junk, but he still kills people for essentially no reason and makes dumb decisions. I agree that it's nice to have a villain with dimension, but the story seems to say "look how nice he is" and then undoes all of that with the murder of Hershel and the attack on the prison.

* Bossy Mid-Season Rick

Rick is still making judgments for the group without regard to anyone else despite denying for the whole first half of the season that he is no longer the leader. He banishes Carol without consulting anyone else. Just annoying.

* Tyrese

Why is he even there? Tyrese just picks fights with people and gets super violent over practically nothing. He should have been kicked out long before Carol was. He's a pretty ineffectual character.


* Carl

Please don't treat your concussed and injured dad like crap. The adventures of inept Carl in episode 9 went on way too long.

* Why is season 5 not on Netflix? I won't be watching in the fall if I'm not all caught up plus the cliffhanger is killing me!

Overall, Season 4 is decent. I really did not enjoy the Governor stuff and I couldn't get past it the first time I watched it. Onwards to season 5!