The Walking Dead Review: Episode 5×03 “Four Walls and a Roof”

Predators, prey and tainted meat lead to a violent clash of hunted vs hunters. The question is—who won’t walk away from this episode of The Walking Dead?

The Walking Dead — With Bob (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.), at least what hasn’t been eaten, in the hands of Gareth (Andrew J. West), a very real and sinister threat from the remnants of Terminus now looms over Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and everyone. When the group realizes that Bob, Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) are all missing and those in the church are being watched, suspicions and fear race to the surface. Have they been led into a trap by Gabriel (Seth Gilliam)? Threatened and outraged, they quickly switch to defensive mode, knowing their place of sanctuary is no longer safe at all.

Loyalties and family ties will be tested as suspicions rise and agendas collide between Rick and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz). The group must decide whether or not to stay together to find their friends or flee to safety in order to serve a higher purpose. In the grand scheme of things could saving the world be more important than saving their friends? As the deadly noose set by Gareth begins to tighten, it becomes clear that threats from the living, the dead and perhaps those in their very midst surround the group. Tensions reach an unprecedented high and it’s just a matter of time before a violent clash between the hunted and the hunters occurs. With so much to debate and cover, let’s sink our teeth into the juicy details of everything that happened this week!

The sins of the Father, his shun and the motley roast.

As the episode opens and we see Gareth and the Terminus leftovers feasting on Bob, we couldn’t help but have a Lord of the Rings flashback. The tight shots of tearing Bob’s flesh smacked eerily of the evil growing in Gollum as the One Ring blackened his heart and he feasted on raw fish. There may be no Sauron in the world of The Walking Dead, but this scene made it clear that the evil men do can be just as dark. As the scene flipped back and forth between the walkers pawing at a nearby window and the devouring of flesh, it wasn’t lost on anyone that the hideous decisions by Gareth and his crew put them just above walkers in the grand scheme of things.

It was Bob however that got the last laugh and pushed everything that followed in this episode into motion by laughing hysterically.

“I’ve been bitten you stupid pricks! I’m tainted meat!” ~ Bob

Revolted, shocked, and panicked, the Terminus remnants are suddenly pushed into much faster action than they anticipated.

Realizing Bob, Carol and Daryl are gone, Rick and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) come to a swift conclusion, Father Gabriel, the only one among them they don’t know, must have led them into a trap. Rick confronts Gabriel and demands to know what it is he’s done. Gabriel breaks down and confesses. He had nothing to do with whoever is hunting them, but his sins are a burden he can no longer bear. When his congregation came to the church seeking refuge from the dead, the good Father left the doors locked and left his flock to the undead wolves of this new world. Their screams as walkers consumed them still echoed in his mind. As the group realizes that Gabriel is confessing to things that have nothing to do with the threat outside, it becomes clear—everyone has indeed done something. And murder, whether by inaction or by blunt force, still leaves blood on your hands. Gabriel may not have taken a life, but he didn’t lift a finger to save any but his own.

When Gareth leaves a wounded Bob on the church lawn in the black of night, his plan at swift revenge is set in motion. As the group tends to Bob’s wounds and he reveals that he’s been bitten, it becomes clear to Sasha and everyone that someone they care about deeply is about to be lost.

This entire sequence played out beautifully. Crisp writing and solid performances kept us in the moment. Seeing Bob react with maniacal laughter makes us ask what we’d do in that situation. We can’t say we’d react differently. What can one do when you’ve been feasted upon by both walkers and people within just a few hours time? Seth Gilliam made us believe in his self-imposed penance as he slunk at the altar of his God and his pious exterior melted away to expose the darkness and fear that can consume the heart of any man.

As an audience we’re left to weigh the sins of all those we’ve seen thus far. In an era where the dead walk, what crimes against God or the hearts of men are forgivable and what sins drive the soul so far into darkness that one cannot be redeemed at all? There are lines still it seems. Gareth’s decisions may be several steps too far, but in this new world the answers are not what they used to be. It may very well be that the red “A” stained on the church wall was a subtle call to The Scarlet Letter. Father Gabriel may indeed have been marked as damned by those he shunned. But like Hester, and unlike Gareth, he may find that his most glaring and public sin is one that allows him to grow and change in this new world is not like the old.

Four walls, a roof and a bloody mess.

As the group debates what they should do next, Abraham takes a strong stance that they should cut and run. His one and only mission is to protect Eugene (Josh McDermitt) who is oddly reluctant to leave. Knowing the imminent threat now exists, Abraham ignores Eugene’s mild protest and insists they leave immediately.

As they set to depart, and plead with the rest to follow, Rick puts his foot down and insists that with Carol and Daryl still missing, they are most certainly not leaving. We’ve been expecting these two alpha males to clash at some point when their agenda’s of family over saving the world didn’t align, but seeing it was tense to watch. Both of these two are strong, authoritative and certain actors. Neither will back down. As Rick warns Abraham they cannot take the bus, blows seem sure to follow. It’s Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Tara (Alanna Masterson) that become the voices of reason.

“We need each other for this. We need each other to get to DC. We can get through all of it together.” ~ Glenn

“I have an idea. If you stay just one more day and help, I’ll go with you to DC no matter what.” ~ Tara to Abraham

As Abraham negotiates, Glenn and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) finally relent. In order to put Tara’s plan in to action, they will all stay together one more day in order to eliminate Gareth and what is left of Terminus. Then Tara, Glenn and Maggie will all go with Abraham to DC with Rick and the rest to follow later. We don’t know about anyone else, but although Glenn’s motion to reduce tension was noble, it seemed very out of character for he and Maggie to make this move not knowing if Carol, Daryl or Beth (Emily Kinney) were still alive. They had to know there was a very good reason for Carol and Daryl to leave. That might not have been enough to keep them with Rick, but Beth certainly should have been. The writing team rarely creates scenarios that make us question, but this seemed off. After all Glenn and Maggie went through to find each other, would they leave her sister to an unknown fate?

Questions aside, Tara’s plan is a bold one. As they gear up and head out to confront Gareth, a handful stay behind to watch the church. Seeing Gareth’s plan come into play as the majority of the group move into the woods was chilling. As the strongest left, Gareth and his crew enter the darkened church to prey upon those that stayed behind. If there’s a show that more consistently creates an atmosphere of fear, tension and uncertainly on a regular basis, we’d like to know. We’re not sure we breathed in the next few minutes and we doubt we’re alone.

As moment played out, with Gareth and company advancing through the darkened church and the group that remained waited silently with guns drawn, we had chills. Gareth certainly showed his arrogance, telling those in the church they didn’t have a chance. At the last second, when Judith cries out in the darkness, the gig is up. In a swift and calculated move silenced shots eliminate two of Gareth’s men and then one more takes off Gareth’s fingers. Gareth now knows he’s been played.

In the eerie darkness, Andrew Lincoln brought a curious indifference to Rick as Gareth attempted to talk his way out of certain death. An almost detached look glazed over Rick’s eyes. Lincoln has owned this role from day one, but this moment was one to remember. One can only wonder if a performance of such power can change a man and where such a hollow and vengeful feeling can be drawn from as an actor. Rick stated before they left Terminus that they don’t get to live. And here he fulfilled those words.

“Put your guns on the floor and kneel.” ~ Rick

“No point in begging, right?” ~ Gareth

“No.” ~ Rick

“Still, you could have killed us when you came in. There had to be a reason for that.” ~ Gareth

“We didn’t want to waste the bullets … besides, I already made you a promise.” ~ Rick

In what has to be one of the more brutal scenes of this show, the score rises and Rick kills Gareth in a bloodbath with the red-handled machete just as promised. Abraham, Michonne and Sasha finish the rest in a gory rage.

When the sobering violence ends, and the score subsides, everyone is left in a state of shock. Admittedly, us included. As Father Gabriel surveys the carnage, he echoes what most of us must have been thinking, but is reminded by Maggie that the world changed while he hid and he has a new reality to deal with now.

“This is the Lord’s house.” ~ Gabriel

“No. It’s just four walls and a roof.” ~ Maggie

Does this new world require those with some remaining moral center to become judge and jury for those who’s humanity is clearly gone? It would seem so. There’s no denying that Gareth was too far gone to be redeemed and too dangerous to be left alive. He’d already been lost and would only continue to prey on others. But one has to wonder what scars may linger with these characters from this guttural moment.

There is always hope, even in despair, that nightmares will end.

After all is said and done, this story was more the conclusion of Bob’s arc than anything else. In the final moments of his life he was still comforting others. In a stretch of wonderful writing and heartbreaking performances from Lincoln, Sonequa Martin-Green and most especially Lawrence Gilliard Jr., we are given a glimpse of hope after the horrific results from the night before. As the group says goodbye, he asks for Rick and Judith to stay and promptly thanks Rick for showing him that good people do still exist.

“What I said yesterday, I ain’t revising it. Even in light of current events. Nightmares end. They shouldn’t end who you are. And that .. is just this dead man’s opinion. Just look at her, and tell me the world isn’t gonna change.” ~ Bob

Even in his dying moments, Bob brings a breath of smiles to Sasha who is painfully facing the reality that she is losing one she’s come to love. She asks him why he is smiling as he wakes from a restless sleep.

“I think I was dreaming. And I think you were smiling back at me in the dream.” ~ Bob

Sasha smiled through tears. In a compassionate moment, Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman) takes the knife from Sasha to spare her the pain of preventing Bob from turning. All three actors delivered such compelling performances in Bob’s passing. All you ask for in any show is that actors pull you in so well that you never feel it’s not real. They certainly did that here and Bob’s loss was felt. Bob’s message of hope and a light at the end of the tunnel will likely live on beyond him. It’s a difficult moment we’re sure for actors to play their final and emotional scenes on this show, were so many come and go. All the actors must know that their time is limited and all good things must come to an end. Gilliard Jr. made us care about Bob and that’s why we shed tears as we watched him pass. Bob was a flawed, but inherently good soul that had found redemption in a new family. He did in the end break his cycle. He was not the last of his group. Some things do indeed change.

FINAL VERDICT: Judge, jury and executioner was a role this group didn’t shy away from in this episode. One of the most intense episodes to date, this saw the end of one arc and from here things start anew.

In this closing arc for both Bob and Terminus, we see a new and resolute group that no longer hesitates when the worst of this new world threatens them. They knew Gareth could not be allowed to live and they and ended the cannibalistic ways of Terminus. Some darknesses of this world are simply not redeemable and Gareth clearly crossed that line.

Praise goes to first time writer Corey Reed and veteran writer Angela Kang for accepting the challenge of leaving us with no doubts as to the right and wrong of Rick’s final decision to ambush and end Gareth the way he did. The writing team took some bold chances with the cannibalism storyline. That could have backfired, but it didn’t. Things you can get away with in a comic are sometimes harder to do on television. We were creeped by the visuals, but in the end, the writing team left little doubt that Gareth was beyond redemption. No matter what atrocities had been visited upon Terminus, there were no valid reasons for their actions.

We did take issue with the separation at the end. We get why Abraham felt the need to go, but even he is smart enough to know that if he helps this group become whole again, he’s got a much better chance of making it to DC. The split just didn’t make sense. We’ve almost gotten everyone together. Why split again? Glenn and Maggie were the most troublesome of the group to leave. We just can’t see why two people who were so desperate to find each other would ever leave without finding out at least what happened to her sister. It’s possible this will be revealed soon and things will play out differently than we think, but it wasn’t addressed here and would have been the first thing on our minds. Regardless, it was still a good episode and we’ll give the writing team a little latitude to resolve this issue soon.

Kudos should also go to first-time Director Jeffrey F. January for choreographing this episode extremely well. With countless First Assistant Director and Second Unit Director credits to his name, his directorial debut can only be deemed a rousing success and another good episode of The Walking Dead. Though not overly complex, the episode still contained powerful interactions and he got great performances in those moments. We’ll not soon forget Rick standing over Gareth in a nice role-reversal from the season opening at Terminus. A promise is a promise Gareth. The brutal goodbye of Gareth and the heartfelt passing of Bob were a dramatic shift in tone that January and this accomplished team made work without it feeling awkward. It would have been easy for the brutality of the night before to taint Bob’s ending, but the shift from the black of night to the bright sun of the day helped us put aside the darkness and remember Bob’s hopeful message.

Lawrence Gilliard Jr. has been a joy to watch grow and lift up this group. His humor and light spirit will be missed on this show. We’ll be honest and say that anyone out of the ordinary that gets an enormous amount of screen time from here on out will raise suspicions and we’ll watch with one eye open perhaps. Hershel (Scott Wilson) and now Bob have suffered the fate of masterful episodes that let them shine—only to have that light quickly thereafter extinguished. There are still a lot of unanswered questions and new questions to now ask. We don’t know any of the answers, but we’re telling family and friends that the phone is shut off and the door won’t be answered on Sunday nights because there’s no way we’re missing the next episode of The Walking Dead!

Questions, Comments, Concerns and My reaction on Twitter…

• Pretty people taste better. Dude. You are sick to the core! @andjwest
• I think Bob got the last laugh on that one. @gilliardl_jr @andjwest
• Always check your meat before cooking Gareth. @andjwest @andjwest
• Things in the scope may be closer than they appear! @SonequaMG
• I do believe that church has been branded an Abomination. #TheScarletLetter
• We can get through all of it together! Glenn has grown up a lot. @steveyeun @Cudlitz
• Leaving? What the hell? What about Beth? @steveyeun @LaurenCohan
• I really like the middle. OMG..this is killing me. @gilliardl_jr @SonequaMG
• Plan’s got stones, I’ll give you that. #ThingsAbrahamSays
• I think when somebody eats one of your friends, forgiveness is not an option. @SonequaMG @ChadLColeman
• Um, does anyone else think that Gareth is NOT at the school?
• Hmm. Is this the “ballsy” part of the plan? Man I hope so ..
• Holy hell this is tense!! #TheWalkingDead
• Is there a show better at creating an atmosphere of tension, fear & uncertainty than #TheWalkingDead? #FreakinOut
• Hell YES!!! You get the finger Gareth!!
• We didn’t want to waste the bullets. That’s the badass effin Rick Grimes we love and their enemies should FEAR.
• How does one come back from THAT dark place? Holy sh*t!
• Nightmares end. They shouldn’t end who you are. And that .. is just this dead man’s
• opinion. #Heartbreaking @gilliardl_jr
• Give it here. You step out. My heart is broken. @ChadLColeman @gilliardl_jr @SonequaMG
• This is a house of God. No. It’s just four walls and a roof. The new world .. is not like the old.
• It ends like that?? WTF?? RT @TVAfterDark: Uhh…. #TheWalkingDead
• Spectacular episode of #TheWalkingDead co-written by @angelakang & @wholespoon @WalkingDead_AMC Awesome directorial debut by Jeff January!
• Rick keeps his promises. #RedMachete #Checkmate
• I do NOT like that this group has just split up. Did Glenn and Maggie just forget about Beth?? WTH??
• And Daryl comes back, but with WHO? Where is Carol? And Beth?? What happened to the car??
• My gut says that’s not Carol or Beth with Daryl in the woods. If it were, they’d have shown us.