The Walking Dead: Slabtown is the 4th episode of the season and has Beth facing a terrible ordeal in a hospital in Atlanta after being kidnapped by a mysterious group. It opens up with Beth waking up in a hospital attached to an IV with dressing on some apparent wounds she received, and she can’t recall how she got them or how she ended up in this hospital. After checking out her immediate surroundings, Beth is met by a woman named Dawn and Dr. Edwards, who claim they found her injured on the side of the road. And Dawn tells her that since they treated her injuries she owes them. Since money doesn’t have any value in this world any longer, they want Beth to pay them back through service, and she can’t leave until she performs enough duties to equal her treatment. However, everything she uses or eats counts against her and would only make her stay longer so it’s seemingly a no-win situation. And Beth is tasked to be Dr. Edwards assistant, which means she just follows everything he tells her to do while he’s operating, and she’s a witness as another patient dies due to his wounds. Since the medical supplies are limited, they can only do so much for patients and Dawn makes the call for when a patient is too far gone to administer any care. Beth might not have to worry about any walkers while in the hospital but there’s one officer, Gorman, who makes thinly veiled threats at her, making it clear that he has no problem with abusing his power in this situation. There are others, like Noah, a fellow hospital ward, who can’t leave either and understand her predicament. But what’s really going on in the hospital with people being brought in with injuries consistent with trying to escape, and was Beth found on the side of the road or are those in the hospital also responsible for her kidnapping?

SUMMARY

The Walking Dead: Slabtown was a very ho-hum episode that explored many issues that were addressed much better in other episodes, and as a result was just a tease of what’s to come. The perplexing manner in which Beth’s captors talked to and dealt with her made them come off as confused individuals and not part of a larger group that has a mantra. I enjoyed Noah’s introduction and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in store for him, and I’m curious as to what the group’s ultimate goal is since that wasn’t clearly addressed. And I felt the episode that focused on Beth last season was a much better one with this episode ignoring some of those developments. However, I’m looking forward to the next episode due to the intriguing conclusion, and hopefully it’ll be more exciting.