The Walking Dead: Claimed is the 11th episode in the season and deals with the crew moving forward after the events at the prison and trying to re-establish a semblance of the comfort they had at the prison while deciding on what to do next. In the case of Glenn and Tara it’s a little bit of both as this episode opens up with both of them riding in the back of the truck with the 3 who appeared at the end of the last episode. However Glenn is unconscious so he has no choice but to go along with the ride and at least he doesn’t have to worry about being attacked by walkers as Sargeant Abraham Ford dispatches them after telling Tara not to fire any weapons when the truck has to stop due to a car pile up on the road. Well, actually he seemingly takes joy in bashing them with his crowbar while taunting them and when Tara remarks that she’s never seen anyone do that before, the smiling not the killing, he states that he’s the luckiest guy in the world. Meanwhile, Michonne’s reunion with Rick and Carl seems to be going very well as she and Carl are joking around during breakfast. It’s not until a joke is made about Judith’s formula milk that the reality sinks back in. And part of that reality is the need to look for more supplies, and even though Rick wants to go along with Carl and Michonne, he’s still not physically ready to deal with any walkers or other type of trouble they come across. But if they couldn’t find safety in the prison how could they possibly be safe in just a house? And where are these people taking Glenn?

I was excited at the end of last week’s episode because of the characters introduced and a general idea of what was ahead. The prospect of the story moving forward and building on the character revelations from the last two episodes had me very optimistic for this episode. And the start of this episode with Sgt. Ford taking out the walkers the way he did, and then the interaction between Michonne and Carl considering Michonne’s backstory and the fact she had a child as well, made for an interesting combination of intense action and character development. This episode initially focuses more on Carl and Michonne and they already had a close relationship so it was cool to see the change in her after coming to terms with her past in her attempts to cheer Carl up while hunting for supplies. And when she tells Carl that she had a 3-year-old kid who found her extremely funny Carl opens up immensely and wants to find out more about Michonne’s previous life. She uses this as a way to get closer to Carl while also keeping him motivated to keep hunting for supplies so he wouldn’t focus on what was bringing him down. I enjoy the character progression and that’s due to the story progression.

Of course it wouldn’t have been entertaining to show Rick resting all episode and so he gets caught up in an interesting situation as the house he’s resting in is broken into and he’s forced to hide under the bed as those who broke in mean business as they end up torturing someone downstairs. And I look at this situation in one of two ways: Either those who broke into the house will have some kind of significance in future episodes or it was just a temporary situation that won’t have any significance going forward, which would make this filler in a way. However it was still enjoyable as it was pretty intense to see Rick trying to elude detection since it would mean certain death for him. And the brutality of those who broke into the house was on full display as they could even kill each other just to sleep on a particular bed.

And at the very least progress was made with the other group when Glenn wakes up and we’re formally introduced to the new group that picked him and Tara up, and their ultimate goal, which could definitely be a game changer. Whether it’s true or not is one thing but it gives the group something to strive for ultimately instead of them wandering around aimlessly since the destruction of the prison. However Glenn doesn’t care as he’s only goal is to find Maggie and despite being told they traveled miles while he was sleeping he’s determined to walk back the entire distance.  This part was understandable to the extent that Glenn was focused on that before passing out and his focus would remain on finding Maggie when waking up. And although it was entertaining, the events that unfolded did feel unnecessary in terms of Glenn’s response to what Abraham told him considering there was no hostility towards Glenn. And yes ultimately it led to the story moving forward but it felt like the same result could’ve been achieved without the initial punch. And I compare that to Rick’s situation because the action in his scenes flowed very nicely and this was some of the best hand to hand combat this season. I truly enjoyed it as I not only felt on edge throughout Rick’s attempt to escape but the creativity with the action made it feel very fresh.

And so the issues I have with this episode are of the wait and see variety, meaning these events could’ve been significant or not, and so I can only judge it based on how entertaining it was, and in that case it was. But the fact that the majority of the events that occurred this episode aside from the developments with Carl and Michonne, and the new characters revealing their objective, aren’t clear in terms of their significance takes away from it overall. I think after all these seasons the show has done a good job of showing the suffering and tough decisions of those who have no names but are found dead in residences and I would’ve preferred that not to be rehashed here. The new characters don’t get much to work with but they do come off very well in the scenes they have and I’m impressed with their adaptation so far. And so I’m really looking forward to what’s in store for all those in this episode.

SUMMARY

The Walking Dead: Claimed is a very entertaining episode that moves the story forward just enough to not feel as if nothing memorable happened in it. The character development and interaction between Carl and Michonne was a very welcome touch as it shows progression and significance of the situations they both recently faced. And even though Rick’s situation was enjoyable and intense, I’m hoping there’s some carryover so it doesn’t ultimately end up feeling like it’s filler. However, Sgt Abraham and his crew revealing their objective and destination gives a direction that will lead to some very interesting developments and of course I’m on board for that.