The Walking Dead: Inmates is the 10th episode of the season and deals with the remaining members of the prison in the aftermath of the Governor’s assault and subsequent destruction of it. It opens up with Beth and Daryl running through the woods avoiding and killing walkers, which was the norm prior to the prison. Even though they were used to this before they never thought they would be doing this again as one of Beth’s diary entries make clear. She was too afraid to believe in hope for so long but decided to do so after being at the prison for some time because of Hershel. And she’s determined even now to look for other survivors even when Daryl is resigned to just sitting by a fire sulking, so some of the sentiments expressed in her writings are still in her now. They are able to find the tracks left behind by the others but they’re hours behind them and it seems as if the other group encountered plenty of walkers along the way. And Beth appears to be holding up very well considering she just saw her father  decapitated and she doesn’t know if her sister is alive. It’s after they come across a group of walkers eating their latest victims that Beth finally breaks down, unsure of who they actually were. Considering Tyreese was with the two young girls, and Maggie, Sasha and Bob made up another group, it seems as if the odds were against both groups surviving separately but is Beth correct in thinking that all they need is hope just like Hershel said?

Last week’s episode was one of the best the Walking Dead episodes ever to me and so I tempered my expectations for this episode only slightly but of course I still had high hopes for it. And seeing as how this episode would be dealing with the other survivors from the prison I knew there would at least be answers regarding their fate. And I loved the tone set early with Beth and Daryl in terms of hearing Beth reading an old diary entry from when they were in the prison while running and fighting walkers. It captured perfectly the reluctant hope they all had in getting used to having the prison and all its benefits, and how that was shattered by the Governor’s assault, and it would be really depressing if it wasn’t a TV show. And even Daryl reverted back to an older mentality when he didn’t have it in him to look for the others, and that was as good as finally seeing Beth still having that hope, determination, and also finally crying to show she did feel once again. And having them a few hours behind the others was a very useful storytelling mechanic as it seemed to create some suspense regarding the fate of the others, although it didn’t last long because we’re shown what did take place and this is where it struggled a little bit with Tyreese not only having the two girls but the baby Judith as well. It struggled a little bit because Tyreese was of sound mind to get the baby in the midst of the assault but his decision with them early in the episode was highly questionable and infuriating. I guess he was trying to do his best Forrest Gump impersonation during a zombie apocalypse because it made zero sense. To leave them in the middle of the woods with the loudest weapon while going to help adults right after the little one was already terrified and ran off was beyond absurd. I felt it was a cheap way to re-introduce Carol as a hero and make the audience feel relieved to see her, which was even the case with me. It does set up an interesting dynamic now that Carol has Judith and is with Tyreese who still doesn’t know she was the one who killed Karen.

Maggie, Sasha and Bob are faring better in the sense that Maggie’s determination to find Glenn since she believes he was on the bus gives them the motivation to try to find the others. The scenes with them are more logical, or rather as logical as things can get with walkers all around, and even though Maggie is focused on just finding Glenn and having the answer regarding his fate, it’s perfectly understandable because that’s her husband, and considering she doesn’t know where her sister went and watched her father die, it’s all she has left. And Sasha and Bob came off very well, and there seems to be a potential relationship there, and I’m curious as to how this will play out. I did find it a little perplexing that Sasha wouldn’t want to learn of Tyreese’s fate more considering the way the sibling relationship was portrayed in the past. But apparently the emphasis this episode was on the lasting influence of Hershel through Beth, Maggie and Glenn and showing that hope is indeed essential in terms of motivation and finding a reason to keep moving forward, and also love. Glenn was still trapped in the prison and he would’ve been resigned to this if it wasn’t for his love for Maggie, and I couldn’t help but see symbolism in his get up. And the alliance of necessity that he forms with another was also a good touch and a reminder of not being able to survive in this world alone and not losing sight of that.

However I view this episode as a necessary episode to show how things go from point A to point B, and what I mean by that is it’s important to see the events that occur with the others in the aftermath of the prison assault but it doesn’t have the same impact as last week’s episode. And yes that’s partly due to there being no need to have major revelations about the characters like there was about Michonne but also because everyone pretty much had the same set of emotions with either despair and resignation, or in the case of Maggie, Glenn and Beth, searching for each other. This episode was definitely enjoyable and I don’t want to imply otherwise and with the development that takes place at the end of the episode, the second half of this season is shaping up to be the best one yet.

SUMMARY

The Walking Dead: Inmates is an enjoyable episode that shows the fate of the others who barely escaped the prison alive, and the pairings worked well here for the most part. I felt Carol’s re-introduction was a little heavy-handed in terms of making another character look extremely inept although even that pairing now has the potential for interesting developments. The tone set early with Beth and Daryl was done perfectly with the reading from her diary and despair turning into hope throughout this episode, and a lot of gruesome action in between. And even though covering the different groups this episode prevented a lot of progress for any one particular group there were still plenty of developments pushing the series forward especially with the final scene. And I’m definitely looking forward to the next episode and see how these developments unfold.