Piers McCarthy reviews the twelfth episode of The Walking Dead season 4….
Having included multiple character focus in last week’s episode, episode 12 of The Walking Dead falls back to a singular narrative – that of Beth and Daryl’s journey. Whether or not you’re into these kinds of episodes, there’s always a lot to learn when the spotlight is reduced. First and foremost, we start to unearth Daryl’s past, softening that stony facade of his.
Major spoilers follow
We start things off with the low rumble of a thunderstorm (seldom seen or heard in this programme, it seems), and Daryl and Beth coming out of the bushes onto a darkened road. The horror-genre that The Walking Dead adheres to now and again is on full show here. This is by no means a bad point, and the atmosphere created in the prologue is discernibly edgy. Having to escape an oncoming hoard, Beth and Daryl take shelter in the boot of an abandoned police car. In there, with the cameras close on their faces and weapons, we can’t see what’s happening outside the trunk, but can hear the moans and scratches of the undead. It’s a small but sterling set-piece, making good use of diegetic sound and lighting. It sets “Still” up well, highlighting the pair’s tight companionship – this episode, after all, will be solely theirs.
Daryl’s even quieter than he was before, something Beth is struggling with. As she grows up, missing out on many experiences, Daryl’s unemotional stance on things is not helping her escape the terrors of the time. So, even though it happens quickly, Beth snaps slightly, demanding she has an alcoholic drink (something she has yet to experience). Heading out on her own, she realises the dangers of life without Daryl almost immediately when she runs into a few walkers. Personifying the images on his jacket, Daryl is a guardian angel, so he shows up to assist Beth if she needed it.
Moving away from their temporary camp, they stumble on a golf club. Once again, the location work is terrific, with details meticulously included. Newspapers over the windows, overgrown vegetation surrounding the building, and bodies upon bodies inside (including three hanging bodies re-animated, swaying and sighing) – nothing out of blue but constant reminders of the show’s wonderful mise-en-scene. Checking through the building there’s only a couple of run-ins with walker, one of which goes down as the walker win of the week – Daryl using a 9-iron to swing at a zombie, wiping its face off with the attack. Just like last week, I’d like to note the extraordinary model work on display. This week has a “Rich Bitch” walker/mannequin given a lot of attention. Chopped in half and placed on top of mannequin base, the woman must have done something wrong when alive to suffer such embarrassment yet Beth can’t allow it now. Asking for help, Daryl responds, “Don’t matter, she’s dead” – hinting at his new-found apathy.
A solemn moment arrives when Beth finds her drink, realising it isn’t what she wants, nor will it become a celebratory point in her life like it may have done out of the apocalypse. Daryl sees the sadness and smashes the bottle, making sure that “If you’re gonna have your first drink, it’ll be no damn Peach Snapps!” Daryl always responds to friends in need, making his break-down later on in the episode all the more heartbreaking.
There are a few parallels to Daryl and Michonne, one of which is made clear when Beth is guessing Daryl’s old job. Like Carl trying to uncover Michonne’s past, here we have another mysterious figure in no way eager to uncover his past. This questioning continues once they find a house with Moonshine inside (an old find of Daryl and Michonne’s). Beth has her first drink and invites Daryl to join in a drinking game – I Have Never.
We get to know a little about Daryl’s family, though it’s always just a mumble of sorts. The alcohol seems to be something Daryl is unsure of. Not wanting to drink when initially invited and drinking to “I have never got drunk and done something I’ve regretted”, Daryl may have issues with the devil’s drink. He gets worked up incredibly fast, spewing out insults, revelations and gibberish. He turns angry and pushy like a clichéd alcoholic, then toying with a walker that’s outside. Beth kills it, noting how it’s not supposed to be fun, and screams out everything wrong with Daryl (one of which is how he may see Beth as a weak, yet lucky, survivor). Most of all, she mentions how he’s scared and afraid to let anyone close; Daryl has been pushed to the edge before though this appears to hit home. Norman Reedus finally emotes beyond the steely stare of his, crying and yelling at the loss they’ve experienced. Like Steven Yeun in the last episode, it’s an exercise in naturalistic acting, whereby the sobs and tears feel real and never over the top.
The scene that follows on from that drags, and is the downside of the episode. For those not interested in the stories lacking proper action, the porch scene will certainly feel tedious. It has dialogue that develops the characters, but nothing extra special in comparison to the pockets of dialogue that have come before it. In the final 3 minutes, Daryl and Beth burn down the cabin with the Moonshine, an all-too-obvious metaphor with a tongue-in-cheek image of Beth and Daryl sticking their middle finger up to the burning building/their past/their worries. The music over the scene is overly fitting and makes it slightly comical. With slow-mo and that guitar-fused anthem, it comes across as a Wes Anderson parody, and too jarring for the tone of the show. However, it’s only in the last few minutes where this issue arises and the episode on the whole has been a good one.
Piers McCarthy – Follow me on Twitter.
Originally published March 6, 2014. Updated April 11, 2018.
