Piers McCarthy reviews the eleventh episode of The Walking Dead season 4…
Thinking that the end of the last episode would provide a decent new set of characters may have been a mistake. That’s not to say that Abraham, Eugene and Rosita are meaningless, but their impact on the show has yet to be made. “Claimed” is by no means a write-off in the series, however, as it sports some of the best scenes of tension featured so far.
Major spoilers follow
The Walker Win is exceptionally prompt in this week’s episode – taking place in the first minute. It’s a basic brawl between Abraham and a walker, yet he’s unable to take it down immediately. This leads to him thrusting a crowbar into the zombie’s jaw (which moves as the walker moves) until he finishes off with one powerful head-slam from the butt of his rifle. It’s the effects team’s efforts that shine in that brief moment – having the walker move whilst pinned up, via the jaw.
After the credit sequence we return to Carl, Michonne and Rick who seem like a happy family. Carl and Michonne are debating over enjoying Soy milk when Carl reacts, “I’d rather have Judith’s formula!” before stopping himself. Something about the timing of that moment, along with Riggs’ acting, doesn’t serve the scene well, and despite getting the point across (the grief he feels) it feels unimpressive. Carl seems overtly pubescent, full of angst and laughably sulky. Still, he makes for a good companion to Michonne. They’ll team up for the episode whilst Rick stays back to rest – leading to a situation that makes “Claimed” marvellous.
Michonne and Carl search the surrounding houses, learning about one another as they go along. Carl is allowed one question per room and he diligently looks for any means possible to scrutinise the enigmatic Michonne.
It doesn’t take long for Rick’s pivotal plot point to take place; a mere 11 minutes in dread sets in. Taking advantage of that common fear of hearing unknown voices downstairs as you sleep soundly in your bed, Rick’s part in “Claimed” has him trying to escape the house of intruders. As the essentially faceless foes come upstairs he hides himself under the bed. It’s a steady set of scenes, all nail-biting and unpredictable. One enemy lays down on the bed, pinning Rick under it. Until another one comes up and fights the other for the bed space, things aren’t happening too fast. As one man is strangled to death, looking on at Rick as he’s shoved to the ground, there is the fear that Rick will be found.
Cutting back to Michonne and Carl, the earlier mention of Judith – the loss of a little one – is shown to weigh heavy on them both. Michonne opens up about losing her son, whilst also fighting some demons as she steps into one harrowing room/tomb. The make-up/model work here is some of the most realistic the show’s had to date. Clearly leaving an impression on Michonne, it does the same for the audience. A whole family who have commit suicide to save themselves more horror is a haunting image.
Getting caught up in the stories of Michonne and Carl and the trapped Rick, you almost forget about Glenn and Tara with Abraham and co. Glenn’s passion for reuniting with Maggie doesn’t please Abraham and a fight ensues. As the two tussle Eugene (the supposedly smart one) fires off a series of stray bullets at approaching walkers. Quickly, everything turns to shit for them and Glenn and Tara come out the best. They walk on after things are clear, now taking over as the leaders. It’s an interesting dynamic as whilst Abraham seems powerful, Glenn has become a keen thinker and doer, best suited for leading the way.
Back to Rick’s confined conflict, our hero manages to creep out from under the bed and into the bathroom where an agape adversary looks on at him from the toilet. Rick is quick to act and the fight in the bathroom harks back to the Bourne/Desh fight of The Bourne Ultimatum where space is restricted and the tussle is intense. Rick wins but there’s no telling as to how many others are down in the house, or whether Carl and Michonne will walk in on them. Rick gets outside and is once more cornered by the presence of another, having to hide until he can dash. Doing so, and reaching Michonne and Carl in time before any of them are seen, releases those nerves. However, the thought still hangs heavy as to how many groups like that could be waiting around the corner, or if they might cotton on to them by some happenstance.
The episode seems to fly through its 42 minutes, leaving us with Rick, Carl and Michonne entering the train-track sanctuary that Tyreese et al have found. There’s still a lot of characters needing reuniting so next week may bring about part of that. In any case, hopefully we can expect more episodes like “Claimed” where enormous tension is brought about from the simplest of scenarios.
Piers McCarthy – Follow me on Twitter.
Originally published February 26, 2014. Updated April 11, 2018.
