One thing I keep wondering is when the survivors are going to learn never to get too comfortable. Comfort breeds complacency, and complacency gets you killed. Granted, the scene in the funeral home was terrifying, but you just don’t open a door to a safe haven. Even if you have the chance to lure in a cute little dog from out of danger. “Alone” is now less focused on the one set of characters and scattering its narrative more and more. With only three episodes left, there are bound to be a lot more questions. All in all, “Alone” is a fine if flawed episode, and much more cohesive than last week.
There’s a greater emphasis on pushing the season’s arc forward this week, and giving us insight in to Bob Stookey. The prologue to the episode shows how he relied on dumb luck and quick thinking and accidentally stumbled on Daryl and Glenn’s good will. From there we’re shown how much he cherishes human company, especially now in the apocalypse. Every group is still at their wit’s end trying to find their chance to survive and every corner of the country gets smaller and smaller. Bob, Maggie, and Sasha barely survive a skirmish against the walkers in the fog, and now begin arguing over going to Terminus to find Glenn, or settle down and wait out death.
Meanwhile, Daryl and Beth are still wandering around, and stumble upon a funeral home filled with supplies by someone that may or may not be one of the walkers by now. The Beth and Daryl sub-plot is getting tiresome and there doesn’t seem to be much point to their inclusion in this episode beyond the final scenes where the writers put our characters in to another pressing dilemma. Daryl nearly bites it being overrun by a herd of walkers he manages to survive by quickly evading them and fighting hard, and Beth speeds off in a car, leaving him to fend for himself.
Apparently the owner of the house took Beth with them for safety, or perhaps Beth is just a coward. Regardless, Daryl is once again alone and finds that he’s willing to hang around with a group of psychopaths and murderers if it means living one more day. Exactly the predicament Bob was in, in the final scene of the prologue. Daryl doesn’t care what they’re about, he just wants someone watching his back. Even if they’re the same guys that were on the verge of murdering Rick, Michonne, and Carl. The second plot of the episode is much more interesting, as Sasha slowly begins losing hope of ever finding Tyreese, while Maggie and Bob seem very anxious to get to Terminus and see what they might find there.
Is it another Woodbury? Or is it the piece of heaven that Rick wanted to find in the season two finale? In either case, the groups are getting closer since the swell of the dead is getting larger, and we’re building in to yet another epic confrontation I anxiously await.
Three episodes left.