If anything, Rick and Carol have shown that grief in the zombie apocalypse is for suckers. Two characters in this episode are suffering grief and commit really stupid mistakes that end up becoming liabilities to everyone around them. While Sasha’s big mistake in the final scene was the definition of gullibility, you have to laugh at Father Gabriel escaping the church only to be stuck by a nail on his foot.
Congratulations, you escaped without Michonne or Carl noticing! Now you’re going to die from tetanus. You can’t scream for help with lock jaw, sucker. Grady has become a bigger threat than I figured they would, and I guess that’s because they’re in a closed in structure.
Grady Hospital is a fortress when you consider it, so it’s just not as simple as going in and shooting up the place and slipping out with people. Walkers lurk in every exit, and now the group has to play their cards carefully, or else all is lost. “Crossed” is one of the few episodes this season that’s focused on all three legs of the survivors, and now with Daryl returning with Noah to the church, Rick and his friends have to act quickly. As we figured, Daryl goes back to the church to get his old pal Rick to come back with him and retrieve Beth and Carol.
Meanwhile, Noah seems very anxious to prove he can contribute. I also enjoy how Rick and co. have learned a thing or two by setting up sharp stakes to keep walkers from approaching the church. Who says Morgan didn’t teach them anything? Carl and Michonne’s roles in the episode are minimal, sadly, as they’re mainly there to talk to Father Gabriel who obsessively scrubs a blood stain on the floor of his church. I was kind of annoyed at his groaning at the destruction of his pews. It’s either that, or die. Pick one.
Carl is correct that you have to defend yourself, and Father Gabriel is going to learn the hard way, one way or another. He almost seems to understand when he’s attacked by a walker in the woods, and drops her on to a log, impaling her, but as always, his view of her crucifix stops him mid-way. And we can only guess what might happen if confronted with thirty walkers wearing crucifix. One can only imagine what will happen when faced with an undead nun. He might just pass out or have a hemorrhage. I also agreed with Carl about his point that the fact Gabriel’s church went untouched is a veritable miracle. That place was ripe for the picking.
The sub-plot with Glenn, Maggie, Tara, and co. is slightly more hopeful, even if nothing’s changed since we last saw them. Eugene is still street pizza, and Abraham has become catatonic, but we at least garner further exploration of how useful and resourceful Tara and Rosita are. Maggie almost shoots Abraham when he lunges at Rosita, and Rosita tries to smack some sense in to him. These women are definitely not like Amy from season one, complaining about no toilet paper. The tensest scenario is of course the group trying to maneuver their way in to Grady and not be detected quite yet.
Beth is trying to keep Carol alive, and Rick and the group manage to cleverly devise ways to lure out security guards, while also sucking up their vomit at the sight of the melted walkers at every corner. Say what you want about the show, but Nicotero is genius at devising new walkers with absolutely nauseating features. The melted walkers from the napalm really did put me off on chicken for a little while. I’m very empathetic to Sasha, no matter how stupid her grief for Bob makes her. She really opened up for the first time in likely a year, and then he’s eaten by cannibals.
Isn’t that always how it goes? Tyreese is thankfully very supportive and you can sense that he’s trying really hard to dig her out of the hole before she makes a bad mistake. Like let a hostage lure you out and bash your head in to a window for a quick get away. You know a mistake like that. That said, I felt bad when she ripped Bob’s shirt and lashed out angrily. It’s all she really has of him. You can sense she doesn’t have much motivation to keep going, hence her need to follow Rick’s original plan and go in to Grady with guns blazing.
I really love how the officers they lure out just aren’t cannon fodder. They have personalities, they’re slick, and one of their hostages damn nearly kills Daryl, before he uses one of the walkers as a weapon, yet again, and knocks him out with an undead skull. I’m wondering where we’re going to go with these characters, and if any of them will live to see a supporting role. Noah insists that the officer named Bob is a good guy, but so far he seems to be willing to say or do anything to survive. I don’t trust that quality.
You have to love how Sasha whips her head over the minute their hostage introduces himself as Bob. “You Bob? I knew a Bob too! You Sasha’s friend, now! Yay!” Yes, Sasha, taking the hostage out with you alone without anyone guarding him and turning your back on him is a great idea. He could have done literally anything to her, I’m just glad he scampered off as she lay unconscious. At that instance, he could have broken free and taken her rifle, opening fire, or kill her and sick her on the group.
I think Sasha deserves a good shake and smack from Tyreese if she makes it out of this. It’s time to buck up and get with it, Sasha. That was a rookie mistake. Not even Judith would have fallen for that trick. But hey, things are looking up. We can only hope Beth is giving Carol the correct medication. I’d fake a cough attack for one kiss on the cheek from Beth. Glenn and co. have fish to eat, Abraham might just find a new purpose, and Rick has things under control. For now.
Next Week is the final episode until February 2015, and people are going to die.
That’s a given.